Pluck the Owl was a gambling game popular in Western Europe from the 16th to the 19th centuries, first appearing under the title Pela il chiu in Rome in about 1590. But it may have been of German origin, given that most of the later examples from Germany, Holland, Flanders, France, and England, prominently feature the design of an owl and a looking glass as the goal or winning throw of the game. ‘Owl and looking glass’ in German is the literal meaning of Eulenspiegel, the name of a folkloric trickster probably based on a real-life character said to have been born in Brunswick around 1300. Despite superficially resembling the 16th-century game of Goose, it is not in fact a race game. Rather, it’s a highly decorative instruction sheet specifying…
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Tabletop Gaming (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 93