Our friend Kent from Nomadic Press sent in these gifts of a printshop game called Quad Rats. The object is not to let the boss find out you’re playing with quads so you hide them in your hand under the composing taable until tossing them quickly to see how they land – nicks facing up, standing upright or in a stack. As we quickly found out, Quad Rats is addictive so after work, we’ll be camping out and playing all night. Thank you ever so much for the lovely gifts, Kent!!
(cough cough)
Ah, the good ‘ol Jeffing game.
In the olden days, you could get solaced for it.
“Workmen take him by force, and lay him on his Belly athwart the Correcting-stone, and held him there while another of the Work-men with a Paper-board, gave him 10 l. and a Purse, viz. Eleven blows on his Buttocks; which he laid on according to his own mercy. For Tradition tells us, that about 50 years ago one was Solaced with so much violence, that he presently Pissed Blood, and shortly after dyed of it.(sic)”
Moxon, MECHANICK EXERCISES, 1683
The rules of the game from the same Moxon piece go like this:
They take five or seven more m Quadrats (generally of the English Body) and holding their Hand below the Surface of the Correcting Stone, shake them in their Hand, and toss them up upon the Stone, and then count how many Nicks upwards each man throws in three times, or any other number of times agreed on: And he that throws most Wins the Bett of all the rest, and stands out free, till the rest have try’d who throws fewest Nicks upwards in so many throws; for all the rest are free: and he pays the Bett.(sic)