Category Archives: Locales

yo today we was talking…

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yo today we was talking about old schol games and I was born in East New York Brooklyn and i now live in Atlanta Ga, and i was trying to put these cats up on skelly. It broke my heart that i could not get anybody to feel me. Before i got into girls i played from day to night,make the court out of chalk, rocks, whatever we could find , and the tops was the push-ups from the ice cream truck, or red milk tops. I loved it and still do iam gonna pass it on to my son and bring skelly to the ATl.” hit a killer be a killer” p.s. just like carol kleinman above me i ran blvd in the 80’s right in p.s.273 i lived on barbey st

Okay, couldn’t sleep tonight,…

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Okay, couldn’t sleep tonight, my mind racing on the many games I loved playing in my youth in Deepdale (Little Neck) Queens in the 1950’s-early 60’s. Want to document some of these for my grandkids, who probably won’t know a street game from a milk machine (‘member those, anyone?). Thrilled to find this website – way to GO! …So, the girls in my “court” (WWII veterans’ garden apartments, with sections built around a central grass area, all over Queens, especially Glen Oaks & Little Neck) loved both Spauldeens AND Pensie Pinkies. I remember at one time each costing about a quarter at our local candy store. And fishing them out of the sewers could be a whole day’s frustrating & exhilirating challenge – mainly with unbent hangers, made into a fishing circle at one end. Anyone remember a game played by throwing the ball high against a brick wall, and doing a variety of activities before catching it? Like 1 = clap one time; 4 = 4 jumping jacks, etc? Can’t remember what it was called – maybe Russian ______????

Ice Cream Throw Up! Our…

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Ice Cream Throw Up! Our ice cream man lived near our neighborhood so at the end of the week, at the end of his run, he’d park his truck in the middle of the street and throw the unsold Italian Ice bars and ice cream bars high in the air while we kids would run to catch them (kinda like a bride’s bouquet). This was in Queens Village between Springfield Blvd. and Belmont Race Track.

Facing the stoop a kid yells…

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Facing the stoop a kid yells out Red Light Green Light, 123, while the kids behind him run as far as they can.. May I take a Giant Step? Yes, yes you may… don’t remember the rules of these games. We played statues by one person standing center and spinning the other kids in turn in a circle by their hands till they let go and however they stopped or landed, they had to freeze into position and not move. We played war with a chalk piechart of country names and you bounced the ball in the country you declared war on. What a hoot. Great website….I’ll be sending these games and rhymes to my other fortysomething friends from Queens!

I grew up in NW Alaska and…

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I grew up in NW Alaska and we played a game called “Norwegian”. It was played w/a ball and bat and 2 baselines, rather than typical bases. One behind the batter and one where the typical baseball outfield would be. The batter would hit the bat and his whole team would run to reach the outfield base line w/o being tagged. At least that is how I remember it. I am wondering if anyone else in Alaska, Canada, (or Norway?) has heard of this game and could give me info on rules/origin, etc

I grew up on 4th place between…

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I grew up on 4th place between courtand smith sts.red hook section. we played fist ball. what a great memory. this was in the 1930s. Iam now 80 years old and still think of those great games we had. the first sewer cover was home plate first base was half way down, second base was the next sewer cover. we were able to what we called cufing a ball by cupping our hand and the ball would curve from left to right. also you could hit the ball with your fist and hit it as far as you could. if you were good you could it two sewers covers. about 200feet. I could hit about 2 and a half sewers. PS I still would Like to find a pimple ball we used.

I grew up on 4th place between…

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I grew up on 4th place between courtand smith sts.red hook section. we played fist ball. what a great memory. this was in the 1930s. Iam now 80 years old and still think of those great games we had. the first sewer cover was home plate first base was half way down, second base was the next sewer cover. we were able to what we called cufing a ball by cupping our hand and the ball would curve from left to right. also you could hit the ball with your fist and hit it as far as you could. if you were good you could it two sewers covers. about 200feet. I could hit about 2 and a half sewers. PS I still would Like to find a pimple ball we used.

I was born and raised in…

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I was born and raised in the Bronx, Live there for 18 years, I am 33 yrs old today and I remember the game being called “slugs”, that was one of the best games to play, besides “skellzies”. I am getting my father-in-law, who is the youth pastor to our church to bring these old games up to his youth group. I failed to mention that I live in Boyertown,Pa. where they never heard of any of these street games, so I got my father-in-law interested in these games, so I’m hoping it comes back strong. I’ll keep everyone informed. I’m pretty excited to see how these kids take to our old style games, seeing how they have all these electronic games to entertain them now. Come on old school city games, It’s time for a comeback.

I grew up in the East New…

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I grew up in the East New York section of Brooklyn in the 1950’s. Remembered Playing skelly outside on the sidewalk in front of the blvd projects. We made skelly caps from soda caps with the cork still in it. While the crayon wax was still wet we would put a charm that would come out of a gumball machine in it. Loved the game .

I was born and raised in…

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I was born and raised in the Bronx for 18 yrs of my32 yr old life. I grew up playings skellzies, scully, etc… I moved away from the Bronx when I was 19, to Pa., the country part, so I hope you see where i’m going with this. When I was a younger kid, we played out in the streets til dark, keeping out of trouble, playing such games as stickball, skellzies, kick the can, slugs, and handball. When I first moved out here to Pa., I never gave thought of my childhood games because I was excited about being on my own. Now that I’m married and have three beautiful children, and becoming a born again Christian, I want to bring back some of my childhood memories not only to my own kids, but to my church I attend. My father-in-law is the youth Pastor to our church, and he has a different age group from 12 to 18, but we also have the younger kids who I know would love this game. Ever since I found this website, I’ve been very excited about bringing skellzies back to our new generation. I have told a few people about this game, and they look at me like I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I told them to remember me, cause I’m going to be the one to bring back skellzies and hopefully make it popular again. Thank you again for this website.