Bagatelle is a billiards-derived indoor table game named after the Chateau de Bagatelle, where it is said to have debuted at a party held for Louis XVI in 1777. Players use a cue to strike a set of balls, historically nine of them, sending them down a narrow table past wooden pins that act as obstacles and into numbered holes guarded by pegs, with penalties incurred if a peg is knocked over. The game spread across Europe as a parlor and pub amusement and is a direct ancestor of pinball, which grew out of coin-operated bagatelle tables in the twentieth century.
Facts
Sport
Game Type (category) Sources
1. Bagatelle (Wikipedia)
Lead
a billiards-derived indoor table game, the object of which is to get a number of balls ... past wooden pins ... into holes that are guarded by wooden pegs
Origin, 1777 party
game debuted at Chateau de Bagatelle party honoring Louis XVI
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