The team capturing game prisoner’s base was played in England from the late medieval period through the 20th century, and it was well known in the 16th and 17th centuries. 1 Prisoner’s base appears across genres and in a range of literary contexts: military and political, romantic and sexual, playful and serious. It is referenced by a variety of early modern writers including Richard Brome, Michael Drayton, Edmund Spenser, and William Shakespeare. Explanatory notes on prisoner’s base references, if they explain the game in any way, often describe a generic capturing game, with players running from one safe base to another while avoiding a catcher or catchers who will take them to...