Comic Quoits Game

A game of quoits took on a whole new dimension with ‘Baby Jim’ the elephant. This ‘comic quoits game’ manufactured in Enfield, England, by a subsidiary of the German toy maker J W Spear & Sons, substitutes the standard wooden target peg with a jolly cardboard football playing elephant mounted in a wooden slot. Like many of the best games, Baby Jim’s rules are pretty basic. Instructions on the box lid read: “Happy as a sandboy is Baby Jim with his football. Stand him up in his box and see if you can throw the rings over his trunk or ball. It isn't so very difficult, so fire away and try...” Rings over the trunk netted ten points, while those landing over the ball scored five. Other lesser points are on offer round his feet, but hit the red square and you lose three points.  Information from the Spear’s Games Archive Trust shows Baby Jim was first sold from the Enfield factory in 1933. Production stopped during World War Two and it was one of the many items dropped when the factory ramped up toy production again in 1945.