How to Play Skittles (Hood)

By Jaques of London · Est. 1795 · Updated 2026-08-17

Hood Skittles is a traditional British pub game played on a short, railed table or alley, usually tucked into a corner of a pub games room. Nine wooden pins are arranged in a diamond formation and players bowl a flattened disc called a cheese at them from a set throwing distance, taking three throws per turn.

It is fast, sociable, and genuinely competitive without demanding much space. The tactile thump of skittles falling and the skill involved in angling the cheese around the hood make it a pub-games staple that holds its own against darts and dominoes.

A little history

Skittles in various forms has been played in British inns and taverns for several centuries, with documented references to pin-knocking games appearing from at least the seventeenth century. The precise origins of Hood Skittles specifically are unclear, though the game is most strongly associated with the East Midlands of England, particularly Northamptonshire, where organised leagues have existed for well over a hundred years. The hood or canopy over the pin table that gives the game its name is a traditional feature that distinguishes it from long-alley and other regional skittles variants.

Setting up

1. Set the skittles table on a firm, level surface with enough clear space around it for players to stand at the throwing end.
2. Arrange the nine skittles in a diamond formation on the marked spots on the table: one pin at the front (nearest the thrower), two in the second row, three in the middle row, two in the fourth row, and one at the back.
3. Agree on the number of legs (rounds) to be played, typically three or five legs per match.
4. Decide the throwing order. A common method is for each player to throw one cheese and whoever scores highest throws first.
5. Place the three cheeses at the throwing end, ready for the first player.

How to play

1. The first player stands at the throwing line at the near end of the table and throws all three cheeses in succession, one at a time.
2. Each cheese must be thrown underarm and must pass under or strike the hood. A cheese that goes over the hood without touching it scores nothing for that throw.
3. After each throw, count and record the number of skittles knocked down, then reset all standing skittles and re-erect any fallen ones before the next throw.
4. A skittle must fall completely from its spot to count as knocked down. Skittles that lean but do not fall do not score.
5. If a player knocks all nine skittles down with one throw (a strike), all nine are reset immediately and the player continues throwing for the remaining cheeses in that turn.
6. If all nine are knocked down across two throws within a single turn, they are again reset and the player throws the third cheese at a full set of nine.
7. Record the total number of skittles knocked down across all three throws as the player's score for that turn.
8. Play passes to the next player, who repeats the process.
9. Continue until all players have completed the agreed number of legs.

Winning and scoring

The player with the highest total score across all legs wins. In league and match play, each leg is typically treated as a separate contest: the player who scores highest in a leg wins that leg, and the match goes to the player or team winning the most legs. Where individual legs are tied, some local rules award a shared leg or call for a single deciding throw; agree on this before play begins. There is no universally fixed maximum score per turn, but nine pins per throw gives a theoretical maximum of twenty-seven per turn when a full reset is triggered by a strike on the first throw.

The fine points

The most common dispute concerns whether a skittle has truly fallen. A skittle resting against the hood rail or against another skittle without lying flat on the table does not count as down and must be stood back up before the next throw. Similarly, if a cheese knocks a skittle over and it springs back upright unaided before the thrower retrieves the cheese, it is not counted as fallen. Agree a table official or referee before a competitive match to call these decisions consistently.

A cheese that strikes any part of the hood canopy and then goes on to knock down skittles is still a valid throw; only a cheese that clears the hood entirely without contact is void. Skittles knocked down by a fallen skittle that was itself toppled by a valid cheese all count, so chain reactions score fully. Any skittle knocked down by a thrower's body or clothing rather than by the cheese or by another skittle does not count and must be replaced.

How to win more often

• Aim for the front pin first. A well-placed hit on the leading skittle angles its fall into the middle rows and creates the chain reactions that clear multiple pins in one throw.
• Use the side rails to your advantage. The cheese can be banked off the inner rails deliberately to reach pins that are otherwise awkward to hit directly from the throwing line.
• Control your pace and grip. A cheese thrown too hard skips off pins rather than rolling through them. A firm, flat, controlled release produces more reliable knockdowns than brute force.
• After a strike and a reset, note which area of the formation you cleared most cleanly and target the same angle again rather than switching your approach mid-turn.
• When you need a specific score in the final leg rather than maximum pins, aim at the cluster that gives you enough count while leaving your remaining throws as comfortable as possible rather than going for a risky all-or-nothing shot.

Variations

Team Play

Two teams of two to four players compete against each other. Each player still takes their individual turn, but scores are totalled per team at the end of each leg. Team play is the most common format in Northamptonshire league skittles and typically uses five-leg matches with the winning team being the one that takes the most legs.

Killer

Each player is given a set number of lives, commonly three. In each turn, a player who fails to knock down any skittles with any single cheese loses a life. The last player remaining with lives wins. This format is particularly good for mixed-ability groups as even a single knocked pin saves a life and keeps less experienced players in the game longer.

Nominate

Before each throw, the player must call out a specific skittle by its position in the diamond. Only the nominated skittle counts toward the score for that throw; all other skittles knocked down are reset without counting. This demands precise aim and rewards players who have developed genuine control of the cheese's line.

Aggregate Match

Rather than deciding by legs won, both sides accumulate their total pin count across all legs and the team or player with the higher overall aggregate wins. This format rewards consistency and reduces the luck of one strong leg cancelling out several weaker ones, and is sometimes preferred for closely matched pairs or individual head-to-head play.

Skittles (Hood): frequently asked questions