The Encyclopaedia of Sport, 1899

Quoits

Rick Lemberg of Montara, CA. provided me with this 19th Century version of quoit rules which was played in the United States. The information below is reprinted from an 1899 edition hardcover book, the second volume of a two-volume set entitled "The Encyclopaedia of Sport" that contains a reference to a very large listing of different sports.  Unfortunately, even with the massive amounts of sporting information comprising the set (a total of 1287 pages between the two volumes), the book includes only one column of text information on the game of Quoits. 

PLEASE NOTE: The rules posted on this page pertain to a historical version of quoits which differs significantly from the modern game commonly played today.  As an aid to research, rules in this text that are unusual or that contradict those of modern-day Quoits

are highlighted below in red text.  For the current, Official Rules of Standard American Quoits, refer to this link:

Official USQA Rules for Modern-Day American Quoits

THE ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF SPORT

Edited by

The Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire Hedley Peek and F. G. Aflalo

Volume II  LI-Z

655 Pages

New York and London

G. P. Putnam’s Sons

The Knickerbocker Press 1899

QUOITS – This game is played by driving two iron pegs into the ground 19 yards apart, but it can be altered by agreement to any distance varying from 15 to 20 yards.

It is usual to fix on the weights of each quoit.  The quoit is a flattened ring of iron thick at its inner and thin at its outer edge; the pin is variously called spud, hob, or spike.  To play it properly, a man should possess considerable strength in the arms and shoulders, and a quick eye will enable him to acquire the requisite pitch.   The players are generally two or four – two to a side.  Each player has two quoits and throws one round, endeavoring to fall over the hob; after each has had a turn, the first recommences, and so on, throwing back to the hob whence they recommenced.  The quoit is held with the forefinger along its outer edge, in which there is a small dent for the end of the finger to lie in without being cut.   The two surfaces are held between the thumb and the other fingers, and the quoit is pitched with a slight rise and with a rotary motion to make it pass smoothly through the air.  The score depends upon the quoit falling on the hob, or as near it as possible. A ringer, that is, a quoit which surrounds the pin, scores two; two ringers count four.  If a player’s two quoits are nearer the hob than his antagonists, he scores two; if he has but one nearer, he scores only one, but when the nearest quoits are equidistant and belong to different players, neither scores.

F. T. Pollok