Jeu de paume
Another theory is that the scoring nomenclature came from the French game "jeu de paume" (a precursor to tennis which initially used the hand instead of a racket). Jeu de paume was very popular before the French Revolution, with more than 1,000 courts in Paris alone. The traditional court was 90 feet ("pieds du roi") in length with 45 feet on each side. When the server scored, he or she moved forward 15 feet. If the server scored again, he or she would move another 15 feet. If the server scored a third time, he or she could only move 10 feet closer.