a legacy of the first world war, is a game for 2 or 4 players which can be likened to a smaller version of Badminton, having a Table Tennis scoring system, which can be played either indoors or out on any non slippery surface.
It was invented for the purpose of providing physical recreation for a great number of people utilising a limited space. It only requires one tenth of the area needed for a lawn tennis court.
THE FIRST WORLD WAR: In 1918 a New Zealand General, stationed in Cologne gave the following orders to Bombing Officer Pat Hanna, who was the Officer Commanding Entertainments and Recreation, New Zealand Division on the Rhine.
"Organise entertainment, lay on laughter, unlimited and rollicking entertainment, games galore, games that every man can play."
The entertainment was no problem, but games for more than 30,000 men which occupied little space, was a different proposition. Games which everyone knew, or could quickly learn, were just non existent. So Hanna invented a new game which he call Batinton.
THE GAME: resembled Badminton in that it is played with shuttlecocks by either 2 or 4 players on a marked out rectangular court divided at it's mid point by a net having it's top five feet from the ground. Basically the size of the court is 36 feet long and 12 feet wide, but the width can be varied according to the available space.
So, the compactness of the court combined with the fact that 48 people could play it simultaneously in an area the size of a lawn tennis court, meant that Hannah had achieved his primary objective. Initially the game achieved a tremendous followng. This was due to the fact that, although simple to learn, depending on the skill of the players, great pace could be generated.
But it's popularity proved to be it's downfall because the demand for shuttlecocks became so great that the supply could not keep pace and as a result players lost interest, the game faded and gradually drifted into obscurity.
THE SECOND WORLD WAR: During the early years of the Second World War the need for a game with a mass appeal in a limited space again became apparent. So in 1940 Batinton was introduced to Australia where it soon achieved the degree of popularity which brought about it's previous downfall. Shuttlecock shortage! However the timely development of the plastics industry came to it's rescue, replacing the scarce feathers with a plastic substitute.
THE BAT: resembling a table tennis paddle with an elongated, handle originally had a cork faced plywood blade and an overall length of 16 ins. but in 1952 a plywood reinforced plastic bat was introduced.
THE SHUTTLECOCK: Feather shuttlecocks resembling those used for Badminton were used in the initial development of the game. The difficulties encountered in maintaining supplies was solved in 1956 by the introduction of rubber nosed plastic skirted alternatives.