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 quoits and rings are available free from Masters Traditional Games.
Buy Quoits
You can buy the traditional Indoor Pub Quoits game and Rings from Masters Traditional Games.
Associations, Pubs & Leagues
Please see the Indoor Quoits Pubs & Leagues page.
jm at tradgames.org.uk