High Jinks

High jinks was a Scottish drinking game with dice, played by the Saturday night club at Daunie Douglas’s tavern in Anchor Close, Edinburgh, and described in Guy Mannering. A cup was filled, a player cried Hy-jinks and threw the dice, and the number counted round the table showed who must drink or pay a small forfeit into a bank, which the drinker could claim if he emptied his cup. There were set rules, and forgetting to cry Hy-jinks or miscounting cost a forfeit. Allan Ramsay called it a drunken game or new project to drink and be rich.