Giftball

Glossary of Games

Curated by Larry McCray and Jeffrey Kittel
Chart: Predecessor and Derivative Games
Predecessor Games
Derivative Games
Glossary of Games, Full List
Game Families
Baseball · Kickball · Scrub · Fungo · Hat ball · Hook-em-snivy
Untagged Games
Add a Game
Add a Family of Games

Game	Giftball
Game Family	Baseball Baseball
Location	Germany
Regions	Europe
Eras	Predecessor, 1800s
Invented	No
Tags
Description	In Baseball Before We Knew It, [page 207] David Block describes a game in a German manual that “is identical to the early French game of la balle empoisonee,” and that an illustration of two boys playing it “shows it to be a bat-and-ball game." Giftball in German translates literally as "poison ball."
Sources	Jugndspiele zur Ehhjolung und Erheiterung (W. Simmerfled, Tilsit Germany, 1845).  Also. email from Bill Hicklin, 1/24/2016.
Source Image	[[Image:|left|thumb]]
Comment	"Gift is a German word for "poison."  Thus it is conceivable that the German game derived from the French game of Balle Empoisonee.  One can speculate that players were put out when a ball touched them.     Edit with form to add a comment
Query	Edit with form to add a query
Has Supplemental Text

---

Comments

<comments voting="Plus" />