hi! another highbridger checking in. i went to sacred heart and moved ‘upstate’ after 8th grade. anyone out there remember the ‘board’ and rules for bottle caps? you had to shoot your bottle cap from box to box and try to keep your opponents from doing the same. want to teach my nephew who will never know the joys of street games! 1360 ogden ave. where are the rest of you???
We always used Spaldeens in the Bronx– One day, Willie’s candy store had Pennyslvania Pinkies for sale — no spaldeens! We bought one to play SLUG with — it was horrible. Later we did the Spaldeen/PP test — droppping them both to the ground at the same time. Spaldeen won — it just had that extra zip to it!
In Brooklyn we used to play Johnny on the Pony in the street from one side of the street to the other (sidewalk to sidewalk). The objective was to make the pony cave-in before the pillar could say ‘Johnny on the Pony 1-2-3’ three times. So naturally when you would choose sides you’d want the fattest kid on your side. One drawback of picking the fattest kid was that he could hardly jump.The jumpers once on top were not supposed to move or rock back and forth but they did it anyway. If the pony caved in before the three count, the jumpers would get another turn to jump. If the pony did not cave or one of the jumpers touched the ground with their foot or fell off, then the rolls would reverse and the jumpers would then become the pony.
Chinese jump rope sound vagely familiar, but we played a game with a string made out of elastics called “Yogi”. Two enders would hold the rope first at “groundsies”, ankle, knee, hip, waist, underarm, shoulder, chin, ear, head, and finally, “Skyhigh” Jumpers would attempt to jump over at each level, and beginning at (I believe) shoulder, you were allowed two attempts – but first had to indicate “Trials…just in case I don’t make it….”