Tight games often end up at a rubber match, or tiebreaker. Used for a variety of sports and card games, rubber match has been in use since the late 16th century, and seem to have originated in the game of lawn bowling. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Rubber Match”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Gabi from Decorah, Iowa.
And I had a question for you regarding a phrase that my partner says.
Okay, fire away.
So, we play a lot of cribbage, and when there’s a tie to be settled, something like the best two out of three, he says that we’re going to play the rubber match. And that was something that I never grew up hearing. A lot of his friends who have played sports know the term. And so I looked it up a bit on the web and didn’t really find a whole lot and was hoping you guys would have an answer to share.
Well, Gabi, first of all, where did you grow up and where did he grow up?
I grew up in Pennsylvania, and he grew up in West Iowa.
Okay, okay.
So he was quite familiar with this term. I learned it watching game shows when I was a kid.
Really?
Yeah, they would say the rubber match of the show is, yeah, like playing Password and stuff like that.
Okay, sure.
Mm—
Yeah.
So, Cribbage, this is the game with the pegboard?
Correct.
Okay.
Okay.
You’re playing Cribbage, and in order to win, how many games do you have to win out of how many?
Well, you know, you can stop whenever you want.
Okay.
So, it could be best out of three, best out of five, some odd number, right?
Right.
But if he’s won one and you’ve won one, then the tiebreaker is what he calls the rubber match, right?
Exactly.
Okay.
Well, Gabi, I can tell you what we do know, which is that it goes all the way back to the late 16th century.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Yes.
In England, in the game of lawn bowling, which I’ve never played, but I think it involves rolling balls, which they call bowls, across the green. And you try to get as close as you can to a certain ball without hitting it. So it could be that maybe it rubs up against that ball, but I don’t think so. I suspect it has to do with rubber being an eraser, that this is the one that either erases your hopes or your opponent’s hopes.
Interesting.
But it does appear in English after rubber was introduced from the New World, right?
Yes.
Right.
Okay.
Didn’t rubber come from Central America and South America?
I think it did, yeah.
And by the 1600s, it was well established as a product and a variety of uses.
Yeah.
So first it was in lawn bowling, and then you see it a lot in card playing, in bridge, and that kind of thing.
Okay.
So the short answer is we don’t know why it’s called the rubber match, but it has a long history. And it appears in sport after sport. Baseball uses it, right?
Yes.
And game shows. Tennis sometimes, right? Cricket?
Yeah, sure.
Sure.
Okay.
And cribbage, obviously.
Let me ask you a question, Gabby, while we’ve got you on the phone. Is cribbage a thing now? I didn’t know that it was still something that people were playing.
Yeah, is it like knitting and craft beer? Are we behind?
Yeah, Iowa, there in the town that we live in, there are quite a few folks that gather and play cribbage together.
That’s fantastic.
How about that?
Well, I’ve got to take it up.
Yeah.
Yeah, you should.
I would encourage that.
Cool.
Thanks, Gabby, for giving us a call.
Thank you so much.
All right, have fun.
Take care.
Thanks, you too.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
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