Category Archives: Queens
I grew up playing Skully…
I grew up playing Skully in Brooklyn and Queens in the late fifties. We were never sure how the name of the game was spelled, because there was no occasion to ever actually write the name. We used to melt candle wax into the bottle caps to give them weight, and for some reason, the beer bottle caps were always considered to be the best to have. One of the terms of the game that I haven’t yet seen in various versions of written rules I’ve come across is “Heading for the Hills”. This was when your opponent became a killer and needed to hit you three times in a row to get you out, so you would keeping blasting your own cap down the block so he could hopefully never catch you. “Heading for the Hills” was not really “fair” and usually not allowed but sometimes it was, depending on the mood of the players that day.
Growing up in Queens Village…
Growing up in Queens Village in the 50’s/60’s (JHS 109, Van Buren), we used to fashion girls’ metal bobby pins into ‘bee stingers’, with a backward twist in the spring-quality steel, and set ‘just right’ (so it wouldn’t go off in your pocket), it delivered quite a painful jab when pressed on a victim’s shirt of pants. The problem, of course, was that it was an extremely close range device.
Oh, yeah. Haven’t heard…
I lived in Astoria growing…
I lived in Astoria growing up in the lates 50’s We used Spaldings for stick ball but we also used the Spalding to play ” Strikebox”. This game featured a Concrete wall usually in a school yard with a box chalked onto it representing a strike zone.It was played with 4 player max ( 2 per side ) or just 2 players. The pitcher stood approx 50 feet from the wall and thru the Spalding and tried to get it past the hitter.As in normal baseball the batter had a chance to get 4 balls or 3 strikes. The outs per side were agreed to in advance as were the singles douobles etc. A broomstick handle was used for a bat. In 1958 a company actually came out with a nicely varnished broomstick just for us kids to play the game..
looking for any old stickball…
looking for any old stickball players from 1955 from 134st in Queens N.Y.I am old school LES stickball,stoop,kick the can,scullys,johny on the pony,hoy peas and butter,round up etc.I am also a ebay junkie.I was searching one day and I came across a old stickball bat from 1955.It was written on the bat.34st stickball champs.Queens N.Y.I had to buy this bat.Which I overpaid for.But the seller was from Oregon and I felt this bat should be on the east coast so I bought it.I would like to find any one of this 1955 neighborhood champ team.It would be nice if I could see the face of someone probably in there early to mid sixties see a happy part of there youth.For as any guy out there over 40 knows that some of the best time they had in their life was when there were playing those old games.God Bless
Witch Doctor This…
Witch Doctor This tag variation would start by someone standing still and saying “Witch Doctor, Witch Doctor, Spook Man Spook. I’ll give you ten to hop the hoop. One, Two, …, Ten.” The other players would then run away. Once the Witch Doctor was done, they’d try to touch each person. Once touched, that person would become infected and would help the Witch Doctor get the rest. There was always a safe base, a sanctuary, where you could rest and not get turned into a witch doctor. We mostly played in our backyard, and we used some cement steps that lead up to a clothesline. I think anyone chasing or finding someone in the sanctuary could count to ten and the person would have to leave the sanctuary before the count was up, and the counter may have had to stand still until the count was up, but maybe not. So running to the sanctuary didn’t give much rest. The person left free at the end would then get to be witch doctor the next round. It was much more fun than straight tag, as no one got “stuck” being “it” and the infection spread rapidly with all the assistants so the rounds were quick. Being “it” was an achievement – but you couldn’t be “it” each time, so the Witch Doctor role would tend to circulate. The game was fun, and we’d play it in our neighborhood in Queens for hours in the late sixties early seventies. I have no idea of the origins.
I remember growin’ up in…
I remember growin’ up in Jamaica Queens, actually Rochdale village building 11 PLAY GROUND AREA. any way…..summer of 1980 ’til 82 it was popular. If you threw your top and it landed in box 1, that was considered an automatic POP so you got to go to 13 and hit the numbers backwards upon completion you had to complete landing in the trapazoid shapes surrounding the number 13. As you got into each box you would say I – AM-A-KILLER-DILLER. As you became KD you had to ask all the others players for “a corner”. The player had to choose one of those 4 outer corners. This was the corner that the Killer Diller had to put his top in the corner and BLAST your top out of square you were in. And he repeated for the remaining players What a memory…we settled our grievences …in game not violence. A frequently heard popular summertime shout would be “HEY, who wanna getta game?” and it was understood that the game that would get got was Skelly. Well that’s how it went down that sweltering Wednesday late afternoon in summer of ’81…Dellick got an automatic pop and within 7 minutes he called me from my corner and blasted me out of the game. Actually I heard the shout“KILLA DILLA” many times during that sweltering summer.” Hey Gary, Erik, Dellick,Willie, and Kim, where are you now?”And i shoulda known….. ’cause it was just a Jamaica tale!
I remember growin’ up in…
I remember growin’ up in Jamaica Queens, actually Rochdale village building 11 PLAY GROUND AREA. any way…..summer of 1980 ’til 82 it was popular. If you threw your top and it landed in box 1, that was considered an automatic POP so you got to go to 13 and hit the numbers backwards upon completion you had to complete landing in the trapazoid shapes surrounding the number 13. As you got into each box you would say I – AM-A-KILLER-DILLER. As you became KD you had to ask all the others players for “a corner”. The player had to choose one of those 4 outer corners. This was the corner that the Killer Diller had to put his top in the corner and BLAST your top out of square you were in. And he repeated for the remaining players What a memory…we settled our grievences …in game not violence. A frequently heard popular summertime shout would be “HEY, who wanna getta game?” and it was understood that the game that would get got was Skelly. Well that’s how it went down that sweltering Wednesday late afternoon in summer of ’81…Dellick got an automatic pop and within 7 minutes he called me from my corner and blasted me out of the game. Actually I heard the shout“KILLA DILLA” many times during that sweltering summer.” Hey Gary, Erik, Dellick,Willie, and Kim, where are you now?”And i shoulda known….. ’cause it was just a Jamaica tale!
I was listening to my 12yo…
I was listening to my 12yo son and his cousin playing in the yard when scully came to mind. So I rushed to my computer and did a search. This websight was one of the results. I used to play scully back in the mid to late 50’s at the P.S. 39 playground in Queens, NY during the summer. The board was painted on the ground but I don’t remember if it was concrete or asphalt. The Park’s Dept. officer would hold tournaments weekly. There were no prizes. You just got your name posted as the “champ”. I’m going to teach my son the game. Hopefully, he’ll like it and get scully going here in California. Bob Schulken/Escondido, CA