A 17th century game; a wooden ball was driven along an alley with a mallet.

Roget 840: amusement, entertainment, recreation, fun, game, fun and games; diversion, divertissement; reaction, solace; pastime, passetemps [Fr.], sport; labor of love; pleasure etc. 827.    relaxation; leisure etc. 685.    fun, frolic, merriment, jollity; joviality, jovialness^†; heyday; laughter etc. 838; jocosity, jocoseness^†; drollery, buffoonery, tomfoolery; mummery, pleasantry; wit etc. 842; quip, quirk.    [verbal expressions of amusement: list] giggle, titter, snigger, snicker, crow, cheer, chuckle, shout; horse laugh, belly laugh, hearty laugh; guffaw; burst of laughter, fit of laughter, shout of laughter, roar of laughter, peal of laughter; cachinnation^†; Kentish fire; tiger.    play; game, game at romps; gambol, romp, prank, antic, rig, lark, spree, skylarking, vagary, monkey trick, gambade, fredaine^†, escapade, echappee [Fr.], bout, espieglerie [Fr.]; practical joke etc. (ridicule) 856.    dance; hop, reel, rigadoon^†, saraband^†, hornpipe, bolero, ballroom dance; [ballroom dances: list], minuet, waltz, polka, fox trot, tango, samba, rhumba, twist, stroll, hustle, cha-cha; fandango, cancan; bayadere^†; breakdown, cake-walk, cornwallis [U.S.], break dancing; nautch-girl; shindig [U.S.]; skirtdance^†, stag dance, Virginia reel, square dance; galop^†, galopade^†; jig, Irish jig, fling, strathspey^†; allemande [Fr.]; gavot^†, gavotte, tarantella; mazurka, morisco^†, morris dance; quadrille; country dance, folk dance; cotillon, Sir Roger de Coverley; ballet etc. (drama) 599; ball; bal, bal masque, bal costume; masquerade; Terpsichore.    festivity, merrymaking; party etc. (social gathering) 892; blowout [U.S.], hullabaloo, hoedown, bat [U.S.], bum [U.S.], bust [Slang], clambake [U.S.], donation party [U.S.], fish fry [U.S.], jamboree [Slang], kantikoy^†, nautch^†, randy, squantum [U.S.], tear [Slang], Turnerfest^†, yule log; fete, festival, gala, ridotto^†; revels, revelry, reveling; carnival, brawl, saturnalia, high jinks; feast, banquet etc. (food) 298; regale, symposium, wassail; carouse, carousal; jollification, junket, wake, Irish wake, picnic, fete champetre [Fr.], regatta, field day; treat.    round of pleasures, dissipation, a short life and a merry one, racketing, holiday making.    rejoicing etc. 838; jubilee etc. (celebration) 883.    bonfire, fireworks, feu-de-joie, firecracker.    holiday; gala day, red letter day, play day; high days and holidays; high holiday, Bank holiday; May day, Derby day; Saint Monday, Easter Monday, Whit Monday; Bairam^†; wayz-goos^†, bean feast; Arbor Day, Declaration Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving Day; Mardi gras [Fr.], mi-careme [Fr.], feria [Lat.], fiesta.    place of amusement, theater; hall, concert room, ballroom, assemblyroom^†; music hall.    park, plaisance^†; national park, national forest, state park, county park, city park, vest-pocket park, public park (public) 737.1; arbor; garden etc. (horticulture) 371; pleasure ground, playground, cricketground, croquet ground, archery ground, hunting ground; tennis court, racket court; bowling alley, green alley; croquet lawn, rink, glaciarum^†, skating rink; roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne Russe [Fr.].    game of chance, game of skill.    athletic sports, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament, pugilism etc. (contention) 720; sports etc. 622; horse racing, the turf; aquatics etc. 267; skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis; hockey, football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, basketball; rackets, fives, trap bat and ball, battledore and shuttlecock, la grace; pall-mall, tipcat^†, croquet, golf, curling, pallone^†, polo, water polo; tent pegging; tilting at the ring, quintain [Mediev.]; greasy pole; quoits, horseshoes, discus; rounders, lacrosse; tobogganing, water polo; knurr and spell^†.    [childrens' games] leapfrog, hop skip and jump; mother may I; French and English, tug of war; blindman's bluff, hunt the slopper^†, hide and seek, kiss in the ring; snapdragon; cross questions and crooked answers.   ; crisscross, hopscotch; jacks, jackstones^†, marbles; mumblety-peg, mumble-the-peg, pushball, shinney, shinny, tag &c.; billiards, pool, pingpong, pyramids, bagatelle; bowls, skittles, ninepins, kain^†, American bowls^†; tenpins [U.S.], tivoli.    cards, card games; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage, besique^†, euchre, drole^†, ecarte [Fr.], picquet^†, allfours^†, quadrille, omber, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, boaston^†; blackjack, twenty-one, vingtun [Fr.]; quinze [Fr.], thirty-one, put, speculation, connections, brag, cassino^†, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snoren^†, lift smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, Napoleon, patience, pairs; banker; blind poker, draw poker, straight poker, stud poker; bluff, bridge, bridge whist; lotto, monte, three-card monte, nap, penny-ante, poker, reversis^†, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-neighbor; baccarat.    [cards: list] ace, king, queen, knave, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, trey, deuce; joker; trump, wild card.    [card suits: list] spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds; major suit, minor suit.    bower; right bower, left bower; dummy; jackpot; deck.    [hands at poker: list] pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full-house, four of a kind, royal flush; misere &c.. [board games: list] chess, draughts, checkers, checquers, backgammon, dominos, merelles^†, nine men's morris, go bang, solitaire; game of fox and goose; monopoly; loto &c.; [word games: list], scrabble, scribbage, boggle, crossword puzzle, hangman.    morra^†; gambling etc. (chance) 621.    toy, plaything, bauble; doll etc. (puppet ) 554; teetotum^†; knickknack etc. (trifle) 643; magic lantern etc. (show) 448; peep show, puppet show, raree show, gallanty show^†; toy shop; quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles" [Milton]. entertainer, showman, showgirl; dancer, tap dancer, song-and-dance man; vaudeville act; singer; musician etc. 416.    sportsman, gamester, reveler; master of ceremonies, master of revels; pompom girl^†; arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.]; arbiter bibendi [Lat.], archer, fan [U.S.], toxophilite^†, turfman^†.    ... show more