Bagatelle (from theChâteau de Bagatelle) is abilliards-derived indoortable game, the object of which is to get a number of balls (set at nine in the 19th century) past wooden pins (which act as obstacles) into holes that are guarded by wooden pegs; penalties are incurred if the pegs are knocked over. It probably developed from the table made with raised sides fortrou madame, which was also played with ivory balls[1] and continued to be popular into the later 19th century, after which it developed intobar billiards, with influences from the French/Belgian gamebillard russe (with supposed Russian origins). A bagatelle variant using fixed metal pins,billard japonais, eventually led to the development ofpachinko andpinball.
Table games involving sticks and balls evolved from efforts to bring outdoor games likeground billiards,croquet, andbowling inside for play during inclement weather. They are attested in general by the 15th century, although the 19th-century idea that bagatelle itself derived from the English "shovel-board" described inCharles Cotton's 1674Compleat Gamester[2] has since been disregarded.[3]
InFrance, during the long 1643–1715 reign ofLouis XIV, billiard tables were narrowed, with wooden pins or skittles at one end of the table, and players would shoot balls with a stick or cue from the other end, in a game inspired as much bybowling as billiards. Pins took too long to reset when knocked down, so they were eventually fixed to the table, and holes in the bed of the table became the targets. Players could ricochet balls off the pins to achieve the harder scorable holes. Quite a number of variations on this theme were developed.
In 1777, a party was thrown in honour ofLouis XVI and the queen at theChâteau de Bagatelle, recently erected at great expense by the king's brother, theCount of Artois.Bagatelle fromItalianbagattella, signifies 'a trifle', 'a decorative thing'. The highlight of the party was a new table game featuring a slender table and cue sticks, which players used to shootivory balls up an inclined playfield. The game was dubbedbagatelle by the count and shortly after swept through France.[4]
The name "bagatelle" was first used to describe such a game in 1819.[5] Its dimensions soon standardised at 1 ft 9 in x 7 ft (53 cm x 213 cm).[1] Some French soldiers carried their favorite bagatelle tables with them to America while helping to fight the British in theAmerican Revolutionary War.[6] Bagatelle spread and became so popular in America as well that a political cartoon from 1863 depicts US PresidentAbraham Lincoln playing a small tabletop version of bagatelle against presidential rivalGeorge B. McClellan.[7]
As of 2022[update], bagatelle is still played competitively in the Chester area ofCheshire, England.[8] The Chester and District Bagatelle League is believed to be the last surviving bagatelle league in the world.[9]
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