LeRoy Pennysaver & News

LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - DECEMBER 30, 2018 by Lynne Belluscio Oh, the weather outside is frightful But the fire is so delightful Since we've no place to go Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow Even if the weather isn’t “frightful” on New Year’s Eve, we hope you’ll stop by LeRoy House to stay warm by the “de- lightful fire” until the fireworks start at 9. Our door will open at 7 pm and there will be hot cocoa and cider in the 1930s-kitchen. Only the main floor will be open to the public and each room will be set up with some of the old-fashioned games and puz- zles. There are two challenges this year. First, we’ll see if we can complete the 1000 piece Jell-O puzzle in two hours. And the other, is to see who is the “high roller” in the skittles game. Skittles has a long history. It is believed to have originated in England or France and has many other names. Actually, in Europe, skittles has many dif- ferent variations, some of which are played outside. And others are played in barrooms. They consist of knocking down some type of wooden pin. There are many other names for the game. The most curious name is “The Devil Amongst the Tinkers” and comes from a play, ”The Tailors: A tragedy for Warm Weather” that was written in England in 1805. Apparently, the tailors were upset about the satire of the play and thousands rioted outside the theater. The police were called but were helpless so a troop of Life Guards were called, and dispersed the crowd, arresting several of the rioters. It was said that the Life Guards cut through the rioters like a skittle ball ploughing through the skit- tles. Thereafter, the game of Ta- ble Skittles (or Bar Skittles) was known as “The Devil Amongst the Tinkers (Tailors).” In North America, the pins are arranged in a box with “rooms.” There are openings to each room. A string is used to spin a top which travels from room to room knocking down the pins. The pins have values from 10 points to 100, depend- ing on how difficult it is to reach the room that they are in. There is some skill in spinning the top, but it is mostly a game of luck. Each player has five turns to gather as many points as possi- ble. After each spin, the pins are reset. Some of the more com- plicated skittles boxes, have pins with negative numbers. If those pins are knocked down, the points are subtracted from the total. One of the most interesting skittles game that I have seen was at the Castle Kilbride in Baden, Canada. The Historical Society was on one of our bus trips and I scheduled a visit to Castle Kilbride which is an Ital- ianate house built in 1877 by James Livingston, who made his money in flax, which is used to making linen cloth. The house is furnished in high Victo- rian style and in the front room was this phenomenal skittles ta- ble. Instead of rooms there were brass bumpers which guided the top to the pins. I found one of these skittles tables on the inter- net that was auctioned for over $2000. People who enter the skit- tles contest, will receive, of course, a bag of Skittles candy – which by the way, are a fruit flavored candy, made by the Wrigley Company, a division of Mars Candy. They were first introduced and manufactured in England in 1974. They were imported into the United States in 1979, and in 1984, production was started in the United States. All of us at the Jell-O Museum and the LeRoy Historical Soci- ety wish everyone a Happy New Year. First Night at LeRoy House We are there when you wake 585.768.2201 1 Church St., LeRoy, NY 14482 www.leroyny.com Advertise • Classifieds • News • Help Wanted • Community Calendar