| Put & Take tops were very popular
from the 19th century to about the 1940’s.
They could be carried in ones pocket and used anytime
in a bar or other gathering place for an impromptu
gambling session. Each player would contribute chips, coins
or currency to a pot. They would take turns
spinning the top. Some tops had six sides,
others eight sides. The roots of the game can
be traced far back -- four-sided
Hebrew Chanukah dreidel and Victorian England pub
games. Other web sites:
Thomas' Spinning
Tops Collection, here (Arjan Verweij dice
home page), and here (Arjan Verweij
put and take page), and here
. If it landed T1, T2 or T3, the player who spun it would win (take) 1, 2 or 3 chips, respectively, from the pot. If it landed with the star or “Take All” showing, he would take all the chips from the pot. If it landed P1, P2 or P3, he would lose (put) 1, 2 or 3 of his chips, respectively, into the pot. If it landed "0" or “Put All” or “All Put,” he would have to match the pot or lose all his chips or each player would have to contribute to the pot, depending on the rules. I have one set of rules where a land on "0" would mean just that the top passes to the next person. In the many pictures below are some of the over 50 Put and Takes in my collection, plus some similar horse racing and dice tops. Towards the bottom of the page, I show some put and takes that I do not own. Be sure to see the sixth picture below (the one with the three red celluloid tops), which show how Put and Take tops can be rigged for cheating! Some of the tops spin easier than others. For tops that are difficult to spin, try this technique: you have to (1) press it down firmly against the surface, (2) make sure it is upright and still; and (3) then twist it. Experiment with your top. |
| Pictured above are
the most common type of Put and Takes. They
were usually small, about an inch high,
and made of brass. They can be distinguished from
each other in a variety of ways, as is apparent on
this page. ¶ 6-sided ones. In groups "5" and "7," above, the words are lined up with (go in the same direction as) the stem of the Put and Take top. These are invariably 6-sided put and takes, and they have words (like "put two") on the sides, not short-hand "P2", "T1," etc. ... ... ... 8-sided ones. In the other groupings the words are upright/perpendicular to the stem. These are invariably 8-sided put and takes. The 8-sided ones also invariably (but not always) have a star on one side (meaning "take all"), a "0" on another side (meaning put all or all put), and short-hand P2, T1, etc., (not words) on the other sides. ... ... .... I find that the 6-sided ones are more common than the 8-sided ones. ¶ In group "1" and "3" the tops are 'bi-level." That is, there are two independently moving parts. In "1" the P's and T's are on the top level and the amounts (1, 2, 3, etc.) are on the lower level. Also in "1," some of the tops represent two dice. In group "3," generally the pay-off odds are indicated in the top level, and the name of a horse is on the bottom level; the horse-betting ones have the name of famous race horses and were copyrighted in the 1920's. ¶ In groups "4" and "5," the letters have no serifs (those short, fancy hanging lines at the ends of the letters, like the letter "T" here), while in "2" and "7" there are serifs. ¶ The tops in group "6" are made of sterling. ¶ The tops in "2" and "4" are 8-sided. The others are 6-sided. |
| These are other miscellaneous
metal Put and Takes. A number
of them are sterling. Note the
different sizes. One near the upper left
is a pin. The dark one near the upper right
is a cube-shaped metal Put and Take. Just below
it is a 4-sided top. The two at the lower right
and lower left have internal spinning dials. The
reddish one near the top has a needle and thread inside. |
| These Put and Takes
are non-metal. About half are made
of catalin; others bone, wood, celluloid
and ordinary plastic. Some are bi-level.
Three of them are mechanical lead pencils
that are to be rolled for the Put and Take effect. Two
of the tops are celluloid advertising pieces --
one touts Manbeck's Bread ("A winner everywhere"); the
other says "You don't gamble when you buy Trenton
Crackers." The white 4-sided one at the bottom
is made of ivory. The one next to it is 4-sided
wood. The red one next to it is plastic with a compartment
for solid perfume. |
|
I own a pair of Put and Take dice like
these. Mine are made of French ivory, a type of plastic like celluloid
where an imitation ivory grain is printed on the dice. On the standard
Put and Take tops there are different rules for "PA" or "AP" -- the spinner
can put up one unit or match the pot, or all the players might have to put
in chips. Here there is no doubt. One die has on its sides: P,
P, T, T, Take All, and Every Body Ante. The other die says: 1 2 2 3
3 4. |
| Put and Take Punchboards |
|
These are Put and Take punch boards
and punch cards. |
|
This neat little punchboard has a picture of the
whole family enjoying a put and take game!. The seller describes the
punchboard as " Unused 1935. Board is 6" by 4-3/8"
by 5 /8" full color printed, boys and girls playing dreidel game, with
spinner, 300 punches, green, red and white boarders. Back has
game title Put & Take, Gradner Guarenteed Salesboard, serial numbered,
operator number, guarenteed, Made by Gardner & Co 2209 Archer Ave Chicago.
Has punch, paper cover, split , punch present.
Has red, white, blue, NRA Eagle Member US, for national recovery act, 1935."
|
| These are combination
games that include Put and Take (also called Plus
and Minus on one). The bottom
one is made of wood. It is, among other things,
a roulette wheel. It is 14" in diameter, was
copyrighted 1933 by the Cardinal Co., Dallas,
Texas. |
| The above three pictures
show how a Put and Take can be
rigged for cheating. The
typed instructions came with the rigged tops
when ordered from a gambling supply house.
The scanned instructions and catalog page
are from the K.C.. Card Co.-Mason & Co. "Blue
Book" (copyright 1932), which at that time had offices
in eight major cities across the U.S. Notice how the middle ones are nice and symmetrical -- straight/fair/honest. In both pictures, notice how the tops on the right are shaved on the lower right side of the "T2" face, and the tops on the left are shaved on the lower left side of of the "T2" face. Knowing this would give a favorable percentage to the user; he wouldn't always win on every spin, but would come out a winner in the long run. These are 8-sided tops. The "takes" are opposite each other (for example, opposite the "T2" is a "T3"). Likewise with the "puts." So it would work this way, using the top on the left as an example (the one where the left bottom of the "T2" face is shaved some): if you spun the top clockwise (as a right handed person ordinarily would), it would more often land on the "put" side because if the top slowed down near the "T2" side, it would continue past the extra rounded (shaved) edge and land on the adjoining Put side (or as the Instructions put it more simply: "When spun to the right, a Put will show....."). And as you would expect, on this top, all four of the Take sides are shaved on the bottom left, and on all four Put sides, all of the bottom rights are shaved. Just the opposite would happen if you spin the same top counterclockwise or the top on the right clockwise. |
