"The Game That Won World Fame"

This website is dedicated to my father, Charles J Jackson 1903-71, who was the mastermind of the game Jokari in England during the 1950s.  Also to his loyal staff.

The game originated, so I understand in France, although the word itself means 'to play' in Italian.

The concept was simple.  A wooden box was connected to a rubber ball by a line of elastic.  The player(s), standing a little way behind the box, hit the ball with a wooden bat  and waited for it to rebound before being hit again.  A copy of the 'official' rules appears below.

Another Mr Jackson ('AG'), no relation, was the owner of the company, Jason & Co (Hove) Ltd.

The factory was at Jason Works, Holland Mews, Holland Road - Telephone Hove 34151.  The building is still there but I guess the rickety stairs have long since been replaced. To the best of my knowledge, father sought approval from Hove Town Council to portray the Coat of Arms of the town on the sets but permission was not given.  In the event, it was the Coat of Arms of neighbouring Brighton, as shown alongside, that were used. The towns are now merged as one unitary authority.  A Jokari set is displayed in the Hove Museum as an example of local industry.

Here's a photograph of an early model, already displaying the Brighton Coat of Arms.  The slogan reads 'Squash without a court'

A unique feature of the sets was the means by which the elastic was connected to both the box and the ball - see below for details.  A patent application was filed by my father on 18th September 1950 and eventually the complete specification was published on 25th February 1953 per a copy document viewable at the Esp@cenet website.  Search for GB688151 on that site. 

From time to time myself and my brother  would spend some of our school summer holidays working in the factory, usually stamping a transfer of the word 'Jokari' on the wooden bats.  The machine was crude but effective - the temptation was to work too quickly and not line the bat up correctly.  If the Jokari transfer was slanting then the bat had to be thrown on the scrap heap.

Father built up the firm from nothing to something approaching a national craze.  He organised publicity stunts eg arranging for the MCC to play the game on board ship on their way to a Test Series in Australia.  Denis Compton and Godfrey Evans were seen playing the game as were the local Langridge brothers, who played for the Sussex County Cricket Club.  A befriended journalist, Mr Wheeler, wrote a couple of articles for national publications (including Picture Post?) and also for a children's comic 'The Eagle' or 'The Junior Express'.  Father's main showcases were the annual 'Toy Fairs' at Harrogate and Brighton.  Here's a picture of an advertising item from a puzzle that I kept.  Buyers from such shops as Hamleys would place orders.  In summer, seaside resorts were targeted; Margate and Bournemouth in particular where the game could be played at low tide on the flat sandy beaches.  The whole family used to go in convoy with a delivery van to those places, always an exciting journey and a long day trip from Brighton where we lived.  There was even an official sign at one resort that read 'No ball games or Jokari to be played here' - fame indeed. 

The vans themselves were particularly distinctive and a moving advert for the product wherever they went.  They were brightly painted red with vivid pictures of the game being played on both sides.  The first was an old Bradford(?) van. Then came an 8cwt Commer van, HPN 493 and next a Morris Commercial, PUF 922. (note the local registration plates).  There was also a much large Commer van but I can only ever really remember that parked in the walled forecourt of the factory but my brother remembers it going on tour in the summer.

Here's a thumbnail picture of the illustration that appeared on the packaging of all the sets, similar to that on the vans.  Click on it to see a full size version then click again to return here.

There were a range of Jokari models.   The Popular and Junior sets (red) were the bread and butter of sales and the Deluxe (blue) had extra features.  These included a rubber base to the box to avoid it moving, and varnished bats with  rubber sleeves which fitted over the handles (another of my jobs) for improved comfort and to reduce the onset of blisters from continuous handling of the bare wood, smoothed at the edges as they were on other models.  Later following cut price competition from Chad Valley, as I recall, a more basic set was introduced for sale at nine shillings and eleven pence.  This lacked a hole in the box for storing the ball and had no cord for ease of transporting the bats and base together - click here to see a photo of one. I'd be fed for life if I had a hot dinner for every time I hit my thumb when hammering a pin through the cord and into the wooden box!

There was a Jokari club.  Members would receive a badge as below and some other goodies.  A copy of the original application to join the Association appears at http://www.primghar.com/ courtesy of Mike Thornley.

Mother, now well into her nineties, was landed with the job of keeping membership lists, so she tells me.

Rules of the Game

These were the rules as they were stated on a sheet which accompanied each set that was sold.

Choose any reasonably smooth level site, grass or concrete and place a tape or draw a line on the ground as shewn in the diagram A-B 12 to 15ft long.

Place the ball one foot away from the centre of the tape or line, and put the box as shown in diagram as far as it will go without stretching the elastic, at right angles to the tape.  The players stand just behind the box. One of the players decided by the toss of a coin opens the game, taking the ball he bounces it and hits it to fall on the far side of the tape or line.

The second player hits the ball on its return, either in the air or after the first bounce.  Each player continues to hit the ball in turn until one of them makes a fault and thereby loses a point.  The winner of the point becomes the 'server'.

Players change sides every game.  Fifteen points make a game, three games to a set.

THE FOLLOWING ARE FAULTS-

1. The ball when hit does not fall on the far side of the tape or line A-B

2. The ball bounces twice on the far side of the tape or line.

3. The ball bounces twice on the nearside of the tape or line.

4. A player hits the ball out of turn.           5. A player misses the ball.