Streetplay Discussions
That double dutch was not…
That double dutch was not so easy to jump – maybe it is just a coordination issue, because I remember girls complaining about the way I turned the ropes too – back to the ball bouncing – I was really clutsy at that one too and was quickly too embarassed to even try. Hopscotch became my game of choice very quickly.
I can’t believe I remember…
I can’t believe I remember that concentration game it seems like a life I do not know. I never did learn that Tulips together although I remember thinking the girls who did know that one knew something worth knowing. Oh little playmate come out and play with me and bring your dollies three climb up my apple tree slide down my rain barrel (only grandma knew what that was) Slide down my cellar door and we’ll be jolly friends forever more 1,2,3,4 and then there was a response I’m sorry playmate I cannot play with you My dolly’s got the flu – – something like that What about Miss Mary Mack?
Never could get double dutch…
Never could get double dutch either – also from Brooklyn. But jumping rope was a lot of fun. I remember the first time I was able to jump into the rope from the outside. It was some kind of timing issue. Some people looked so cool while they stood there getting ready to join in the game. Any one play chinese jump rope? If so how? Did you make chinese jump ropes out of lots of found rubber bands? Did you use double or single ropes?
I didn’t play it quite that…
I didn’t play it quite that way. I remember there being time for the ball to bounce before you had to catch it. Who was yelling onezees? Most of the talk was just whatever about nothing except after you already went from ones to tens and back down again. Then after that there were these other methods of picking up the jacks and while you were picking up the jacks in all these ways there were little sayings or something you had to say – one of the methods was knocking before the ball bounced, another was putting the jacks in your other hand before the ball bounced – then there was this one method that I remember really well and it was picking up each jack individually before the ball bounced. I remember it really well because we played jacks on the sidewalk and could never just slide our hands across the ground to pick up all the jacks.
What kinds of things did…
Hey! Kick The Can goes back…
Hey! Kick The Can goes back to southwest Minnesota during the depression. One person was “it” and was blindfolded (or just didn’t look) while everybody hid all over the neighborhood. As the “it” person located the hidden people, they would all go to jail, which was somewhere near the can. If everyone was found and in jail, a new “it” person was elected. HOWEVER, if a kid avoided being seen and raced to the can…and kicked it…everybody in jail was set free and the process started all over again. A stupid game that was a lot of fun…always played at dusk in an area with lots of good hiding places.
Hello all I grew…
Hello all I grew up on 165th street and the grand concourse in the bronx and we played skulley every day. I’m fairly sure we pronounced it skulley, but skelley could have been it. My favorite caps were made from the bottom of school chairs. It was a real labor prying of those rubber fillers with the nail in the middle, but well worth it. In fact today, I popped open some beer bottles and melted crayons to make some caps to teach my 9 year old son and 5 yr old daughter. I found this sight looking for refresher on the rules. I remember us starting from a start lines outside of the skulley board and then working 1 to 13 forward and then backwards and then we were crowned or something and could really kick butt at that point. I would love to see the full rules posted and variations from different neigborhoods would be cool too. take care all
Here’s how we played in…
Here’s how we played in Rochdale Village in Queens circa late 1960’s: We also used bottle caps weighed down with melted crayons. I remember Mom getting pissed when some dripped inside her newly cleaned oven. After awhile, some guys used the plastic caps that came on the “new” plastic milk containers. We quickly outlawed the larger jar caps, especially the Motts Apple Sauce caps. Our box was a prepainted “boxball” court (there’s another great game)that was approx. 6’x6′. Each numbered box, done up in chalk, was about 6″x6″. “Running out of town” was prohibited! If I remember correctly, after running 1 – 13 and then 13 – 1, you had to go around the “Skelly” before you became a Killer. You had to hit a guy three times to get him out. Obviously, you would try to line up that third hit so that you could blast him out of the playground – just to rub it in a little.
I still rue the day that…
I still rue the day that Good Humor discontinued my favorite bar: It was called “Chocolate Cake” — it had chocolate ice cream inside, and the outside was…well, it was sort of like dark chocolate cake! This was also in the “old days”, before they had that “candy in the middle.” Good Humor also made a seasonal special: A red white & blue icecream bar for the 4th of July — it had raspberry, vanilla and blueberry, and it was good! I never heard of Mr. Frostee, but of course we had Mister Softee… and we STILL have Mister Softee: In my current neighborhood, Chelsea/Flatiron, they’re all over, as well as on every other corner in midtown. Hmm… think I’ll run downstairs and get a chocolate shake. Wasn’t there also an icecream truck called “Pied Piper”? This would have been in Long Island, circa 1957-1963. For WEBDIVA: You mentioned the selter bottles, in blue. They also came in green. There was a company a few years ago called “GIMME SELTZER,” and yes, as in days gone by, they delivered seltzer by the case, in those wonderful original blue or green syphon bottles. I just looked in the Manhattan phone book and there is NO listing… uh-oh, did they go out of business?? I will investigate further and see if I can find them.