Slapcock, Battledore or Shuttlecock – these are all names for this game. Shuttlecock is the name we use now – in the 17^th century it was decided that ‘slapcock’ was too rude a name!

This is a very old game that has links with modern tennis, badminton and other racquet games. It is played with two solid wooden bats and a shuttlecock made of wood, leather and feathers. There are many ways of playing. It can be played as a pair, but in Tudor times – and this version is a replica of the Tudor version– it was also played by a group of players standing in a circle and randomly hitting the ball to each other. This kept the players on their toes. It can also be played by a single player repeatedly hitting upwards like a footballer doing kick-ups. Another version is to have a hoop or circle on the ground and the players hit their shuttlecock to see who can get closest to the centre. The most skilful version is Cock-a-Hoop, in which the shuttlecock is thrown back and forth between a hoop.

It is easy to make a version of this game using MDF board for the bats and shop bought or home made shuttlecocks. You can try out these variations or make up your own game.

There are images in wood cuts and other illustrations of this game being played in England from the Middle Ages onwards, though the game originally came from China and Japan. Cyril Hobbins in his book Traditional wooden toys: their history and how to make them, makes an amusing link between this game and reading. The Horn book (see related object) was an early reading tool – shaped like a bat with letters and numbers carved or stuck on to it and covered with sheet horn. School children realised that this could be used as a bat for a game of battledore or shuttlecock. Later in the 18^th century basic story or alphabet books for small children became known as battledores. These could not be used for playing!