Wow What a site I grew up in Strawberry Mansion in the late 40’s-early 50’s We played all these ball games, plus many card games w/ baseball cards that now would be worth a lot of money.We flipped, slid them down the slope between the houses, tosed them against the wall-who needed TV Thanks for the memories
I grew up playing this in Washington Heights in the 70’s (160th between Ft. Washington and Riverside Dr.). We used to use specificly Heineken bottles for glassies (we could never get Lowenbrau necks to break off without shattering). At one point we started using two poker chips glued together (the different color combinations helped us keep track). Anyone else use poker chips?
ON THIS DAY 04/19/07 AT MATILDA PARK,UNKNOWN SENSATION STEVE BIGTYME PLAYED BARRY MARBLE HILL. BIGTYME WAS BEATEN 21-0. BUT WHAT BARRY DIDN’T KNOW WAS THE BROOKLYN CON AND WAS GOADED INTO PLAYING BIGTYME WITH ONLY HIS LEFT HAND. BIGTYME COMMENCED TO WAXING BARRYS ANUS 24-22 AND SUCKERED BARRY INTO A SUBSTANTIAL MONETARY BET. NEXT ON MY LIST IS “ROOKIE”. YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN’T HIDE CHUMP!
In the 1960:s we played another game with “marbles” on the schoolyards in Vanersborg Sweden. On guy sat on the ground and spread his leg out. He put 4 marbles to a “Pirre”,three in the bottom and one up on the others. Each player stand behind a line 6-10 feet away and shot tre marbles each or until someone hit the “Pirre” and brooke it. If someone hit he got the marbles but if no one hit the guy on the ground got all marbles between his leg. The very interesting is that this game was invented by soldiers in the dragoonregiment who had its trainingground i Vanersborg 1560-1927 around 1600 played with round bullets
I think marble play has lost it’s appeal with today’s kids. The question came up on how to “market” marbles today. I think putting them on a self with a price tag does nothing. Learn how to shoot them and how to play. Then show others and challenge them to a game. Kids will see this and will become interested. I think marbles should loose the stigma that it’s only a game for kids. I’m an adult and I still find them fun to play with. Like any sport, there’s definitely a challenge. Like any sport, know your equipment. The three main marble manufactures (I know of). Are Vacor, Jabo, and Marble King. Vacor’s are made in Mexico, while the other two are in the US. Vacor’s are generally sold under the name Mega Marbles. Marble King marbles are the ones used in the National Marble Championship (ie: the blue ones). Of the three, I personally like Jabos the best. If you’re a hobbie shop, do yourself justice and stock a small sample of all three. Every place I go only sells Vacors. Vacors look nice in the package, but side by side with Marble Kings or Jabos…let the customer decide 😉 Also, Jabos and Marble Kings use English measurements while Vacors use Metric sizes (ie: 3/4″ ~ 25mm). And for those that want only the best, you can still purchase real stone marbles. They’re much harder to find, but you can buy them. I got mine from http://landofmarbles.com under the stone shooter section. They’re very nice, however, if you really want a quality stone marble, you’ll have to do some web searching on ‘flint marbles’. To me, marbles is not some game fad from the past. It’s a rich game with lots of variation and history. The American style of marble play requires lots of backspin. It’s a skill that’ll challenge most any kid or adult. It’s a simple game, but lots of fun. It’s well worth the effort to learn.