I saw the movie Babes in Toyland (1934) recently, and there are a couple of references to Stan Laurel’s playing a game called ‘pee-wee?’ I’d never heard of the game. Was this ever a common game in the US?
The Wiki entry on it.
Basically, it looks as though you have a piece of (wood?) several inches long shaped somewhat like one of these fishing corks, and a long stick. The small piece would be on the ground, and you’d give it a good :SMACK: with the stick sending it flying updwards, then you’d bat it with the same stick as it fell.
So I’ll assume the answer is probably ‘No.’
Sounds like it has elements of the South African game kennetjie, which is probably derived from an ancient Indian game called gillidanda with some cricket-like rules added. ETA I see you cited it, I thought that was a link to the film.
That Wiki article cites pee-wee as the American variant of gillidanda.
Too late to edit:
So, as I was going to say…
I don’t know about the US, but it was a common game when I was growing up in South Africa. But it’s going extinct.
i always thought it was purely made up. How the hell was the thing supposed to be able to return to the place of origin. It’s not like it was boomerang shaped.