Considering that spoofing is (as will be seen) such a widely-based international pastime, there is (or at least, was) a surprising lack of information published on the Web. When I first put this page together during early 2002, my exhaustive trawling, trolling, surfing and crawling originally yielded just 7 pretty pathetic links. Since then, new spoofing sites have been regularly showing up in Web searches, and I can now detail a more substantial list of 28: First stop is what appears to be a rather fun Gentleman's Club, who seem to go by the name of ARGAUM . And what a jolly bunch of fellows they seem to be. I particularly like the rule that: "Vomiting in private will be considered heinous." And the spoofing connection? Well, part of their essential equipment is: "A set of three foreign coins, of any denomination, for Spoofing purposes, initialled of course." Note that they too have a penchant for foreign tackle, but ... does the phrase "any denomination" imply mixed denominations? or does the phrase "a set" imply a balanced set? Next we go to Germany to view an extract from Anne Ku's Diary . It seems that the young lady went out anticipating a romantic Valentine's Night meal, and ended up participating in a 13 man multinational spoof with the forfeit of paying a huge restaurant bill. Hmmm ... thirteen participants ... must be very difficult to maintain control of a spoof of that size. There's also an interesting discussion on spoofing on the Message Board of the World Rock-Paper-Scissors Society (what sad bastards, eh?). It reveals some some minor deviations from our own established procedures (lead rotates anti-clockwise, as opposed to the "Chump leads" principle). And in what has turned out to be something of a controversial topic, one contributor adds that "I thought an impossible call, eg. call 4 on a head to head with 0 in your hand, was instant forfeit". As far as our local school is concerned, the "spoof" call has always been considered to be a perfectly valid manoeuvre in the spoofer's armoury. And frankly, I consider that some of the tactical discussion on this site is seriously flawed. (My own magnum opus "A Discourse on the Theory and Tactics of the Gentlemanly Art of Spoofing" will, of course, not be published until after I retire from the professional game). Never been much of an enthusiast for "games" which involve heavy drinking of a variety of alcoholic concoctions to the point where you make yourself ill. Sure, we've all done it at least once, but ... call me a boring old fart, but I didn't particularly enjoy it, and I've no great desire to do it again. However, there is a slight variant of spoof listed in this small collection of Drinking Games.

During a subsequent visit to this site, I discovered that it belongs to the Fawley Rugby Club, who have another section called Song of the Week where there is an opportunity to download mp3s of Rugby Songs (no, I haven't ... no ... really) "These are real songs, sung by real rugby players, after a really good amount of drink. They sound awful, are out of tune, and don't always follow the lyrics, but hell, sometimes that's the way it comes out."

The Tui Brewery in New Zealand proves that spoofing is indeed a truly world-wide pastime by offering for sale this fine set of spoofing coins - yours for only NZ$ 5.50 from The Tui Club Catalogue. [Dead Link? The Tui Club now appears to be defunct] The page originally had a link which proclaimed "HOW TO USE YOUR SPOOFING COINS" which was ... well ... not exactly "dead" - it just directed you to an empty page. You can often spot a set of these coins going under the hammer on trademe (a Kiwi version of eBay) They generally tend to sell at a little less than the original purchase price.

Further evidence of the popularity of spoofing in New Zealand comes from The Waikato Stud, [Dead Link. The press release is no longer held on-line] where a young racehorse named Joe Tupai has started off his career in fine style. Joe Tupai? Well, apparently it's "the call sign for Number One in the noble art of spoofing". Nope ... means nothing to me neither. But, hopefully, we'll learn more if Joe Tupai keeps doing the business on the race track. [26th November 2003 - The original story about Joe Tupai appears to have been trashed/archived, but there is still a strong connection between the Waikato Stud and the local spoofing fraternity, in the shape of Barry & Gavin Wealleans]

Another set of Spoofing Coins can be viewed (but not purchased!) from the Tower Mint in London (originally prepared for a Guinness promotion campaign). Intriguingly, they come packaged in a folder which contains (a version of) the rules of spoofing. Initially, I thought that the finer details of this text were illegible. But, with my bionic eyesight (it's a little known fact that I actually have very good vision in a range from 6.25 inches to 16.25 inches), and a certain amount of logical deduction, I believe that I've correctly deciphered all of the information displayed therein. Of course, these are only the very basic rules, and there is no guidance concerning the finer details which we cognoscenti will spend hours debating, but here they are:

