You don’t need rules to play jacks, it’s a no-brainer. You throw the jacks down, throw the little ball up in the air and catch 1 jack. You do this until you have all the jacks in your hand. you throw the jacks down again and do this for two’s, threes, fours, etc. The skill is in knowing when to throw the jacks out from a wider pile (when you’re picking them up by ones), to an increasingly smaller pile (it’s easier to catch sets of two’s,threes, fours, and etc. when the jacks are closer together. Also you can pick jacks up seperated jacks in two moves as long as the ball only bounces once. Finally, when you”re up to the last number you just put the jacks down, toss the ball up and pick up the hole pile (flatsies). The more skilled of jack players would then proceed to play in revers. leave one down, then two, then three, etc. then pick up the whole pile when finished.

this is a fun site! brings back a lot of memories. a young friend had never played jacks so i got a set and was trying to find rules. who’d have thought they’d have books of rules now. I can still remember when my grandma gave my bag of jacks and balls to younger neighbor. yes, i was too old and didn’t play with them anymore but i still was quite upset. now it’s off to the library to see if i can find the books mentioned. did anyone else peel the cover off of a golf ball and unroll the “miles” of rubber band to get to the ball in the middle? it was a good bouncer.