I've been reading some Wodehouse recently and I've come across a reference to a game called "fives". As far as I know it's played between two people. Any ideas?

RickF

Basically, it's squash played without a racquet - using bare hands http://www.etonfives.co.uk/about.fives/brief.history.html Nov 22 04, 10:23 AM

picqero

There are games called 'Rugby fives' and the soccer game of 'five-a-side football', but i think the P.G.Wodehouse version would be the two player game akin to the game of 'squash' played with padded gloves instead of with bats. There is an excellent description of this game, including its history, at http://hometown.aol.co.uk/edinburghfives/what_is.html Nov 22 04, 10:28 AM

Puffy_Benger

In "A Wodehouse Handbook" Vol. 2, Col. Murphy writes: Fives is a game akin to handball, i.e. hitting a ball with your hand against a wall. There are three major versions: Rugby Fives, Eton Fives and Winchester Fives. Gloves are worn to protect the hands of the players. He writes half a page about the game, and even shows us a picture of a 'Fives bat', which is in fact the thing Wodehouse refers to. Feb 26 07, 5:43 AM