This tabletop Bagatelle game was donated to the Museum in 1982. Its maker is unknown, nor is it's age known. The donor indicated that it probably was made in Canada either as a individual project, or as one in a series as part of a "cottage industry".
The board, 56.3cm long x 31.5cm wide x 3cm high, is made of wood and arch shaped at the top. Nails, placed at random on the board's surface, are used as marble deflectors and target areas. The targes are the three painted horseshoes.
For proper play, the top of the board should be raised upon a support on the table so that the bottom of the board sits on the table and the entire board slants downward toward the player. Like most standard tabletop Bagatelle games, this game was designed for a right-handed player. On the right side of the board is a Runway - a covered wooden channel painted red, in which to place a marble. The function of the Runway is to direct the marble to the top surface of the board. When a marble is placed in the Runway and the board is properly slanted, the marble rolls down the Runway and rests against a Plunger - a spring-loaded cylindrical rod which when operated by the player, propels the marble up the Runway.
When a player pulls the Plunger and releases it, the Plunger cylinder hits the marble, propels it up the Runway, and then gravity takes over and the marble rolls down the slated board surface. The degree of propulsive force upon the marble is dependent upon how far out a player extents the Plunger from the board and how quickly the Plunger is released. Different degrees of force cause the marble (during its decent on the board surface) to rebound against the sides of the board and against the embedded nails which act as deflectors. As the marble rebounds against the nails it rolls down the board's surface, it either falls into a "horseshoe" (resulting in a player accumulating scoring points as marked in the area), or the marble comes to rest at the bottom of the board
Last update February 25, 2010