The first is that it is derived from the slang expression "a bunch of fives" (meaning a fist),[1] the other that an earlier form of the game, as described by Nichols, used five-a-side teams.

[2] Fives is generally considered to have originated from early forms of the French Jeu de paume.

The name "fives" was applied to the game by 1591, as when Elizabeth I visited the village of Elvetham in Hampshire, she was entertained by the Marquess of Hertford by a game played by his servants:"about three o'clock, ten of his lordship's servants, all Somersetshire men, in a square greene court before her majesties windowe, did hang up lines, squaring out the forme of a tennis-court, and making a cross line in the middle; in this square they (being stript out of their dublets) played five to five with hand-ball at bord and cord as they tearme it, to the great liking of her highness" – John Nichols, The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth, Volume II.

During this period, John Cavanagh, reputed to be the greatest fives player of all time, gained popularity.

[12] As described the Badminton Library:The number of those who continue fives players after the age of twenty-five is very small; and, for obvious reasons, these veterans are usually schoolmasters.

It has no matches to be reported in newspapers with a minuteness of detail suitable to events of international importance.

No fives player, as such, has ever had his portrait published in an illustrated journal, or has had the meanest article of dress in the hosiers' shops named after him.

[citation needed] Fives continued to be played through the 20th century, but failed to develop a large nation standing.

[22] A sloping ledge runs around the walls of the court, roughly four and a half feet from the floor, of which the bottom line is dubbed the "playline", above which shots have to be played.

These courts varied in a few specifications; the distance between the front wall and the buttress was increased, and the floor's slope was reduced, which quickened play speed.

The courts were built of sandstone, to reproduce the effect's of the chapel's walls,[24] which are made of Taynton stone.

While Eton fives has historically been a male-dominated game, due to the public schools it was played in being single-sex, in recent years, women have begun to take a larger role in the sport, accounting for approximately 20% of games played as of 2016.

[citation needed] Rugby fives uses an enclosed court free from "hazards", with a hollow board running across the front wall, similar to that of squash.

[30] This makes the back of the court narrower, and creates a very small buttress similarly to that of Eton fives.

[46] The Warminster variety of fives also differs greatly in its rules: teams play three-a-side; one on the left, center and right sides of the court (referred to as "squif", "centre" and "skunk").

The other then strikes it, and the players then continue to hit it against the wall, either before it comes to the ground or at the first rebound, until one of them missing it, or driving it out of bounds, or beneath the wall-line, loses or goes out.

[57] The balls used in fives generally weigh around an ounce and a quarter, and vary in material – leather and rubber are most commonly used.

[64] The sport was introduced in 1928 by former Eton pupil J. S. Hogden, who was teaching in the state of Katsina (in the Provincial Secondary School) and in Birnin Kebbi.

"[74] The erection of a fives court on the Recreation Ground of the University of Melbourne is noted in the Council minutes of Trinity College in 1873,[75] and there were newspaper reports of an "annual tournament in connexion with the University Fives Club" in 1881, when Professor Herbert Strong acted as judge.

[78] Eton fives is played in Malaysia,[79] being introduced to Malay College Kuala Kangsar by Charles Ernest Bazell, the school's Oxfordian fourth headmaster, in 1923.

[87] The Racquet Club of Philadelphia built a set of Fives Courts in 1900, but these were quickly used for playing squash.

[88][89] Fives courts also existed at the old location of the Racquet and Tennis Club in New York City before it relocated in 1918, as well as at the Chicago Athletic Association.

[95] Several other courts exist scattered throughout the country, for example one near Kezar Lake, and several others at the Union Boat Club in Boston.

[96] In 2021, Mexico's first Eton Fives court was built in Oaxaca by Emilian Ruiz Ayala, a player who learnt the sport at the Lyceum Alpinum Zuoz.

Courts also existed at the São Paulo Athletic Club, which were eventually converted into a swimming pool.

Finally, a set of fives courts were built at St Paul's School in São Paulo in 1934.