_A War Game._--Most boys are familiar with the game known as
"Tiddley-winks," in which the object is to make small bone counters hop
into a cup by pressing their edges with a large bone counter.
These materials can be used for a very interesting war game, consisting
of the siege of a fort. The fort is simply a front elevation, similar to
that shown in Fig. 14. This is drawn out in pencil on a piece of stout
cardboard (or fretwood) and coloured in with paints or crayons. The
windows are then cut out; and the whole thing made to stand upright by
the addition of two or three triangular supports (Fig. 15). These are
hinged on to the back by means of strong tape or canvas, so that the
whole thing can pack up flat.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.]
Each player in turn places his small counters (generally six) anywhere
in front of the fortress. He is now the attacking party, and his object
is to shoot his counters through the different windows. If he succeeds
in sending a counter through a window, then he "kills" that number of
the enemy. The winner may be either the person who secures the greatest
number of "kills" in a certain number of attempts--twenty-four, for
instance--or the person who first succeeds in scoring say 50 "kills."
Any shot missing the fort entirely--_i.e._ going right over or missing
at the sides--is a wasted shot, and counts one off the player's score.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.]