Floor game:50 Soldiers on Parade Ten Pins

People enjoyed the game of bowling, also called "skittles," and "nine pins," for centuries. Egyptians indulged in a form of bowling by 3,200 B.C. King Henry VIII banned lawn bowling in 15th-century England because too many tradesmen neglected their vocations. Washington Irving immortalized nine pins in his 19th-century tale of Rip van Winkle. By 1900, Americans formed formal bowling associations to play the game competitively.

Did McLoughlin Brothers intend this set as toy soldiers, or tenpins to knock over? The simple answer is, probably both.