The ball stays on a stringSourced
A swinging ball knocks down the tabletop pins
In the English table-skittles game Devil Among the Tailors, a ball hangs from a post on a string. Swinging it knocks down pins on the table. Rather than rolling away like a bowling ball, it follows a suspended arc that can circle or swing back and forth.
The string changes the route of every strike.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Table skittles · Wikimedia contributors
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Reviewed: 2026-10-05