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tipcat


tipcat is a game for two or several players. The 'cat' is a short piece of round wood about 4cm or 5cm in diameter and 15 cm in length, pointed at each end. A player hits downwards at one end of the cat lying on the ground with a length of broomstick about 60cm to 70cm long. The cat jumps into the air and the player hits it as far as he can with the broomstick handle. He judges the distance the cat has travelled, and gives his opponent a number of steps or jumps to reach the cat. A penalty is exacted if the opponent fails to reach the cat (the penalty can be anything agreed on - a marble or whatever). Then the opponent tries to hit the cat further than the other player can reach in the given number of steps or jumps. Tipcat was a game to be played in wide open spaces. The game claimed its share of broken windows and injured players and innocent bystanders. Tipcat was a game for 10 to 12 year old boys and was popular in small country towns in 1920s and 1930s. Closer settlement probably sounded the games death-knell: When it was tipcat season boys would challenge each other to the game. Also, cat.