The game of "Spoof" is played the world over to decide who buys the next round. It can be quite expensive if you keep getting caught out, but with any luck your St Patrick's Day Spoofing Coins will be the only ones you need all evening! HOW TO PLAY The game of "Spoof" is played in rounds with as many players as you can rustle up. Each player holds up to three coins in their clenched fist (0, 1, 2 or 3) without the others seeing how many they have selected. All players then hold out their clenched fist without declaring how many coins they are holding. Now, taking it in turns, each player must guess the TOTAL number of coins held in all the players' hands (i. e. if there are four players there will be a maximum of 12 coins and a minimum of zero). No two players can opt for the same number in any one round. The player who guesses the correct number of coins drops out. If no one guesses correctly, no one drops out and the game continues. Each new round, the first guess moves to the next player in the sequence. The rounds continue until only one person is left. They then have to buy the next round of GUINNESS Draught.

It seems that several breweries have issued special editions of Spoofing Coins at some time in the past. I've seen a set of Theakstons coins passing through eBay on several occasions, although there is no reference to them on the Theakstons Brewery Website. They don't seem to be hugely popular ... in fact, you could probably pick up a set for less than the cost of a pint of Old Peculier.

Update: 15th August 2002 Well now, I do hope that spoofing is not about to become the new Pokémon, or the new Harry Potter, or whatever, but there does seem to be a sudden flood of new spoofing articles which have just appeared out of nowhere during the last few weeks. Two of them we can skim over quickly, since they dismiss spoofing as simply another "drinking game". Both the spursfan and the antigherkin sites appear to be UK based.

The BBC have recently taken over the running of the h2g2 site (The Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy") - which invites the general public to make submissions about anything and everything of interest on the planet Earth. This entry on "spoof - the drinking game" was apparently submitted by The Flying Dodo on 13th June 2001, so I don't know why it's only just appeared in the search engines - maybe the BBC haven't been actively promoting the site until recently. Hmmmm ... I'm not so sure about "Oofy Doofy, Up the Spoofey, my guess is Eight" though.

However, the real gem of this collection of articles is a Heldencrow feature on Spoofmania in Sydney. This is the business, this is 4 REAL ... no trivial little "drinking game"; no "Oofy Doofy up the bloody Spoofey"; this is spoofing in the raw by real men (and real women). The guy in the middle looks to be a real mean spoofing dude - wouldn't fancy my chances taking him on in a final with a Geoff on the cards. Here are a couple of highlights from the article:

...only two of us left, mano y mano, coins tight, fists scrunched up and buttocks firmly clenched "Spoof." ...Pandemonium. Spoof! Zero or six! No-one calls that in the last hand! It gives your hand away... unless you've already won... but impossible... could it be?... We've all been there, haven't we ...

Update: 18th November 2002 Well, I don't know if this is going to become a regular three-monthly update, but at the present time, the number of spoofing references on the Web appears to be increasing exponentially. When I first put this page together 6 months ago, many of these links simply did not exist - or, at least, were not indexed. Also, in the last 3 months, I had my first visitor who was most definitely searching the Web for "spoof + game + rules". For whatever reason, spoofing does appear to be taking off big-style. Anyhow, I have 8 new links to detail: we'll start with the least interesting - the ones which consider spoofing to be nothing more than a "drinking game": The Christmas in Gloucestershire site describes spoofing as a game "To Get You In The Christmas Spirit". The inhabitants of Bungalow Madness include spoofing as one of their favourite drinking games. And, EventWise - Your Definitive Guide to Corporate Events (Yuck!) consider that spoofing is a great way to encourage corporate bonding with the Company Accountant. The Uniservity (sic) Drinking Society reveal an interesting variant of the Rules of Spoof in that whoever calls correctly must announce his exit with the phrase "Thank you very much Ladies and Gentlemen, I thoroughly enjoyed the game". Adds a nice touch of class, don't you think? But probably gets just a tad repetitive after a while. There's also a reference on that page to "Sandy Bottoms" - remember the ARGAUM Society from earlier?

