Bottle-caps 1900

Bottle-caps is a traditional game originating from the beginning of 20th century. It's probably the ancestor of the Pitch Car game. It uses crown bottle-caps to simulate a race. In its early days it was a cart race, now it usually is a car race. It can be played on a table, on a floor or outdoors.

Players start from making the race track. Depending on the environment they may draw it on a big sheet of paper, arrange it using available objects like books, boxes, tools, etc, draw it with a piece of chalk on a flat surface, or even cut it with a knife on the ground. For some game events the tracks were specially designed and made of gypsum.

Then each player takes his or her bottle-cap, and puts it at the start line. To make the caps heavier they are usually filled with candle wax, gypsum, plasticine, clay, or even lead (for outdoor races only). The race begins then and the players - in appropriate order - finger-flick their bottle-caps towards the finish line, avoiding their "cars" getting out the track or stopping on trap areas that require players to go back, miss a turn etc.