In the English Midlands, specifically Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Leicestershire and east Warwickshire, nine skittles are placed on a hooded table, hence the name "hood skittles". The hood skittles table is leather bound, and has leather- to the sides and the back, with a curved hood of leather or netting stretched up from the rear like a pram, approximately a metre over the of the table. Behind the area where the skittles are laid out in a diamond is a lower surface or trough. The table playing surface stands about 1 metre high and the thrower about 3 metres from the front of the table when in a pub around Leicester or Rugby, or about 3.3 metres when playing in Northamptonshire or Buckinghamshire. The player throws oblate "cheeses" rather than spherical balls, similar to those used in the game of bowls.