The Traditional Children's Games of England Scotland
& Ireland In Dictionary Form - Volume 2

With Tunes(sheet music), Singing-rhymes(lyrics), Methods Of Playing with diagrams and illustrations.

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	294	TIP IT—TIP-CAT
	caught her takes her place. If she reaches the " nestie" with­out being caught, she has still to run to the line of players; if she does this without being caught she holds her place as one of the time-fixers, but if caught she takes her stand in the line, and the one that caught her becomes time-fixer.—Fraser­burgh (Rev. W. Gregor). Tip it. This is played by six players, divided into two sides of three each, with one captain to each side. A ring or other small object is taken by the side which wins the toss, and then both sides sit down to a small table. The in-side puts their hands under the table, and the ring is given to one of the three players. At a given signal they all bring up their closed hands on to the table, and the other side has to guess in which closed fist the ring is. The guesser has the privilege of ordering "off" the hands which he thinks are empty. If he succeeds in getting the empty hands off, he says " tip it" to the remaining one. If he guesses right the ring changes sides. The game is to keep the ring or other object on one side as long as pos­sible.—London (Alfred Nutt). Tip-Cat. Strutt says this is so denominated from the piece of wood called a cat, aboutsix inches in length, and an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, diminished from the middle to both ends. When the cat is on the ground the player strikes it smartly, when it rises with a rotatory motion high enough for him to hit it again before it falls, in the same manner as a ball. He says there are various methods of playing the game, and describes the two following: A large ring is made in the ground; in the middle of this the striker takes his station; his business then is to hit the cat over the ring. If he fails in doing so he is out, and another player takes his place; if successful, he judges with his eye the distance the cat is driven from the centre of the ring, and calls for a number at pleasure to be scored towards his game: if the number demanded be found upon measure­ment to exceed the same number of lengths of the bludgeon, he is out; on the contrary, if it does not, he obtains his call.