More evidence of the international nature of Spoof comes from the recent expedition to South Africa by the Cambridge University Officer Training Corps who ... officially at any rate ... wanted to commemorate the centenary of the university's battle honour awarded during the Boer War, 1900-1901. Diarist Adrian Greystoke was introduced to the "gambling game of spoofing" towards the end of trip, on the final run to Cape Town (Tuesday 19th September 2001).

Another diarist who published the on-line Treadmill Diary during much of 2001 actually manages to reveal very little about himself - I got as far as discovering that it's written by a guy called Jonathan and that he has, at times, worked as a mariner. In his entry for August 1st 2001, he tells the tale of Spoofing with the Captain: After a few losses at Spoof and a few drinks too many he would not just place his fist containing coins on the table. He would slam it down with such force that people would jump and he would utter the immortal words "My name is John Hughes, has anybody got a problem with that" and he would eyeball each of his fellow competitors in turn. We all could recognise the "challenge" and tried quickly to calm him down by letting him win. It only turned to violence once and luckily he had by then had far too much to drink and his swinging fist from the sitting position only ensured he fell off his chair onto the floor in an undignified heap.

"Birds, Booze and Bulldozers" is an on-line novel written by Peter Styles. I'm not sure to what extent this is a work of pure fiction, or whether it's semi-autobiographical - in which case, the author appears to be some kind of pinko leftie tree-hugging bacon-butty-hater. But anyhow, in Chapter 7 (Winter 1994/95), the "hero", Lester, is recalling a drunken game of Spoof he got involved in over the New Year celebrations:

Well, I was through to the final, against this guy called William. By this time we were all pretty pissed up. The lads built it up into a big finale and were doing that Dutch footy chant, you know the one, 'Der der, der der der der der der, der der der der', yeah that one, and banging their hands on the table. Anyway, I had three coins in my table hand and not thinking, I joined in the chanting and banging on the table with the other. It was William's call, and it didn't exactly take a genius to work out how many coins I had. It was his call, and I felt a right fuckwit, but it was funny

By far the most interesting of this new batch of spoofing references is found on the pages of The British Club, Bangkok. And in the Club Sections of the site, we find that the Spoofing Section is given equal billing alongside other gentlemanly pursuits such as Bridge, Darts, Rugby and Snooker.

Clearly, they take their spoofing very seriously, indeed: "The National Finals, a black-tie event, is held in December each year", and there are also some interesting rules declared: "Impossible calls, repeated calls, gloating and eating whilst in play will lead to a fine, usually a round of Port". Well, now, there does seem to be a strong body of international opinion that "impossible calls" are out of order. I think that we'll have to agree to differ on this one, gentlemen. Whilst I've always taken a very dim view of people who spoof with unbalanced tackle, I can't help but admire the bravado of those who will call "spoof" with a fistful, or alternatively, call a full house with an empty hand.

It was in the BCB Spoofing Section where I first spotted a link to the domain name spoofers.org. For a long time, this link actually directed you to the non-existant domain www.spoogers.org. Some kind of a hoax? No, just an unfortunate typo! Anyhow, The Doc finally got the spelling corrected, so that it now directs you correctly to what has subsequently become the home of the International Spoofing Network. This site did appear to be a sad empty shell for a long time, but I'm pleased to report that The Doc has now knocked things into shape and offers a warm welcome to the World's Spoofing Community. Lots of fascinating insights into how Gentlemen Spoofers conduct themselves in other parts of the world: "In 2002, spoofmaster Swampy dished out more than 20 fines for offences ranging from illegal calls, duplicate calls, gloating, failure to order drinks, failure to call, eating during a round, non-spoofer eating spoofing supplies (cheese)"

The Doc also presents evidence to suggest that the founding father of Spoof is one Arthur Roberts - a British Music Hall star from the Victorian Era, who apparently wrote a book on the subject in 1927: "Fifty Years Of Spoof - The Adventures of Arthur Roberts, Told By Himself". Well now, whilst Arthur is widely credited with inventing a game of spoof (a card game?), I'm not entirely convinced that this would have borne much resemblance to the modern game.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language credits Arthur thus:

