# Tip-cat > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tip-cat > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Tip-cat.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-cat > Source revision: 1312443932 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|Children's stick game}} {{More citations needed|date=December 2019}} [[File:ALPP - Tip-Cat.png|thumbnail|right|Tip–cat being played. From ''[A Little Pretty Pocket-Book](/source/A_Little_Pretty_Pocket-Book)'', 1767]] '''Tip-cat''' (also called '''cat''', '''cat and dog''', '''one-a-cat''', '''pussy''', or '''piggy''') is a pastime which consists of tapping a short billet of wood, usually no more than {{convert|3|to|6|in|cm|0}}, with a larger stick similar to a baseball bat or broom handle. The shorter piece is tapered or sharpened on both ends so that it can be "tipped up" into the air when struck by the larger, at which point the player attempts to swing or hit it a distance with the larger stick while it is still in the air (similar to swinging at a pitch in [baseball](/source/baseball) or [cricket](/source/cricket)).{{Cite web|date=2020-05-01|title=Çelik Çomak Oyunu Nedir {{!}} Kuralları {{!}} Nasıl Oynanır?|url=https://www.oyunbilim.com/geleneksel/celik-comak-oyunu/|access-date=2020-06-06|website=OyunBilim|language=tr}} There are many varieties of the game, but in the most common, the batter, having placed the billet, or "cat", in a small circle on the ground, tips it into the air and hits it to a distance. Their opponent then makes an offer of a certain number of points, based upon their estimate of the number of hops or jumps necessary to cover the distance. If the batter thinks the distance is underestimated, they are at liberty to decline the offer and measure the distance in jumps, and to score the number made.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Tip-cat|volume=26|page=1003}} == In popular culture == [Italo Calvino](/source/Italo_Calvino) has written a short story "Making Do" (in English, "Chi si contenta" in Italian), published in the collection ''Numbers in the Dark and Other Stories'' in which the only thing left legal for the citizens to do is to play tip-cat ([Lippa](/source/Lippa_(sport)) in the Italian), which they do all day, until even that is forbidden them, too. A variant of the Italian 'lippa' is 'lizza'. ==Variations== Variants of the game include: * [Gillidanda](/source/Gillidanda) in southern Europe and the Indian subcontinent * [Billarda](/source/Billarda) in the Canary Islands * [Lippa](/source/Lippa_(sport)) in Italian, but the game has a large number of dialectal names too * [Țurca](/source/%C8%9Aurca) in Romania and Moldavia * [Cead](/source/Cead), or [cleas na slise](/source/cleas_na_slise) in Ireland * [Jachigi](/source/Jachigi) in South Korea * [Alak Dolak](/source/Alak_Dolak) in Iran. * [Knurr and Spell](/source/Knurr_and_Spell) in West Yorkshire * Dainty in the [Louisville](/source/Louisville%2C_Kentucky) neighborhood of Germantown-[Schnitzelburg](/source/Schnitzelburg%2C_Louisville) * [Nipsi](/source/Nipsi) in [Pennsylvania Dutch](/source/Pennsylvania_Dutch) communities.Shoemaker, Alfred L. "Let's All Play Nipsi," The Pennsylvania Dutchman, volume 1, no. 3. Lancaster, PA, Thursday, May 19, 1949, p. 2. https://dspace.fandm.edu/bitstream/handle/11016/24033/Vol1No.3.pdf?sequence=1 * A version in [Walsall](/source/Walsall), England, in the 1950s, where the cat was struck towards a [wicket](/source/wicket) and could be intercepted by opposing fielders. ==See also== * [Giddy-gaddy](/source/Giddy-gaddy) * [British folk sports](/source/British_folk_sports) *[Dandi biyo](/source/Dandi_biyo) ==References== {{Reflist}} Category:Outdoor games --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tip-cat](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-cat) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip-cat?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.