In the 17th and 18th centuries, if you were a member of the European leisure class, you would likely spend many of your lazy, hazy summer afternoons playing a variety of lawn games. Lawn games offered the independently wealthy of Europe an opportunity to socialize outdoors while demonstrating their disposable income through the maintenance of a well kempt lawn, the sole purpose of which was the playing of games. The most common lawn games played in the 17th and 18th centuries were croquet, paille maille and trucco, which is usually considered to be an early, lawn-based form of billiards.
Trucco originated in Italy and used heavy wooden balls and a freely spinning ring, usually set into a piece of wood in the ground. Instead of pool cues they used long handled cue sticks with a metal (usually iron) spoon on the end. The spoon end of the pool cues was used to scoop and throw the player's ball towards other balls and/or the hoop. Points were scored either by hitting the other balls or by passing your ball through the hoop. There was no limit to the number of players who could play at one time, which made it a fun and popular activity for families and groups of friends.
Trucco was first played near the beginning of the 17th century, and remained popular through most of the 19th century. Although it was still played in the early 20th century, it was less common and had more or less disappeared by the end of World War 2. It was derived from a game simply called “ground billiards” and was the inspiration for the game of croquet. Trucco began as a pastime of the wealthy, but in the 17th century it was also played by the common folk at pubs, provided the pub had a large enough lawn outside and the required equipment.
Trucco, paille maille and lawn billiards are no longer played much of anywhere today, and if you wanted to find trucco equipment you'd have to look in a museum – or make your own. Some chapters of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) have discussed attempting to revive the game, but to date none have done so publicly. The closest you can realistically come to a good, old-fashioned game of lawn billiards these days is to dig out your old croquet set.
And while it may not seem like something you might be interested in doing, croquet is actually a very fun game and great way to get friends and family together.
Trucco originated in Italy and used heavy wooden balls and a freely spinning ring, usually set into a piece of wood in the ground. Instead of pool cues they used long handled cue sticks with a metal (usually iron) spoon on the end. The spoon end of the pool cues was used to scoop and throw the player's ball towards other balls and/or the hoop. Points were scored either by hitting the other balls or by passing your ball through the hoop. There was no limit to the number of players who could play at one time, which made it a fun and popular activity for families and groups of friends.
Trucco was first played near the beginning of the 17th century, and remained popular through most of the 19th century. Although it was still played in the early 20th century, it was less common and had more or less disappeared by the end of World War 2. It was derived from a game simply called “ground billiards” and was the inspiration for the game of croquet. Trucco began as a pastime of the wealthy, but in the 17th century it was also played by the common folk at pubs, provided the pub had a large enough lawn outside and the required equipment.
Trucco, paille maille and lawn billiards are no longer played much of anywhere today, and if you wanted to find trucco equipment you'd have to look in a museum – or make your own. Some chapters of the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) have discussed attempting to revive the game, but to date none have done so publicly. The closest you can realistically come to a good, old-fashioned game of lawn billiards these days is to dig out your old croquet set.
And while it may not seem like something you might be interested in doing, croquet is actually a very fun game and great way to get friends and family together.