A Game of Put and Take

December 22, 2016

One of the most treasured Hanukkah traditions is of course spinning the dreidel in order to win that big pile of chocolate gelt! The game, which was popularized in sixteenth-century Germany, involves spinning a four-sided top. While this game commemorates the origins of Hanukkah, later versions of the game were created for secular play and simple gambling.

A cousin of the dreidel, the teetotum is a multi-sided top that includes either numerals or in the case of this brass model, English instructions. Popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the game of Put and Take involved two or more players spinning the teetotum and following the directions on the face-up side in order to win (or lose) money from a pot. The game, which was easily set up and could be played almost anywhere, became a huge craze in the 1920s and 1930s. The game was met with controversy in many places due to being associated with gambling and eventually faded in popularity. We’ll stick to chocolate coins, thank you!