Object number
M.2000.50
Title
"Owzthat" The Cricket Game for all Weathers
Material
Size
Metal case: l x w x h: 2.6 x 3 1.2 cm
Description
Small metal box containing two cylindrical dice. Rules are included and are as follows: ‘1. The number of players can be one or more on each team, but each team should have the same numbers of players. 2. The team to bat first decided in the usual way by the spin of a coin or by mutual agreement. 3. The batsman’s dice has six surfaces marked “1,” “4,” “3,” “2,” “6” and “OWZTHAT” respectively. 4. The bowler’s dice also has six surfaces, but the inscriptions on these are “BOWLED,” “CAUGHT,” “NOT OUT,” STUMPED,” “LBW,” “NO BALL”. 5. The batsman rolls his dice first and, if a number turns up, he places that number of runs to his score; he then rolls the dice again and if a number again turns up this is added to his score; he continues to roll the dice in this way until “ OWZTHAT” turns up. 6. The bowler now rolls his dice; if “BOWLED,” “CAUGHT,” “STUMPED” OR “LBW” turn up the batsman’s innings is finished, and the next on the batting team takes the dice. If, however, “NOT OUT” or “NO Ball” turns up, the batsman proceeds with his innings as before, adding one to his score in event of a “no ball” turning up. 7. The winning team is the one which scores most runs.’
Display caption
"Owzthat" The Cricket Game for all Weathers
Circa 1945
Players: 1-2
Themes: Simulation, pocket game, travel game, home-made game, dice rolling, pencil cricket
Owzthat is a simple simulation of cricket using two hexagonally-shaped dice, one labelled with numbers, the other with words.
The simplicity of the game generated much excitement at every ball for boys up and down the country. Makeshift versions of the game were developed by school boys in pre-war Britain using hexagonally-shaped pencils. By the 1940s manufactured pocket-sized versions were cheaply and widely available in British newsagents, a perfect stocking-filler at Christmas.
Victory in the game was effectively down to chance with no prior knowledge or skill of cricket required. Real life high scoring batsmen didn’t survive in the Owzthat world. The game appealed to the imagination with players often adding their own commentary.
Michael Simkins discusses Owzthat in his book Fatty Batter, describing the role of ‘the players of (his) imagination’ and the appeal of being ‘the only one who knew who any of them were’ so that ‘there would be no real-life parallel’ and ‘no disappointment’. The game was repetitive and the outcome random which created excitement: ‘High drama here, Peter. Everyone’s gaze is at the umpire, he’s having a long look, and it might take a moment as the other roller seems to have gone under the bed…’
Owzthat, in its various forms, has been played for over seventy years. A variation of this game was made by Ginger Fox using pencils in 2014.
MCC Collections
M.2000.50
6.7 – dice
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