Shove Ha'penny - How to play & History of the game

[@deboramarzec2527]

Most British boards have a 'stop' on the underside so the board can hang slightly over the edge of the table, this prevents the board moving around as it will if just placed flat on the surface of the table and allows a better choice of finger/pushing techniques. In this one kzbin.info/www/bejne/kIaXfp1pgqqKa5Y you can see an American being taught. Notice it is a slate board. For more information on the game www.gamesboard.org.uk/articles/shove-hapenny-bryce-neilson-nov-2018.pdf is useful. My version is instead of each player using all 5 coins on their turn, the 2 players alternate with one playing heads up and one with tails. This becomes a more combat type game as each player has the chance to knock their opponent out of a scoring position.

[@TheRavensTable]

Thank you for the 'stop' idea and the other information! I'll update my boards to better enable more variety of coin casting techniques. I *REALLY* like that 'combat' gameplay version!

[@clive7092]

Love the enthusiasm but hilarious pronunciation of 'Shove Ha'penny'.

[@paulomachado2513]

I am a Brazilian with a fondness to classic stuff and I'm happy to discover your channel

[@Livingwithdementiaonline]

Thank you for this enjoyable and informative video. As a 70-year-old Londoner, I have played this game many times in the pubs of my youth, but I still learned a lot from your video which is full of useful tips.

[@keithfreeman8591]

I grew up on this game. The half pennies my father had were polished on the tail side. This made them glide over the board easier. It was considered sacrilegious to polish the head side! My father's board disappeared but I just made my own after fiding slate from a billiard table on Fb market place!!! Happy Days!!!

[@GrilloTheFlightless]

In Hastings there’s a regional tradition where all the spectators shout ‘seagull’ when you get three in a bed. There are a number of reasons given for this, some of which (and maybe all) are true. Firstly, a number 3 tipped on its side looks a bit like a seagull in flight. Secondly, in some coastal areas, the lines were referred to as ‘albatrabes’, which is an old name for an albatross. In a day and age where albatrosses are now a rare sight around British coasts they use the name of the much more common seagull. Thirdly, in some coastal towns there is a belief that the best type of wood to make the boards from is drift-wood, and the more seagull droppings on it the better as some believe it changes the quality of the wood and makes it perfect for the game. In my home county of Dorset, shove ha’ penny boards were traditionally (although by no means exclusively) made from slate treated with arrowroot power or French chalk to make it more slippery. There is also a Dorset variant played on a much longer board which, instead of parallel lines, has a square at the far end divided into four smaller squares with a central circle, and hemispheres around the edge. There is a good example of the Dorset long-board in the Red Lion public house in Swanage. I once read (and I don’t know if this is actually true) that early forms of the game were played directly on a pub table which was usually made from wooden planks fastened together to make the table top, creating convenient lines to form the beds.

[@nomaddicemaster119]

It's nice to know that this KZbin channel is here, it gives me some ideas for crafts and there's a craft sale in about a month and it's been helpful

[@TheRavensTable]

I'm glad you've enjoyed your time here! What are you thinking about making?

[@nomaddicemaster119]

@@TheRavensTable well I made mostly everything except for this game, I am trying but I am still trying to figure out how to make the groves, I have a wood burning set so it's not that big of a bother with the numbers

[@TheRavensTable]

If you are careful, you can cut grooves with a very sharp knife and a metal straight edge.

[@nomaddicemaster119]

@@TheRavensTable thanks for the tip

[@PeterWTaylor]

Played this today for the first time in many years in Waltham Abbey Museum. Their board was a lot like yours. As kids we played a variation where one played heads and the other tails alternately so if one was lucky to make a score the other could try to knock it out. Thanks for posting.

[@yardgamesworld]

This is awesome. I wrote about discussing the history of yard games from around the world. I can't wait to learn more about ancient games from you.