"We are indebted to a British comedian for the word spoof. Sometime in the 19th century Arthur Roberts (1852–1933) invented a game called Spoof, which involved trickery and nonsense. The first recorded reference to the game in 1884 refers to its revival. It was not long before the word spoof took on the general sense “nonsense, trickery,” first recorded in 1889. The verb spoof is first recorded in 1889 as well, in the sense “to deceive.” These senses are now less widely used than the noun sense “a light parody or satirical imitation,” first recorded in 1958, and the verb sense “to satirize gently,” first recorded in 1927".

The Doc has now completely re-written the "spoofers.org" site and the unflattering remarks about Lady Spoofers which originally greeted visitors now seem to have been discretely swept under the carpet. But, I must admit that I did find them mildly amusing, and if The Doc will forgive me, I would like to preserve them for posterity: "As noted on our home page, Spoof is a game played by gentlemen. Ladies have been known to play the game, but evidently their skill and commitment to the game was, as with everything other than doing their nails, eating chocolates, and talking crap, woefully lacking." [I think it would be honorable of me to point out at this stage that I recently had a 13 spoof unbeaten run ended in a head-to-head with a 14 year old female] [This section re-written, 28th April 2003]

As of June 2003, The Doc has initiated a quarterly Newsletter which has the noble intention of bringing the World's spoofing communities together and disseminating news of international events. I'm sure that if you contact The Doc directly, he'll be delighted to add you to the mailing list. However, I will be keeping my own copy of the Newsletter on this Website.

Spooftalk01 Spooftalk02 Spooftalk03

Further Update: 22nd November 2002 Whoooooaaaahhhh! Just hang on there a minute! I was just about to upload the last update onto the Web, when along comes yet another site - and this is the most comprehensive to date: Full respect to the Tasmanian Spoofing School. This must be a very new site though - when I first stumbled upon it, the Site Visitor count was only 264, and whilst I've been writing this I've helped nudge it up to 271.

Just in case anyone's not exactly sure where Tasmania is - here's a "Mapatasi" and here's another

There is a wealth of information on this site - including what claims to be an official list of all the World Spoofing Champions since 1983 - although exactly what authority this list has, I'm not so sure. But, from the nationalities of the various champions, it seems that the main spoofing nations are Britain and the former colonies - and the Kiwis look to be a pretty formidable team! Of particular interest is the most comprehensive listing I've yet seen of The Rules of Spoof. I won't reproduce the whole Rulebook here, but I think that two or three of them are particularly noteworthy ... and I'd especially like to draw my honourable colleagues' attention to Rule No. 1: 1. Etiquette decrees that three coins of equal size should be used. 3. There is no obligation for calls by any player to be repeated. Not remembering the previous calls, or not paying attention, are regarded as signs of a novice and are frowned upon by spoofers with even a modicum of calibre. 12. Gloating when getting out of a school, particularly in the first round, is severely frowned upon. Gloating is the sign of a novice spoofer or a gentleman of exceedingly low origin.

World Spoofing Champions Murray Mexted(NZ) 1983 John Sargent (NZ) 1984 Tony Stewart (NZ) 1985 Mal Robertson (Scot) 1986 Tim Cullen (Aust) 1987 Leslie Stokes (HK) 1988 Dave Bennett (NZ) 1989 Murray Mexted (NZ) 1990 Gary Wilson (Aust) 1991 Eric Siegloff (Austria) 1992 Mike Banks (NZ) 1993 Andy Tomlinson (NZ) 1994 Mike Sadler (Scot) 1995 John Pilcher (Eng) 1996 P.J. Marriott (Eng) 1997 Jeremy Coulbeck (UAE) 1998 Patrick O'Flynn (Eng) 1999 Kevin Schwass (NZ) 2000 Ant Salmon (NZ) 2001 Chris Lee (NZ) 2002 Mike Chappell (Eng) 2003

