There are two 14th century manuscripts which show a game called club Kayles (from the French "quilles" or skittles) which depict a skittles game in which one skittle is bigger, differently shaped, and in most cases positioned so as to be the most difficult to knock over.  The throwers launch a long club-like object at the skittles underarm.  The large skittle is presumably a king pin as featured in some of the modern versions of skittles.

Over the years, Skittles developed regional variations in the size of equipment, the rules and so forth.  One of the most distinctive was an indoor version of skittles that appeared in the 1700s.  The game was cleverly miniaturised so that nine skittles standing on a square table were knocked down by a ball which was swung around a pole.  This was called Table Skittles or Bar Skittles or Indoor Skittles and it is still popular today.  In 1783, some theatre-goers and tailors rioted at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, over a play that the tailors thought insulting.  The Dragoons were called in to stop the riot which they did in such an enthusiastic way that their method was compared to the wooden ball ploughing through Table skittles.  After this incident Bar Skittles was often referred to as 'Devil amongst the Tailors'.

Skittles Games still played today

West Country Skittles, as played at The St James Hotel and in the Cheltenham League, is probably the most popular and basic version. 9 skittles are arranged in a square at the end of an alley so that the sides of the square are diagonal to the edges of the alley.  The alley is around 24 feet long from the bowling line to the first pin on the tip of the square.  Each turn starts with all the skittles standing and consists of three throws down the alley.  If all the pins are knocked down, then they are all reset.  So the maximum score in one turn is 27.  There are variations from town to town and even pub to pub. The variation that we play is 12 players each having 6 throws, each throw consisting of 3 balls. Thus the maximum score is 162 but any score over 40 is cheered.

In the East Midlands, people play Long Alley in which the alley is 33 - 36 feet long and the projectiles are rough balls or small capsule shaped logs called "cheeses".  There are nine pins, one of which is slightly bigger, the kingpin, and in most variations, a score is only made if the cheese bounces a single time just in front of the pins.

Old English Skittles or London Skittles is a majestic game in which the alley is around 21 feet, the pins are 14 1/2 inches high and 6 1/2 inches in diameter (around the middle - 3 inches diameter at either end) weighing 9 pounds.  The discus-shaped cheese too is enormous varying from 8 1/2 to 12 inches in diameter and can weigh up to 6 pounds but nonetheless, the cheeses are thrown in order that they hit the skittles directly without touching the floor first.  The game is now very rare.

Hood Skittles is a miniaturised version of Old English Skittles in which cheeses are thrown at pins on a table about 8 feet away.  It is played in and around Northampton and the sides of the table offer the option to bounce the cheese off them before hitting the pins thus obtaining angles not possible in other games.

Daddlums is similar to, but smaller than, Hood Skittles in which the cheese is normally thrown so that it lands near the front of the table and then slides forward until it strikes the skittles.  It is only known to be played in one pub in Kent.

Finally, a game called Roly Poly is played in Hertfordshire in which a bowl with huge bias is thrown at 12 pins in a circle, the catch being that the bowl must go past the circle of pins and another pin a bit further away before returning, due to the bias, in the reverse direction. 

Ten Pin bowling is the North American version of skittles.  The Dutch took skittles to America in the seventeenth century but the game fell into disrepute as it tended to attract crowds of undesirables and to be played by gamblers.   Consequently, a law was introduced to ban the game but since the law only mentioned "nine pin bowling", people simply added another skittle and called the game ten-pin bowling to avoid penalty!