[@peterjackson5787]

Hi Guy - just a small peeve - ha'penny is pronounced hayp-knee without any pause in the middle not happennies! Cheers from Englamd Peter Jackson

[@TheRavensTable]

Yup, I have since been educated in the proper pronunciation by Stan Lee UK (comment thread on this video), and I acknowledged as much in the video description. I wish I could go back and add a note to the beginning of the video explaining my pronunciation SNAFU, but unfortunately that isn't an option. Thanks for watching! :-)

[@peterjackson5787]

@@TheRavensTable Hi Guy - No big deal - good video anyway!

[@bfwetzel]

I love my Shove HaPenny board. Great job in video. Thanks!

[@_Anato_]

Ha'Penny is pronounced "Hay penny" and even that is shortened to "Haypny". Similar to how "Two Pence" is "Tuppence" . Good to see Americans interested in old English stuff.

[@luathgf7088]

'SHOVE HAYPNEE', please ! A Ha'penny (pronounced 'haypnee', not har penny !) being half a penny. So, as kids, when sugar was still rationed, we bought a range of sugarless sweeties for anything from a ha'penny, to a penny ha'penny, or even (on pocket money day) thruppence or a tanner (sixpence). But that was when money was money , , , 'Shovers' ( pronounced 'shuvvers') is best played over a a pint or two and with a ban on any mention of love, religion or politics. Cheers!

[@marksnow-d8b]

Nice to see Shove Ha'penny get more exposure this side of the Pond -- a couple comments: as several have noted, I understand that the pronunciation varies by region in the UK, and by what was once called class (sigh), but that it is generally 'shove HAY -penney ' or, more likely, 'shoov 'APE-knee'' (let's hear it for Yorkshire!), though I don't know how they say it in Wales. As to the 'progressive ' variant, (which i favor) you do draw back the scoring coins for replaying in the same hand, but, as I learnt it, you don't touch the non-scoring ones, so they're still in play to be nudged into scoring position, which is a big part of the game (you can put one into a bed by itself -- a ''flopper'' by the way -- but it's typical to ''tickle' them, as you say, into scoring position with subsequent coins. +1 for the comment re attaching stops to the underside of the board so you can hook it over the edge of the bar or table and give the coins a proper smack with the base of the palm. Check out the old 'Indoor League'' shove ha-penny finals video with 'Fiery Fred ' Trueman! Also, another colorful bit of lore I've heard: closing a bed with three coins in the same hand is sometimes called a 'seagull', marked as such from the judge's perspective on the side with three conjoined stokes looking an "m" (or a seagull) -- there's an amusing song called 'Seagull' with the risque refrain 'three, three in a bed'!) Shove on!

[@marksnow-d8b]

not sure what happened with the strike-outs above -- surely ,'user error.....

[@marksnow-d8b]

also, to clarify, the 'seagull' is just the numeral 3, but viewed from the player's perspective it looks like an 'm' or seagull (as long as the scorer is standing to the right when they chalked it). While on the subject of scoring marks (or 'chalks' as I've sometimes heard it -- a close game might see one player leading by just 'two chalk', e.g.), it seems it was common to record scores with two parallel vertical strokes (viewed from the side -- horizontal from the player's perspective) with crossing slash for the third point. This can get hard to read, so I prefer the darts convention you show, or a three stroke asterisk. One other bit of slang for you -- when a coin goes onto the chalking area it's said to gone 'into the mud'.

[@splinter5352]

You should try it's cousin called push penny . Extra polished board , highly polished old penny coins ground down on the'tails' side and all different thickness .They glide up the board with no great effort and are harder to control, still 9 beds to score exactly the same way. The players take some beating ,it's not unfair to say you could need a couple of years 'apprenticeship ' to attain the same skill levels

[@TheRavensTable]

I will definitely take look for that version, I hadn't heard about it before. Sounds very challenging! Thanks for watching!

[@neilwilliams3298]

Sounds like the same game to me. At least my version has the coins ground for a smoother glide

[@slackerpope]

Excellent. Thank you very much! Cheers!!

