(Encyclopedia) softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball,…
(Encyclopedia) Kruger National Park, game reserve, c.8,000 sq mi (20,720 sq km), Limpopo and Mpumalanga, NE South Africa. One of the world's largest wildlife sanctuaries, it has almost every species…
Grab your sparklers and look skyward—the Fourth of July is almost upon us. The Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day, commemorates the adoption of…
(Encyclopedia) Alekhine, AlexanderAlekhine, Alexanderəlyĕkhˈēn [key], 1892–1946, Russian-French chess player, b. Moscow. He became a naturalized French citizen after the Russian Revolution. At the…
(Encyclopedia) handball, court, indoor or outdoor game played by striking a ball against a wall or walls with the palm of the hand. Play may be for singles or doubles (four players) on a court with…
(Encyclopedia) five hundred, card game, similar in principle to euchre, usually played by three persons with a pack of 32 cards and a joker. Each player receives 10 cards, and highest bidder for the…
(Encyclopedia) Nash, John Forbes, Jr., 1928–2015, American mathematician, b. Bluefield, W.Va., grad. Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon Univ., B.A. and M.A. 1948), Ph.D. Princeton…
(Encyclopedia) shinty, a game originating in 17th cent. Scotland, in which opposing teams of 12 players each attempt to knock a small ball through their opponent's goal, or hail, using sticks similar…
(Encyclopedia) badmintonbadmintonbădˈmĭntən [key], game played by volleying a shuttlecock (called a “bird”)—a small, cork hemisphere to which feathers are attached—over a net. Light, gut-strung…
(Encyclopedia) Mosconi, Willie (William Joseph Mosconi)Mosconi, Williemŏskōˈnē [key], 1913–93, U.S. professional billiard player, b. Philadelphia. After a brief period as a child prodigy he did not…