Amongst the many gems of information on this site, you may be surprised to learn that it seems to be normal practice to spoof in a Final with the assistance of your appointed "second" - who may even be a former champion himself. However, I'm not entirely clear whether the second is allowed to offer tactical advice, or whether he is simply there to mop the spoofer's brow and look after his drinks supply. We often hear of spoofing being described as a "gentlemanly" art - a point which is amply illustrated in this legendary episode in the life of two giants of the game: Perhaps the most famous of all spoofs was between two players, Bill Endacott and Nick Poynton, two of the original group who formed the rules. They were the best of lifelong friends who did everything together. It came about, however, that this did not apply to a certain young lass who commanded both of their attentions. It was decided that the United Kingdom was too small for the both gentlemen and, naturally, the fairest way to settle the issue was to spoof - with the loser to emigrate. So these two titans of the game spoofed a best of seven contest with Mr Endacott losing. Without any show of emotion, Mr Endacott was then heard to say "Nick, it's been an absolute pleasure spoofing with you" and a week later rang from Johannesburg where, save for the occasional jaunt, he has been ever since. The call for two around the world has since been an "Endacott" or "Absent Friends".

17th January 2003 ... and back to South Africa

In the on-line version of the Natal Sharks magazine , Albert Heenop reports on the 20th reunion of the Edward Spoofing Club, Durban. Honorary President is Mr Murray Mexted, former All Black No. 8 and dual World Spoofing Champion, who paid this moving tribute to the founders of the modern game: "Spoofing is a fellowship the membership of which is indefinable but universal. I thank with all my heart Mr Nick Poynton, Cambridge University graduate in something, and Mr Bill Endacott, Cambridge University graduate in something else, for introducing me to it. It has brought me new friends all over the world and through our meeting in the James Cook Hotel, Wellington, in 1977, I have had experiences in and out of rugby, which have brightened my life."

17th March 2003: from the Zulu Kingdom back to leafy Buckinghamshire

I came across a curious little item in the archives of the Bucks Free Press. There amidst the reports of Downley Horticultural Society's coach outing and the High Wycombe Downley Scouts swimming gala, we find a brief mention of the Spoofing Championships held in aid of Downley Albion Football Club.

Two points of interest are that He Who Has The Honour is apparently referred to ... somewhat disparagingly ... as the "Chump". And the identity of the 2002 Spoofing Chump is a guy who goes by the name of Miles Cook. Now, didn't we all used to know somebody with a name like that?

22nd May 2003: ... further research on the origins of Spoof

Title:   Fifty Years of Spoof Author:   Roberts, Arthur Publisher:   John Lane Date of Publication:   1927 Place of Publication:   London Number of Pages:   255 Binding:   tan cloth Condition of Book:   VG. No dj. Corners worn and slightly bent. Spine faded. Foxing throughout. Price:   $28.50

After reading The Doc's piece about Arthur Roberts' book on spoofing, I was sufficiently curious to look into the subject further. First of all, the book most definitely does exist: it is listed, for example, in the New General Catalogue of Books and Authors, and a good second-hand book dealer such as bibliodirect.com will no doubt be able to locate a copy for you. As I write, I see that there is a copy on offer at the Avenue Victor Hugo Bookshop, in Boston (MA). Yours for only $28.50 (plus a hefty shipping charge, no doubt).

I've got a sneaking feeling that curiosity is going to get the better of me and I'm going to end up paying a silly price to buy a copy of Arthur Roberts' book, but I can't help suspecting that this is going to turn out to be something of a red heron chase. You'll find many sources which associate the origins of the word spoof with Arthur Roberts' original "game of trickery and nonsense", but few people seem to have the slightest idea as to exactly how the game was played.

One person who seems to know a little more that most is Helen, who contributed to the discussion of the origins of the word spoof following its inclusion as the Mavens' Word of the Day on 7th September 2001.

"Spoof was a card game invented by English comedian Arthur Roberts in the mid- to late-1800's. While I could find no exact description, winning crucially involved hoaxing one's opponents. This 1897 quote from Farmer's A Dictionary of Slang evokes the flavor of the game quite pungently: "Then 'e sets the gals a-screaming with a caper known as Spoof, Playing monkey games on my old Uncle John." Well, I don't know if that's a familiar scenario in your particular Spoofing School, but I don't recall that any of our hands have ever set the gals a-screaming after hours at The Peacock.

