Francis Willughby's Book of Games

Francis Willughby's Book of Games is a book published in 2003 that printed for the first time a transcription of a seventeenth-century manuscript written by Francis Willughby that was held in the library of the University of Nottingham. The modern edition was edited by Jeffrey L Forgeng, Dorothy Johnston, and David Cram, and was published by Ashgate Publishing Company with . The manuscript was left incomplete when Willughby died at the age of 36, but even in its unfinished state it provides an unrivalled insight into the sports and games of his period. Among the features of the book include descriptions of card games that are otherwise only known from reference in literature. It also includes the first formal study of children's board games to be written in a European language; investigation of the original manuscript has revealed that some of the descriptions of children's games were actually written by an unknown child, with later corrections being made by Willughby. Card games There is a general introduction about card games and then the following are described in detail: One and Thirtie (Thirty One) One and Thirtie Bon Ace Hannikin Canst Abide It, an English version of Quinze Laugh & Ly Downe Nodde, also spelt Noddy, a precursor to Cribbage Cribbidge (Cribbage) and variants called "A New Cribbidge or Nodde" and "Double Hand Cribbidge" Ruffe & Trump, a form of Ruff and Honours Gleeke, also spelt Gleek Beast, or Le Beste, English version of the French La Bête Loosing Lodum and a variant called Winning Loadum Ging or Seven Cards Put, an old English gambling game Wheehee, a children's game Tables games There is a general introduction, "Tables", on the equipment used for tables games followed by detailed accounts of the following: Dublets Ticktack Irish, the immediate ancestor of Backgammon Back Gammon (Backgammon) Long Laurence, not a tables game but a gambling game with an elongated die