Category Archives: Queens
I grew up in St. Albans…
I grew up in St. Albans Queens in the 50-60’s I can’t remember how one got the points. It had something to do with what you had left in the hand. But I remenber drawing for hard or soft knucks eg red or black. There was the slap with the flat of the pack. There was the smack with the edge of the pack (the scrape???) then there was putting your hand down on the ground and the deck on the fingersnails and then the winner stepped on the deck. Then there was the flying knucks…. A nice sadistic game that turned boys into men
I grew up in St. Albans,…
I grew up in St. Albans, Queens on Galway ave in the 50-60s. I played war. Much like web diva says but it was more dramatic when you had two equal cards. First you and the other player said I and put a card face down then you said de (pronounced dee) and put a card face down. Then you said clare and put a card face down. Then the big finish you both yell war and throw down the fourth card face up and see who wins. Boy I remember playing Knucks. I believe it is short for knuckles. I am not certain but I believe you ended up with points for not winning and the points depended on which cards you had in your hand. The type of knucks you got depended on the point total. If it was low you got slapped on the knuckles with the flat of the deck. If it was higher you got smacked on the knuckles with the edge of the deck. Then there was the worst. Putting your hand on the ground and the deck on the fingernails and someone stepping on the deck. Nothing like a good sadistic game to bring back fond memoires. Someone must remember how to play.
In St Albans, Queens, Galway…
In St Albans, Queens, Galway ave to be exact, in the 50-60s we played a game called “running bases” which sounds like the previous positings “pickle”, “hot box”, or “monkey in the middle”. On either side of the street were the two baseman and a bunch of the kids were in the middle. You had to avoid being tagged out as you ran from base to base. It is like a run down in baseball also known as a pickle. Sometimes if you were tagged out you were out of the game until the last person was tagged out. I believe other times you exchanged places and became the baseman. The bases were safe areas and you could stay on them. Only co-ed game back then.
Any self respecting kid…
Any self respecting kid that grew up in the 50-60s in St.Albans, Queens and went to PS 118 knows that Pensie-Pinkies rule. Its called pensie-pinkie because it had a keystone stamped on the pink ball. The state symbol for Pensylvania is the keystone. The nick name for Pensylvania is the “Keystone state”-hence Pensie short for Pensylvania. I found this site looking for Skelly/Scully rules. Great site. I played all the usual street games including stoop ball, chinese handball, stickball etc. A kid couldn’t live without a Pensie. ANYONE HEAR OF RUNNING BASES??? Two “basemen” on either side of the street and a bunch of kids in the middle. The object was to tag the kids out as they ran back and forth between the two bases. It was like a run down in baseball. One of the few co-ed games at the time. Girls were so icky back then. This site brought back many wonderful memories.
Never forget the first….
Never forget the first. As a kid, that peck that made your face so hot you could still feel it there when you close your eyes, and remember. Easy, Brooklyn/Queens New York City. 1967. PS214K school yard, first grade lunch recess. Donna Mantos. My cousin crystal had a huge overcoat and she made a cave. It was late fall, and I had the robber’s ski mask, like most kids pulled down so you looked like a 7 year old SWAT sniper. She pulled up the mask, and we’d exchange the pecks. The high lasted all day. Then she’d go back to her girlfriends, and I’d go back to my playing airplane. First heavy kiss was 1974, High School of Art and Design, from Evelyn. Wrigley’s gum and Kool cigarettes. What a memory.
I don’t even know if this…
I don’t even know if this belongs here, because these weren’t games, exactly – there was a whole group of physical things we used to do as kids in Queens in the 50’s that were fun. ‘Most everyone remembers the trick of leaning the side of your hand against a wall and pressing on it – when you stepped away from the wall, your hand seemed to magically raise all by itself. But the one that I’m really “nostalging” on lately was giving each other “the chills”. There was a whole ritual where you stood behind your subject and recited a sort of pseudo-poem as you traced patterns on their back gently with a finger. At the end of the ritual, your subject shivered with glee. The ritual, as I remember it, went something like this: “X marks the spot” (you’d trace an X from each shoulder to the opposite side of their waist) “A dot, a dot” (two light taps on either side of the X) “A line and a line” (two lines, parallel to the ground, about 6 inches apart) “And a BIG question mark.” (Trace a large question mark, ending with the point just above the hips.) “Trails leading up . . . ” (You’d trace a wiggly line up the person’s spine with two fingers) “Trails leading down.” (Same wiggly lines go back down the back.) “Sea breeze . . .” (You’d blow on the person’s neck.) “. . .and a BIG squeeze.” (You’d put your thumb and forefinger on either side of your subject’s neck and pull back towards the spine with the lightest, most feathery pressure possible.) Does anyone remember this and if so, did I remember the entire ritual (I’m sure it varied from block to block!)
Okay, couldn’t sleep tonight,…
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…
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…
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!