Early Quoits
Please see the full Quoits page for the full history of outdoor Quoits from which the Indoor game derives.
Indoor Quoits
While two versions of Outdoor Quoits have managed to make it through
the trials of the late 20th century, an 
indoor
version of the game has also managed to thrive around the debatable border
between Wales and England. The heart of indoor quoits beats loudest
in pubs around Powys, Wales and Evesham, England but it is also popular
in Gloucestershire, Worcester and Hereford in England. The history
of Indoor Quoits, Evesham Quoits, Table Quoits or Dobbers is not at all
clear but the best guess seems to be that somebody decided to invent an
indoor version of the outdoor game towards the end of the nineteenth century.
The board shown is from the author's collection.
The game is a cleverly miniaturised version of the outdoor game. It uses rubber rings and to make up for their lack of shape, one side is coloured black, the other white and any quoit which falls black side up, doesn't score. The Quoits board is generally around 18 inches square but can be up to 2 feet square and has a central stake surrounded by two indented concentric rings. The scores of the stake, and the two rings vary according to the location and the game being played - rather like Darts, it seems that more than one game is played using the same equipment. The standard game would just be a straight race to the final score of 61 points (scored on a cribbage board) but, in Powys particularly, an interesting variant using a special scoreboard is popular, in which each number up to 13 can only be scored once by the first player who manages to score that number in a turn.
Rings
An indoor relation of Quoits also deserves a mention. Called "Rings", it was popular in the North West of England during the 1930s and consists of a board with numbered hooks at which rubber rings are thrown.
Rules
The rules for two different games played on an indoor Quoits board are available free from Masters Traditional Games.
Buy Quoits
You can buy the traditional Indoor Quoits game as well as traditional steel Quoits from Masters Traditional Games.
Associations, Pubs & Leagues
Please see the Indoor Quoits Pubs & Leagues page.
jm at tradgames.org.uk