Skip to content
cup-and-ball
EntityQ10971633· pop 15· linked from 106 articles

cup-and-ball

Sign in to save

Also known as ball in a cup, ring and pin, boliche, bilboquet, kendama, balero, bilbocatch

Cup-and-ball (or ball in a cup) or ring and pin is a traditional children's toy. It is generally a wooden handle to which a small ball is attached by a string and that has one or two cups, or a spike, upon which the player tries to catch the ball. It is popular in Spanish-speaking countries, where it is called by a wide number of names (including boliche in Spain, Capirucho in El Salvador and balero in most of Hispanic America), and was historically popular in France as the bilboquet. A similar toy with three cups and a spike called kendama is very popular in Japan and has spread globally in p

Key facts

Game.italic title
Yes
Game.title
Cup-and-ball
Game.image_link
Bilboquet.jpg
Game.image_caption
French bilboquet
Game.ages
2+
Game.playing_time
About 45 seconds to a few minutes per round
Game.random_chance
Low
Game.skills
Hand-eye coordination

via Wikipedia infobox

Wikidata facts

Instance of
game of skill
Subclass of
toy
Image
Bilboquet.jpg
Show 1 more fact
Commons category
Bilboquet

via Wikidata · CC0

~5 min read

Encyclopedic overview

9 sections
Contents
  • History
  • Americas
  • France
  • Iberian world
  • England
  • Japan
  • Germany
  • Gameplay
  • References

Cup-and-ball (or ball in a cup) or ring and pin is a traditional children's toy. It is generally a wooden handle to which a small ball is attached by a string and that has one or two cups, or a spike, upon which the player tries to catch the ball. It is popular in Spanish-speaking countries, where it is called by a wide number of names (including boliche in Spain, Capirucho in El Salvador and balero in most of Hispanic America), and was historically popular in France as the bilboquet. A similar toy with three cups and a spike called kendama is very popular in Japan and has spread globally in popularity.

==History==

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “cup-and-ball” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

Gallery (3)