Annotation:Nine Pins (1)

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NINE-PINS (NINEPINS) [1]. AKA and see "Cats in the Village." English, Jig. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABC. Ninepins is a game similar to bowling, and although there are various rules and procedures for the game, it is generally played with hand-sized balls and a set of nine slender pins arranged in a diamond pattern. The game was popular in Europe for several hundred years before being imported to the New World in the 1600's where it was a favorite with early Dutch and German settlers. Ninepins could even be found in Puritan communities despite the elders' consistent objections to such pleasurable activities. The game of ninepins was a popular betting game, too popular for some lawmakers, who outlawed the game in Connecticut and New York in the early 19th century.

There is a community dance called the Ninepins Quadrille, for which various melodies were played. It was not unusual for the name of the dance to be substituted for the tune name, by association.

Source for notated version:

Printed sources: Kennedy (Fiddler's Tune Book, vol. 2), 1954; p. 47.

Recorded sources: