Dreidel & Bibliography
by Dagonell the Juggler

Spinning the dreidel is a game that's traditionally played during the Hebrew festival of Hannukah. The dreidel is a four-sided top. The four sides are marked with the Hebrew letters "Nun", "Gimmel", "Heh", and "Shin".

Everyone starts the game with the same number of markers, generally ten to fifteen. Markers may be nearly anything; pennies, nuts, matchsticks, etc. Jewish children frequently play for small candies. Everyone puts one marker into the pot. On their turn, each player spins the dreidel once. When the dreidel stops, the face that's uppermost determines the player's pay-off.

"Nun" stands for "nisht" which means "nothing". The player wins nothing. "Gimmel" stands for "gantz" which means "all". The player wins the entire pot. "Heh" stands for "halb" which means "half". The player wins half the pot. If there is an odd number of tokens, the player takes the extra token. "Shin" stands for "shtel" which means "put in". The player must put two of his own tokens in the pot.

When the pot is reduced to less than two tokens, all the players must add one token to the pot. When a player runs out of tokens, they are out of the game. The game ends when one player has collected everything.

A partial list of the books and references I have been using to write this monthly column is listed below. I am citing only general works, not any books devoted exclusively to a single game. -- Dagonell

Bell, Richard C. Board and Table Games of Many Civilizations (Dover Pub.; 1979; ISBN 0-486-23855-5; $6.50) My edition is "revised edition - two volumes bound as one" which makes it a bit confusing as the sequence goes; table of contents, text, bibliography, index, table of contents, text, bibliography, index.

Botermans, Jack (trans.) The World of Games: Their Origin and History, How to Play Them and How to Make Them (NY; Facts on File; 1989; ISBN 0-8160-2184-8; 240 pgs, ill.) (Originally pub. as Wereld vol spelletjes ) Excellent book. Well illustrated and documented.

DeLuca, Jeff (SCA: Salamallah the Corpulent) Medieval Games (Raymond's Quiet Press; 3rd ed. 1995; ISBN 0-943228-03-4; $10.00) He's a Laurel for board games, the book is very well researched, and is currently on its third edition. The Bibliography is excellent.

Gomme, Alice Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland (London; Thames and Hudson; 1894; 2 vol.; ISBN 0-500-27316-2; $18.95) Normally, I avoid Victorian books as the scholarship usually tends to be nearly non-existant. These books however, are very well researched.

Grunfeld, Frederic V. (ed) Games of the World: How to Make Them, How to Play Them, How They Came to be (NY; Holt, Rinehart & Winston; 1975; ISBN 0-03-015261-5; 280 pgs, ill.) My copy doesn't have the price listed on it. Richard Bell (see listing above) is listed as one of the consultants for the book. The book is documented to the nth degree with photographs of museum pieces and medieval manuscripts. Instructions on building boards and playing pieces are well written, well diagrammed and often photographed in intermediate stages of construction. Games are categorized into: Board & Table Games, Street & Playground Games, Field & Forest Games, Party & Festival Games, and Puzzles, Tricks & Stunts. Additionally the table of contents has cross-indexed each game for: Indoor or Outdoor; Solo, Pair or Group; Mental, Physical or Chance; Playing Time - Short, Medium, Long & Prepartion Time - Short, Medium, Long.

Maguire, Jack Hopscotch, Hangman, Hot Potato, & Ha-ha-ha (Simon & Schuster; 1992; ISBN 0-671-76332-6; 304 pgs; $15) Forward by Bob Keeshan, better known as Captain Kangaroo! An excellent instruction manual, it gives a number of variations for most games. It does not discuss the history of games.

Reeves, Compton Pleasures and Pastimes of Medieval England (England; Alan Sutton Pub.; 1995; ISBN 0-7509-0089-X; 228 pgs) Barnes and Noble recently bought the printing rights for this previously out of print book. It doesn't cover rules for specific games, but the documentation is excellent. Very well illustrated with photos of artifacts and reproductions of historical manuscripts.

Society for Creative Anachronism, Compleat Anachronist pamphlet series (P.O. Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036-0789, $4 each):
Compleat Anachronist #04 "Indoor Games or How to While Away a Siege"
Compleat Anachronist #71 "Period Pastimes"
Compleat Anachronist #78 "Non-European Games"

Sterling Publishing Family Fun & Games (NY; Sterling Pub.; 1994; ISBN 0-8069-8776-6; 800 pgs; $18) No author or editor listed. It's advertised as a reference book and that's what it is. It's a how-to manual that contains directions for virtually every game and type of game known; board games, dice, cards, active games, party games, scavenger hunts, etc. No historical background, however it occasionally mentions that a game is "hundreds of years old."

Comments to: salley@niktow.canisius.edu
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