Winchester Fives was originally a game played with a racket, but in the 19th century, a new version of this game came into being which was played with the hand, as opposed to the racket. This racket sport is now known as rackets, and the variant played with a person's hands is known as fives.

In all versions of fives (There are three versions: Rugby Fives, Winchester Fives, and Eton Fives, the latter is the most complicated of the three and has evolved to a completely different game, whilst Winchester and Rugby Fives are very similar) the game is played with the hands, wearing thick protective gloves, in order not to damage the hand bones. Inner gloves may be worn as well to provide extra protection.

The courts are about 28 feet long and 16 feet wide. They have a bar at the front made out of wood which is about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. The purpose of the game is to hit the ball above this bar. In Winchester Fives courts there will also be a buttress on the left wall. This provides a more interesting challenge to the game, as if hit in the middle of a rally, the point is nearly always won. This buttress is not very wide; it is approximately a foot in width. The back wall is about 6 feet high.

Either doubles or singles can be played in these courts: singles is one on one, and doubles is two on two. Occasionally 2 against one is played, but not in any major tournaments, just for fun. The scoring is quite complicated for doubles, but for singles it is not. You win points when receiving the serve (the shot which starts of a point, which is: throwing the ball up so it hits the front wall and touches the side wall, and then hitting it so that it hits the side wall and comes off the front wall).

Rugby Fives is more commonly played than Winchester Fives, more schools have the courts. Some schools, for example Winchester College, have just Winchester Fives courts, whilst some have both Rugby and Winchester Fives courts. Oxford and Cambridge both have the latest `glass back' Fives courts, where the spectators can simply look through the incredibly strong plastic. In most Fives courts, however, there is a gallery.

Every year there are many large tournaments throughout England and Scotland, for example, the West of England Championships. There are many Fives clubs throughout Britain and it is not difficult to join one.