[2] The game is mentioned in a Franconian publication as early as 1650 under the name 'Schnip, Schnap, Schnurr und Schnepepperling.

[3] A 1755 edition of The Connoisseur newspaper mentions snip-snap-snorum being played in Wiltshire, the author recounting a visit where a group of "country girls and cherry-cheeked bumkins" played the game around a large table as part of a Christmas tradition, along with the card game Pope Joan.

[9] There are several methods of playing the game, but in the most common a full whist pack is used and any number of players may take part.

A player not being able to pair the card played may not discard, and the holder of snorem has the privilege of beginning the next round.

Optionally, players may be required to make a different rhyming statement every time they play a fourth card.

[11] A related game called jig is somewhat a cross between snip-snap and stops, in that the aim of succeeding players is not to match rank but to play the next higher card of the same suit, from ace low to king high.

The leader plays any card and says "Snip", and the next four able to continue the sequence announce respectively "Snap", "Snorum", "Hicockalorum", "Jig".

"[10] An extended version called Schnipp Schnapp Schnurr Burr Basilorum is played in Germany.

[12][5] The rules are recorded as early as 1868 in the Electorate of Hesse under their original name of Schnipp Schnapp Schnurr Apostolorum, the last word "also being abbreviated to Bostelorum or Bastelorum" and, later, Baselorum.

He goes on to explains that the original meaning was to imply a game being played between the Four Apostles or evangelists, but that its corruption to Baselorum by another author diminished its potential irreverence.

[13] American author Eliza Leslie in 1831 records a game for girls called Tommy come tickle me which is like Earl of Coventry above.