Traditional Games scheduled for the Change Islands Squidathlon

The Change Islands Squidathlon is scheduled for Sunday, Aug 21, 2022. This annual event includes afternoon events that are reviving games played in the past on the island. This includes Change Islands style ball, piddly, and skittles. For more information check out the Squidathlon of Change Islands Facebook Page. 

Change Islands style Ball (1:30pm) : A popular island game played more regularly in the past with local aspects such as no second base and no foul balls with the ball pictured below.

Change Islands style ball

Change Islands style bat and ball

Piddly (3pm) : Piddly, also known as Tiddly in some communities, will be back.

Skittles (3:45pm) : Peter Porter, Olde Shoppe Museum, as a young boy recalls seeing Skittles being played behind the SUF Hall. Rules in the old country vary however and we plan to reintroduce a version by a local replicating nine skittle pins similar to the one on display in the museum. As the ball aka cheese we have officially adopted the use of turnips.

Skittle pin from the Olde Shoppe Museum.

Recreated skittles pins, and a turnip for ball or cheese.

If you are interested in learning more about Piddly (also known as Tiddly) you can check out this short video from the 2017 Carbonear World Cup of Tiddly:

If you want to learn more about children's games in Newfoundland and Labrador check out the Provincial Historic Commemorations Designation page all about Traditional Games of Newfoundland and Labrador. You can read through two commemorations research papers, and read the booklet Looking Back: Games We Played.