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 The origins of the Quoit
can be traced back to the very ancient Chakram,
a ring-shaped metal blade used as a weapon of war, and later in
history, to the Discus throw of the ancient Greek Olympics. The
Discus was also referred to as a Quoit in many Greek writings and
mythological tales. In its original form it was a flat, tapered
disk made of stone, iron, or bronze. The Discus was by far the
most popular event of the Olympic games, so many spectators who watched
the athletes perform the Discus throw in competition eagerly sought to imitate the
sport at home. Those who were wealthy paid to have custom iron or bronze
disks or rings
made for their personal use; others who could not afford the expense made do with objects they could find
or craft
themselves.
At some undocumented point in history, stakes in the ground were added
to change the Game from one of distance to one of accuracy.
During
the period of the Roman conquest of Europe, the Romans shod their
warhorses with circular rings of iron weighing about 4 pounds apiece.
These "shoes" were not nailed to the horses' hooves but rather
were strapped to them with leather thongs. The rings were a
fair imitation of a Discus or Quoit, so the soldiers began tossing the
worn-out shoes in their leisure time. When horseshoes later
developed into the open U-shape familiar now, the soldiers would either
bend them into crude rings or just pitch
them as they were. Thus, Horseshoes became the economical
substitute for soldiers and commoners who did not have access to the
expensive, forged sets of Quoits.
The Roman conquest brought Quoits to Britain, and by
the 1300’s the game became a hugely popular pastime there, especially
among English Noblemen. British settlers eventually brought Quoits
to America in the late 1600's, where it flourished throughout the Colonies. Just
as in Britain, quoits in America were played by both elitists and commoners alike. Quoits remained a favorite game in the
eastern part of the country, while the settlers moving westward, with
their natural dependency on horses, made Horseshoe pitching a popular game in the Midwest. By the early 1900’s, New York, Brooklyn,
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Newark, Paterson, Fall River,
Providence, and other New England cities were host to the best
Quoiting facilities and the top players in the East, while
Chicago, St. Louis, Denver and San Francisco were highly competitive Quoiting areas in the West.
Then, in 1920, an unknown Horseshoe pitcher discovered a
technique that enabled him to to throw consistent and repeated ringers
with standard pitching Horseshoes. The rookie pitcher entered and easily won that year’s national Horseshoe competition,
becoming infamous overnight. Soon
everyone excitedly swarmed to the game of Horseshoe pitching to learn
how to master the ringer pitch themselves. This was a major blow
to the popularity of Quoits in America, causing a slow but steady decline
of active players throughout the remainder of the 20th Century.
Today, Horseshoes
continue to be played by millions of people, but Quoit pitching has become
a fairly obscure oddity. Only a handful of areas in the North-East United
States continue to keep the game popular as a competitive sport.
QUOITS.INFO is leading the effort to revive the ancient game of Quoits
in America and re-establish its popularity across the continent.
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QUOITS: 
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