Category Archives: Philadelphia
WHERE CAN WE BUY PIMPLE…
I still have a 1966 pimple…
I still have a 1966 pimple ball. We used two driveways for boxball in case we got chased from one or there was hanging wash in the way. Our stickball field was a bank parking lot behind Castor Ave; homers had to cross the lot and the street. Handball was played at recess and lunchtime at Carnell. For Deadbox, we put an extra cork in bottlecaps for added weight and control. We called manhunt “wolf”; kids on my street today play the same game and call it “freedom.” Running bases was for all the kids (including girls) of all ages, not just us “athletes.”
Soft Pinkies rule. One of…
Soft Pinkies rule. One of my most savored kid memories was walking back to school at lunch in NE Philly having just stole () a Pinkie from the corner candy store. Throwing a fresh pinkie at a nice tall brick wall on a spring afternoon is heaven on earth. Does anyone remember playing SUICIDE – a game with a sponge (Pinkie) ball against a wall (school wall). You would throw the ball to hit 1st the ground then 2nd the wall so the ball launched high in the air. If you caught it, the person who threw it must touch the wall b4 you get to peg him with the ball. If you try and catch someone else’s ball and miss, its your bum on the line. Still don’t know why it was called suicide. Likely many names for this game. Chris
I think this site is great.I…
I think this site is great.I also think it’s great that you have such an organized collection of rules.I don’t rememberall these.I played this game so much from 1945-1950.I see from the site they are still playing it.Could you tell me where or post it on the site I’d love to watch if not compete.I can still play.and I think i still have my tops or i’ll make some.I neglected to say I played this game in South Philly [Graysferry section] and West Philly.
Igrew up in South Philly…
Igrew up in South Philly Graysferry sectionand we use toplay what you call Skullys. We use to call it street checkers the same as Al politowlski called them.That was back in 1940 and I don’t remember all those rules. We use to use the liquor bottle tops and cut the neck off when we could find them . No body would let you use theirs and you didn’t loose them.The looser of the game first man out had to put the winners name on a shirt with bottle caps and the cork inside the cap. We moved to West Philly they called it the same, street checkers but some rules were different. I’ve been telling my wife about this game, now ican finally show it to her thanks to you. Ihave acouple of liquor tops and i would love to shoot agame.IfIloose I’ll put your name on a shirt for you.
yo philly!! does anybody…
yo philly!! does anybody remember playing manhunt?? we would play this till somebody’s parents called them home at 11:00pm. on weekends. it was simple split up into teams and one team would hide and the other team would hunt them .when a person was found,he hunter wouls say” one two three manhunt” and you would be caught. game over when everyone was caught and the other team would hide.this site is bringing back big time memories thamks!!
I grew up in South Philly,…
I grew up in South Philly, in the 70s/early 80s … I STILL HAVE A PIMPLE BALL !!! I kept it knowing that one day, people all over would be looking for one — wish we could still buy em. I remember learning ‘Chink’ on the corners. We simply called it ‘Chink’ and it was the most simple, fun, yet competitive games ANYWHERE !! We played it on the corner, and we played to 11, or 21 if you played doubles and allowed ‘slams’ – meaning the ball could go PAST the curb and into the street, provided there wasn’t a parked car in front of that curb. My memories from the neighborhood also included: – Halfball (of course) – Handball – Running the Bases – ‘Atlantic City’ — which was a variation of Chink AND Running the Bases – very fun game – Jailbreak (surprised I haven’t seen this mentioned elsewhere – you had teams of people and you had to ‘free’ the person in ‘jail’ — which was someone’s front step – you would grab the railing, yell ‘jailbreak’ and all your teammates could leave jail. If you got caught by the other team, you were ‘dragged’ into jail. We usually had a member from each team ‘guarding’ the jail area!) – Wireball – Stepball – Fastball (a variation of stickball/halfball where you pitched a tennis ball into a ‘strike box’ painted on a wall and played with out and runs rules similar to halfball) – Wall/Suicide (simply throwing the ball against the wall, and having someone catch it – if you missed it you had to run to the wall and touch it and yell ‘Wall/Suicide’ before someone picked up your missed ball and BEANED it at your ass! – Dodge ball (played with the big red ball!) – Street football (we actually had an entire street block spray painted with yard line markers, logos, out of bounds markers, end zones, etc!) I’m sure there were plenty of others but this is all I can think of right now !!!
I remember alot of these…
I remember alot of these games. I grew up in North Philly (3rd & Bristol) near Feltonville. We played boxball, stickball, handball, chink ball, and buck buck. I haven’t see many messages on chink ball.The the way we played it you hit the ball either pimple or pink rubber if they didn’t have a pimple ball, against the wall on one bounce. You could juggle the ball three times, but then you had to hit it. You would try to fake your opponent out by pretending to hit it hard, then hit it softly. If he or she missed it, it was worth one point. First one to 5 won. Thanks, for the memories. Al.