Update: 10th September 2003 Spoofmania seems to have died down a little this year, but I still come across the occasional new spoofing reference. Here are 3 more which caught my attention recently, beginning with:

Joel Biroco's Journal for June 2003 Joel comes from the London area, and often finds himself challenged to spoof by his chum Hogan, with the loser being obliged to carry out some rather pointless forfeit.

[Disclaimer: Joel Biroco can write whatever he wants but I would like to point out that these accounts may well be entirely fictional. – S. Hogan.] Joel observes: "It's considered 'etiquette' to show the three coins in your hand at the start, even though this is perfectly pointless." A fair point? And regarding the skill required to be successful at Spoof: "If you get your mind in the correct state, it is possible to simply 'know' how many coins there are. It's called being drunk. I don't make use of the ability as much as I should though, and simply leave it to chance ..."

Robsworld is the personal site of Robert L. Vaessen, a Technical Sergeant in the US Air Force. Rob is a keen spoofer but ... oh dear ... just look at that ramshackle assortment of tackle on display! I accept that the "Rules" of Spoof can vary from region to region, but almost unfailingly, Rule No. 1 Etiquette decrees that three coins of equal size should be used. is meticulously observed. My spoofing chum Major Disaster assures me that it is considered to be a treasonable offence for a British Officer to spoof with unbalanced tackle. Obviously standards are somewhat lax over the other side of the pond.

Rob seems to be under the impression that Spoof is exclusively a military pastime: "This game is something I encountered in the military. I've played it at many bases, but have never encountered it outside of work, unless the person instigating it was military or former military."

The last of these 3 sites is the online version of American Sweeper Magazine, an Internet website which is provided as [I kid you not!] "a public service designed to enhance the professionalism and knowledge base of the power sweeping industry" Wow! And the spoofing connection ...? Well, in his journey around the World, investigating the various sweeping methods which are used in different countries, Senior Chief Sweeping Dude Ranger Kidwell-Ross spent some time in England, and was billeted in the village of Willersey, where he was introduced to the gentlemanly art of Spoofing in his local pub, The New Inn.

Spoofing apparently takes place after church on Sunday lunchtimes. Ranger observes: Although the game is serious, and the rules strictly adhered to, it's conducted amidst much laughing, joking, ribbing and general good humor and cheer. One of the maxims of the game, and something that no doubt contributes to its attraction, is that it's extremely rare for anyone to lose three times in a sitting. Well ... fairly rare ... but not completely impossible!

Update: 8th November 2003 I happened to see the prospectus recently for the forthcoming 2004 Trans Tasman Masters Games, scheduled to take place in Aukland, between March 20th and 27th next year.

Amongst the more conventional competitive pursuits, which you tend to associate with these major sporting festivals ... athletics, basketball, badminton, etc ... I see that they're giving equal billing to some of the lesser known sports, such as boomerang throwing and spoofing. Of particular interest is another alternative version of the Rules of Spoofing. On the whole, they tend to broadly agree with the Bangkok Rules, and the Tasmanian Rules, but there are one or two interesting local variations, such as: Bragging, gloating, guffawing or the showing of emotion is not allowed. The penalty for such a serious offence is the pleasure of rejoining the spoof along with the supply of a glass of port to each of the remaining spoofers. A test to rule whether emotion has been displayed by a winner or not is generally determined by the height of any arm being extended. For your convenience, it is advised that the window of the door of a Range Rover or the top of a BMW is the usual measure of excessive extension.

26th November 2003: ... an alternative definition of the word "Spoof"? Well now, whilst browsing the Wordwizard site recently (for lovers of the English language), I came across a previously unknown usage of the word spoof. Apparently, it has been an Australian slang term since the 1910s and means ... uhm ... well, I'll leave the curious to check out for themselves Discussion No. 4439, but here's an example of its usage: "He got into trouble because his mother found spoof all over the sheets on his bed"

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