Eight Metal Horses & Minoru Playing Mat

Description

Minoru game mat and eight painted lead horses that can be used for the parlour games of Minoru or Ascot.  Pictured here are he mat and 8 horses in a ‘barely there’ box.  Also pictured are images of the box for Minoru & what the game of Ascot looked like when played, for reference.

Minoru is a British horse racing game manufactured by John Jacques sometime between 1900 – 1910.  Minoru was typically played with six horses that are die cast metal painted in different colours to designate racing teams. The large playing surface is folded printed canvas. Named for King Edward VII’s Epsom Derby-winning Irish thoroughbred racehorse, Minoru, the game Minoru was a popular parlour game, kept available in the lounge of hotels and clubs as well as in homes between the world wars.  A complete game includes original instructions, original croupier rake, 6 painted metal horses and racetrack with cards and counters.

The metal horses, as in all pre-first war examples, have eyes sticking out from the horses’ chests for the attachment of thread to enable them to be used in the earlier mechanical game of Ascot, also by Jaques.

The Ascot game featured a very unique method of determining the winner of the race.  The game itself was a large wooden box.  It had up to 8 horses attached to the box with wires.  A hand crank on the side of the box attached to the horses by a variety of gears was turned resulting in a different horse winning the race.  Players bet on which horse would indeed win the race.