How to Play Tip-Cat

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

Tip-Cat is an outdoor striking-and-fielding game played with two pieces of shaped wood: a short, double-pointed billet called the cat, and a longer flat bat or stick. The batter uses the bat to tip one end of the cat so it flips into the air, then swings to drive it as far as possible while fielders attempt to catch it or retrieve it quickly. It is fast, physical, and requires sharp timing.

The game's appeal is its simplicity: no specialist pitch, no expensive kit, and rules that scale naturally from a garden knock-about between two children to a competitive multi-player contest. It is most commonly played on open grass, a yard, or any flat outdoor space with enough room to field a hit safely.

A little history

Tip-Cat is widely documented as a popular street and field game across Britain from at least the seventeenth century, and references appear in period literature and local records through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Its origins before that point are unclear. The game was played throughout Europe under various regional names, and closely related forms existed in North America and South Asia, though whether these descended from a common source or developed independently is not established. By the twentieth century it had largely retreated from streets to gardens and rural play, where it is still enjoyed today.

Setting up

1. Mark a small flat striking circle or scratch in the ground, roughly 30 cm in diameter. This is the batter's position.
2. Agree the boundaries of the playing field before the first innings. Any hit beyond a boundary is either a defined maximum score or out, depending on the variant agreed.
3. Decide the order of batting by any fair method such as drawing straws or a coin toss.
4. Agree the number of innings or a target score before play starts. For casual play, three innings each is a common choice.
5. All non-batting players spread out as fielders in the open area beyond the striking circle.

How to play

1. The batter places the cat on the ground at the edge of the striking circle, with one pointed end overhanging a slight hollow or crack if available.
2. The batter strikes the overhanging end of the cat sharply downward with the bat, causing the cat to flip and spring into the air.
3. While the cat is airborne the batter immediately swings the bat and attempts to hit the cat as far as possible into the field.
4. If the batter misses the cat on the strike-up, that counts as one strike. Three missed strikes in a row ends the batter's turn with no score for that attempt.
5. If a fielder catches the cat cleanly before it touches the ground, the batter is out immediately and scores nothing for that turn.
6. If the cat lands uncaught, the batter scores points. The traditional scoring method is for the batter to estimate the distance in bat-lengths from the striking circle to where the cat landed, call a number aloud, and then pace or measure it using the bat. If the cat is indeed at least that many bat-lengths away, the batter scores the number called. If the cat is closer than the number called, the batter scores nothing for that hit.
7. A fielder may challenge the called number by shouting before measurement begins. The measurement then determines whether the batter scores or is penalised, depending on house rules.
8. After scoring (or failing to score) the batter retrieves or receives the cat and plays the next stroke. An innings continues until the batter is caught out or has used all agreed attempts.
9. When the batter's innings ends, the bat passes to the next player in order.
10. Play continues through the agreed number of innings. Running totals are kept and announced after each innings.

Winning and scoring

The player with the highest cumulative score after all innings have been completed wins. There is no standard fixed winning score for Tip-Cat; the winner is simply whoever has scored the most points across all agreed innings. In the event of a tie, one further innings each is played as a tiebreaker, and the process repeats until one player leads after a full tiebreaker round.

The fine points

The most common dispute is over whether the cat was caught cleanly. A clean catch requires the fielder to hold the cat with no assistance from the body: a catch that strikes the chest first and is then gathered does not count. Agree this before play. Equally, a cat that touches the ground and bounces back into a fielder's hands is not a catch; the batter scores normally.

The second frequent argument concerns the distance call. The batter must call a number before the bat is placed on the ground for measurement. Any call made after the bat touches the ground is void and the batter scores zero for that hit regardless of actual distance. It is also worth agreeing before play how fractional bat-lengths are handled: the simplest and most common ruling is to round down to the nearest whole bat-length.

How to win more often

• Strike the tip of the cat cleanly and vertically to get a reliable high flip rather than an unpredictable spin. Consistency in the tip-up stroke is more important than power.
• Call a conservative distance when scoring. Calling one or two bat-lengths fewer than you think you can beat is safer than an ambitious call that leaves you with zero.
• Watch where fielders are positioned and aim your hit into gaps. A shorter hit into open ground still scores; a long hit directly to a fielder scores nothing.
• Practise the timing of the swing separately from the tip-up. The two actions happen very quickly and the lag between them is what most beginners misjudge.
• When fielding, position yourself at a moderate distance rather than far back. Most beginners mis-hit and the cat rarely travels as far as players expect.

Variations

Fixed-Score Tip-Cat

Rather than the batter calling a distance, a fixed points value is agreed for each hit based on where the cat lands within pre-marked zones on the ground. Zones are typically scratched or chalked as concentric arcs at agreed distances from the striking circle. This removes the estimation element entirely and suits younger or newer players who find the calling mechanic confusing.

Team Tip-Cat

Players are divided into two equal teams. One team bats in sequence while the other fields together. Individual scores within each team are summed at the end of an innings. Teams then swap roles. The team with the higher aggregate score after an agreed number of innings wins. This format works particularly well with six or more players and adds a cooperative fielding element absent from the individual game.

Three-Hole Tip-Cat

Three small holes are dug in a line at equal intervals from the striking circle. The cat is rested across the nearest hole for each stroke. After a successful hit, the batter must run to each hole and back before a fielder can return the cat to the striking circle. If the batter completes the run, one point is scored regardless of distance. This variant is closer to a running game and is traditionally documented in some northern English regional accounts.

Last-Man-Standing Tip-Cat

Each player starts with three lives. A caught-out costs one life; calling a distance and failing to meet it also costs one life. A player who loses all three lives is eliminated. The last remaining player wins. This format is well suited to small groups of four or fewer and produces a tense, risk-management element around the distance-calling decision.

Tip-Cat: frequently asked questions