Push-pin

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Push-pin was an English child's game popular in the 1500s and 1600s. The game is played by two or more players who each set one pin (needle) on the brim of a hat. Each player takes turns tapping on the sides of the hat trying to cause pins to cross one another, and if so, takes those pins. In this way it is a gambling game, where a player could lose his pins, which were valuable as a rare imported commodity at that time. Boys and men might stash several pins on a sleeve or lapel to be prepared to play.

Push-pin was immortalized by Jeremy Bentham when he wrote in The Rationale of Reward that "Prejudice apart, the game of push-pin is of equal value with the arts and sciences of music and poetry." In this way he uses push-pin as an example of an innocent, trivial diversion which brings pleasure to the players.

[edit] References

Francis Willughby's Book of Games ISBN 1859284604
ANNALS of PHILADELPHIA AND PENNSYLVANIA, VOL. II Chapter 42 FINAL APPENDIX of the YEAR 1856. NOTES and REFLECTIONS on SOCIAL CHANGES and PROGRESS IN GENERAL.