Bat and trap is an English bat-and-ball pub game. It is still played in Kent, and occasionally in Brighton. By the late 20th century it was usually only played on Good Friday in Brighton, on the park called the Level, which has a pub called The Bat and Ball, whose sign depicts the game.
The game is played between two teams of up to eight players. At any one time, one team is batting and the other is bowling. The game involves placing a heavy solid-rubber ball, similar to a lacrosse ball, on one end of a "trap", which is a low wooden box 22 inches (560 mm) long, 5 inches wide, and 5 inches (130 mm) high, on top of which is a simple see-saw mechanism. Each player in turn on the batting side hits the opposite end of the see-saw lever (the "striker") with his or her bat, so as to propel the ball into the air, and then, using the same bat, attempts to hit the ball between two 7-foot (2.1 m) high posts situated 21 yards (19 m) away and 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m) apart at the other end of the playing area, or "pitch".
The bowling side stand behind and between the posts. If any of them catches the ball before it hits the ground the batsman is out. The batsman is also out if he or she fails to hit the ball between the posts at a height not exceeding 7 feet (2.1 m). After each successful hit, one fielder (the one whose turn it is to bowl next), returns the ball to the batting end by hurling, tossing, or bowling it back towards the trap, attached to the front of which is a 5-inch (130 mm) square target, or "wicket", hinged at the bottom. If the bowler hits the wicket with the ball so as to knock it flat, the batsman is "bowled out". If the bowler does not succeed, the batsman scores one run and continues to play. Once all the members of the first batting team are out, the batting and bowling teams change places and the game continues until all players on both sides have batted.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.