Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-16
BOSTON'S LATEST CRAZE.
People of the Hub Going Mad Over a
New Game.

New Game.
Boston is going crazy over new game.
1t is called the Mercury Bowler and is
only a lap behind the "ParesIs Generator
in the number of it's victims who have
found their way to asylums. The Journal
describes it in this way:
The bowler is an oblong frame, about
eight inches long by two wide and perhaps
half an inch deep. a raised Galley Of
celluloid runs it's length, with depressed
place all around it, except at the foot,where
1t broadens out to- the full width. AT the
other end are ten small holes. placed in the
order of and numberea as the pins on
regular bowling alley isThe whole is roof
ed with sheet Of transparent pyraline,
which looks like glass but cannot be
broken. ID
So far so good. Now for the joker. This
q little ball of quicksilver about the
size of a large pea. LII rolls about the in
side of the machine inf the easy and Slip
perry fashion for which quicksilver is ia
nous. The pyraline cover prevents its es-
cape, and depriveS you of the satisfaction
of scattering the stuff to the four winds.
The quicksilver bubble is as lively as
frsky calf, and as uncomfortable. The idea
is to get it all down at the foot of the al
ley concentrated in single mass, and
then, by a series of rolls, generally three,
fill the ten holes at the other end. When
any portion runs Off the alley the roll is
over. But it may be kept on top and ex-
pertly juggled from one hole to another
with perfect propriety.
This looks surprisingly easy, and as you
latch another fellow wrestling with the
thing you smile complacently and think
what an ass he is anyway. When he has
thrown it down, you pick it up and try 1t
yourself
TN roll you for the cigars?" says he.
'All right! you make reply.
Regular bowling rules?
yes
A penny is tossed in the air to see who
will take the first roll. You lose and are
condemned to start the ball a-rolling. You
rather gingerly level the little wooden
frame in your hands, and note the little
glistening bullet of mercury in a corner.
A slight tip and it gldes swiftly down to
the lower end, all ready TO be projected at
the ten empty holes.
Now were off, you exclaim, suddenly
fitting it an angle of "a degrees or there
abouts.
Zip! Like a streak the quicksilver has
gone to the other end and not touched a
hole.
One roll
Next time you take more care. Slowly,
with an infinite tenderness, you tip the
frame. Hello! What's that? The quick
silver starts and wriggles over the edge
Of the alley, cavorting around the end with
a gaiety and abandon that makes you set
your teeth. No score.
Two rolls.
Cautiously you essay your third and
last frame. You try to balance that slip
perry ball in the middle so that you may
roll it down the center of the alley. But
it refuses to stay in the center. From
side to side it runs like thing bewitched.
In despair you try to start it toward the
holes while 1t is in its mad career
Four rolls.
1t is on the edge like meteor, and your
virgin score remains blank.
Now watch the other fellow. With
1,0 fhn in,
corner, and a sideway tilt sends it gliding
athwart. An imperceptible wrist motion
checks it half way, and before it can re-
turn the level is changed, and gravity
and his grasp like iron. Again the slope is
changed and the onward course of the
mercury checked. He stops it at the first
hole, where it is anchored" and sways
about like an anchored balloon in a breeze.
The bowler deftly inclnes it toward No.
9 and in moment it spans the intervening
space like a silver bridge A shake and
the bridge breaks, leaving a minute par
ticle in No. 1. In like manner it is spilled
from No 2 to No. 3. Hence to No. g. to
No and No. 4. But here a disaster oc-
ours. He shakes trifle too sharply and
with a triumphant flash the bubble of mer-
and four empty.
One roll.
Now he tries again. Again its flight is
slowed up and by good luck the bright
globe coalesces with the portion in No. 4.
A shake and it. reaches to No. Z. An
other and it is wabblihg alone in No. Z.
Now the bowler very slowly tips the frame
sideways The quicksilver hangs over the
edge of the hole like pear. A hairbreadth
more inclination and it breaks away and
flows swiftly ovef the remaining three
holes, leaving a particle in each.
"Spare!' says the bowler, with noncha-
At your next try yoW shoot wildly three
times, and by some hbcus-pocus manage
to get pin point of mercury into two
of the three holes. and are gravely credited
with two" on yotr score.
Your opponent takes five at his next
roll, making him rs with the spare in
all, which brings his total score up to "A.
The contrast between a and is so evil
dent that you buy the cigars and go to
practicing You find that strike" is
merely possible and spare" very rare,
and bye-and-bye you go out sadly.