Toad in the hole (game)

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Toad in the hole is a pub game, involving throwing brass discs at a hole in a box. A variation of this game has been played in pubs in East Sussex, UK, the 'hole' being in the centre of a large wooden seat set against the wall, the back of the seat being a surface to rebound your shot off. Toad in the hole is a more refined version of the coin-throwing game Pitch penny.

The only known league in the country is based in East Sussex, and has two divisions, involving roughly 14 teams based in pubs around the county. There is also a major competition, dubbed "International Competition", run by Lewes Lions Club and held in Lewes every year. The Laughing Fish from Isfield dominated the toad arena until recently winning the International Competition in 2003, 2004 and 2005, as well as the league in 2004, and the Eastbourne Beer Festival knockout competition in 2004 and 2005, however, they were beaten by a previously unknown team from Worthing, West Sussex in the semis of the 2006 International Competition. The league in 2006 is being won by the Long Man Morris Toad team, with the fish in second.

The game itself involves throwing four brass coins or "toads" from the same distance as a dart board, to a toad table, made of wooden legs and a lead surface. If a toad goes down the hole it scores 2 points, or if it lands on the top it scores 1. If it hits the back of the table, or falls off it is void, so a grand total of 8 points per turn can be scored. Scoring is performed in darts fashion, playing from 31 down. The first competitor throws 2 toads, with their opponent then throwing 3, and from then on they throw all 4, until they reach scores of less than four, wherein only the number of toads equal to the required finishing score may be thrown. Like darts you must finish exactly - scoring more causes you to "bust".

1 International Competition winners
2 The official rules of toads as used at the International Competition
3 References
4 External link

[edit] International Competition winners

1995 Lewes Arms[1]
1996 Lewes Arms
1997 Brack Mount
1998 Lewes Arms
1999 Lewes Working Men's Club
2000 CSBS
2001 Lewes Arms
2002 Swan Cygnets
2003 The Laughing Fish
2004 The Laughing Fish
2005 The Laughing Fish
2006 Old Azurians

[edit] The official rules of toads as used at the International Competition

Throw Scoring: Toad into the hole is 2 points and cleanly on the table without hitting the back is 1 point.

Game Scoring: Starts at 31 for each game and decreases by points scored until 0 is reached. The first team to 0 wins the game.

Starting a Match: A coin may be tossed to see which of the teams is to start the first game.

Starting a Game: At the start of each game the first player in each team uses 2 toads’, the next player uses 3 toads’ and the next player and those thereafter use 4 toads’.

Ending a Game: Where a score of less than 4 is needed to finish a game, then only that number of toads may be used.

Matches: Best of 3 games (5 in the final) but, if a team wins the first 2 games (3 in the final out of 3 or 4), then the match ends.