You'd think with a name like the Coffin House, this residence would be frightening. As a residence hall on the campus of Smith College, in Northampton, Mass., Sessions House has probably seen its share of eccentric student behavior over the years. Years later, the table game was given a name derived from the French terms bille, which means ball and billiart, meaning wooden sticks. For a few years in the 1970s, the annex housed male students studying at Smith through exchange programs. Few homes are as eccentrically designed as the Winchester mansion in San Jose, Calif. Why does the Winchester Mystery House have stairs leading nowhere? You see, Winchester thought she was being haunted by victims of the Winchester repeating rifle. Apparently Tiedemann thought that what his wife really needed were features like turrets and gargoyles, which made the home look even more like a castle. However, when her bandages are removed, she's revealed as beautiful (by our standards) woman living in a world where grotesque features are the norm. No word on whether Sessions House features a hidden passageway to the Sessions Annex next door.

A word of note about some of these games sets: Some stores sell versions of the game that don't even remotely resemble the original, so be sure to double-check a product before you buy. Today, you can visit that same tunnel and even see a message scrawled by a slave on the wall inside the secret room. The house had several secret areas, too, most notably a tiny and cramped cubbyhole off a bedroom where slaves stayed for as long as two weeks, hiding from harm and resting before embarking on the rest of their journeys. The rules state that two corners of the kubb must remain touching the ground as you raise it. As someone who loves to play ladderball (but struggles to keep track of the score) I was immediately drawn to the elegance and simplicity (and touch of brutality) that is kubb. Now someone makes a shot, what is billiards and we either know the direction and force exactly or are allowed to measure the cue ball’s position and velocity exactly shortly after the shot. Unlike batons, you can spin the kubbs in any direction you like. This temporary baseline creates a tremendous advantage because Team Stark will likely be in closer range, making all of the kubbs on the Lannisters' side much easier to overturn.

The average pitch, a measure of legroom, is just 31 inches, but can go much lower on cheaper airlines. The variation of playing surfaces means a lucky -- or unlucky -- bounce can turn a bloody rout into a heartbreaking defeat in an instant. Because kubbs are four-sided, this means each kubb has two possible positions, or footprints. Nearly 200 teams of six players each may arrive for this tournament to challenge each other for the kubb throne. In recent years, however, NASCAR has attempted to even the playing field by standardizing the body shape race teams are allowed to bring to competition. We do know, however, that kubb's first and most stalwart backers probably originated in Gotland, which is an island just off of the east coast of Sweden. If you're thinking that the sports' name sounds cruel and violent, that's because this sport originated using real pigeons. Open your wallet to buy a mallet if you want to play which sport? What sport makes you shoot through them? If you think simply pulling an arrow on a bow to shoot a target is what constitutes archery, think again! Also, when it comes to raising field kubbs, you'll need to think ahead.

For one, you must think strategically when you're throwing kubbs. This back-and-forth continues until one team is finally able to knock down all of the kubbs and then the king. Just as the Lannisters did before, Team Stark picks up all fallen kubbs and then tosses them to the Lannisters' side. Once the field kubbs are down, the Lannisters may go after the Starks' baseline kubbs, and if successful, may then attack the king. These stacks obviously make field kubbs a lot easier to strike down, as multiple kubbs will fall easily when a baton strikes them. By rule, a strong and sturdy cue will deliver a better stroke and allow for better control of the cue ball. But if you're scared of creepy toys, the upstairs room with automated marionettes won't be any better. An upstairs chute allowed him to toss victims' bodies into the basement, where he'd set up a dissection room and crematorium.