[@cloerenjackson3699]

Not 100% sure on this but I think, in England, "ha'penny" is pronounced "hay p'nee".

[@TheRavensTable]

Yup, I have since been educated in the proper pronunciation by Stan Lee UK (comment thread on this video), and I acknowledged as much in the video description. I wish I could go back and add a note to the beginning of the video explaining my pronunciation SNAFU, but unfortunately that isn't an option. Thanks for watching!

[@edk6581]

Indeed!

[@zesuper]

Like my favorite childhood dart game!

[@jackbromfield1832]

Great vid man. Not certain but I reckon the term cannon comes from billiard or vice versa as they mean the same thing in both games

[@phaedruscj3330]

So how long does it take for the Brits to complete this game on average? It seems like it would take a long time to close out all nine levels.

[@johncogan8689]

Boards were lubricated with arrowroot powder, or some other talcum type powder as arrowroot isnt common these days

[@wyldemanironworx7099]

Anyone know where i would find the dimensions of this board?

[@keithfreeman8591]

You can find the dimensions on line. I just made a slate board.

[@buddhistsympathizer1136]

No disrespect intended, but you are pronouncing the name wrong. In English it is pronounced as 'Shove Ape-knee'

[@Bsnsobscuregames]

I would like a board like this to be sold for us quarters. This looks fun.

[@GrilloTheFlightless]

If you can’t get ha’pennies in your native land, there are ways around it. Ha’pennies are a very similar size to modern 2p coins which may be easier to get hold of. I’ve seen people use specially cut metal discs. I’ve also seen people use brass washers of the same diameter as a ha’penny, which should be available from hardware stores.

[@Bsnsobscuregames]

@@GrilloTheFlightless might use US Quarters. Seems close to the 2p coins

[@shaherrazam]

Like beer and WHAT??? You mean nuts, mate. Or crisps.

[@mikehibbett3301]

The game name is pronounced shove hAppeny - half, not have.

[@NikolajLepka]

Shuffleboard with coins, got it

[@ThePmloc]

I just like the porter too much, that push whatever is just far too complicated and always ends with people kicking the sh** t of each other

[@TheRavensTable]

People fighting when they've been drinking? *GASP* Say it isn't so! HAH! 😁 Thanks for watching!

[@seeleeuk168]

Great video. But it's not pronounced Hu'penny. To pronounce Half Penny correctly we say Hape'ny if posh or Ape'ny if a commoner LOL. 'ny' as in 'knee'

[@TheRavensTable]

Thank for the compliment! I did not know there were alternate pronunciations, but given the large number of accents spoken in Great Britain, it doesn't surprise me. The person I learned it from is from England and I was pronouncing it the same way she does. :-D Thanks for watching!

[@seeleeuk168]

@@TheRavensTable I guess she is young and not pre-decimal age? If she says two pence and not tuppunce then she's post decimal. The game has always been pronounced as Shove Ape'ny up and down the country and not linked to accents or dialects.

[@TheRavensTable]

@@seeleeuk168 No, she's around 50 years old. But she might have been pronouncing it in a more "North American" way simply to be better understood by us Yanks ;-)

[@seeleeuk168]

@@TheRavensTable LoL, it's still pronounced Hape'ny no matter what her accent is trying to do. 50 years or so old would not be old enough to remember how Hape'ny was pronounced back then.

[@TheRavensTable]

Gotcha. Thank you for the education and my apologies for not getting the historical pronunciation correct. I do strive to be as accurate as possible in my presentations.

[@ChristineWalker-gi7gj]

Pronounced haypenny.

[@karenkey6203]

It's Shove halfpenny pronounced "hay.puh.nee" English pub game. (Apenee)

[@TheRavensTable]

Yup, I have since been educated in the proper pronunciation by Stan Lee UK (comment thread on this video), and I acknowledged as much in the video description. Thanks for watching! :-)