WINCHESTER FIVES

 WHAT IS IT?

Winchester Fives is a quirky old English handball game played in a four-sided court with a sloping buttress jutting out of one wall — a mischievous architectural accident that became the sport’s trademark. Players smack a small leather ball with padded gloves, aiming for awkward angles and wicked spins off the walls. It looks like squash without rackets, feels like chess played at sprint speed, and has a delightfully eccentric, very-British charm.

  • Doubles only, players smack the ball around the court, often settling into ‘front-back’ formation because the guy at the front needs to be ready to pace forward to retrieve a ball that hits the buttress.

  • Like a narrower squash court made of stone, though half way down the left wall there’s a buttress angled at 45 degrees to really make things interesting.

  • Like a mini-baseball, a leather wrapped ball which cracks against the wall. Padded gloves are required!

  • In the Nationals it’s best of 3 games to 15 points. You can only win points when returning the serve. You keep on returning until you lose a rally, then your partner has a go, and when you’ve both lost serving switches to the other pair.

  • If you play a ‘let’ you can’t serve the ball into the buttress. Sad times.