We played this game back in the day in the School Yard on Hull Avenue in The Bronx;teams of 20-30 per side;we also played Box-Baseball,PunchBall,Stickball(Both Fungo Style and Pitching In Vs a Box drawn on a wall as a strike zone).Also played Ace-King-Queen with the loser playing in a game called Cans Up.Also played Stoop Ball(also called Off The Point)using Spaldeens and Pennsylvania Pinkys!
I’m from the Southwest Schuykill section of S/W Philly until we left in 1971. Back in the day we called “Handball” >> “Socket it out” A couple of street games not mentioned are: Ring up, hide the belt, “Buck Buck” ,2 hand touch street football (Not flag football) as well as schoolyard softball (Special ball because of the concrete field) in Mitchell school yard.
VannyPoo is right – I grew up in Park Slope Brooklyn in the 60’s and we called it skelsies. I now live in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was trying to explain the game to some of my co-workers. I had to send them this link – they thought I was making it up. Wait til I explain Hot Peas and Butter and Buck Buck…
Up on simpson street in the bronx we hung out on the rooftops. We would plug in a record player to the hall light and dance on the sticky tar.Sometimes we would climb down to the street via the firescape and many times that top ladder to the roof was ajar from the building and shook enough to send us tumbling to the street below if we did not watch it. On the way down,being Puerto Rican neighborhood we would have to jump over jugs of a formenting drink called mavi.Each landing had a different aroma of pork chops, pastelillos, rice and beans and fried chicken. We would reach the bottom of the back yard starving and we had to be quick because there always was a mean dirty dog named buster waiting to bite someone. We would then go out to the street and play kick the can.ringolivio, stickball, marbles, johnny on the pony, skully or hitch on the back of trucks that we leave us somewhere in long island.A typical day back in the fifties.we had mucho fun.
lower east side e.4th st.p.s. 25 schoolyard late ’40s early ’50s. johnny on the pony was a big favorite,but none of the girls would play (watta disappointment)it would have been alot more fun. when you were talking with your friends if your sister walked up and one guy cursed right away it was “hey watch ya language”. there was a little more respect in those days,but we had tons of fun. some guy on one of these sights said ” if i could go back,i’d go in a flash. i feel the same way. take care.
Grew up in Clason Point/Soundview section of South Bronx in the 60s’. Played stickball at P.S. 69 (Beat that P.S). We played stickball in the street, open fields, and fast pitched against the wall against a chalk filled-in box(No strike disputes “see the chalk on the ball.. shut up”)At old 69 we would “chip in” and get as many Spaldeens as we could to get up a good game. We would stick em in a fence and line em up, no more in the fence no more game. Pensie Pinkies were for girls, sorry. No self- respecting stickball player would be caught dead with a “pinkie”. We also played Ace King Queen, stoop-ball and box-ball(My house had the best stoop and wall on the block. Also played booties up, skully in the street or on the sidewalks. Crack top, Johnny on the Pony,Ringoleaveo…Wouldnt’trade those memories for anything…..
There are some clips in my Yahoo Group ‘Johnny on the Pony’ Please add your experiences to Streetplay
There is no shortage og videos on both ‘My-Space’ and ‘You-Tube’showing Buck-Buck as it is now played. No longer a guessing game!
Back in the late 50’s on the Chicago South side at Fernwood School playground we used to play “Buck Buck – how many fingers up”. I never knew that it was also called Johnny on the Pony. Our best player at that time was Dick Butkus (Chicago Bears). When he would jump onto the other teams back’s, almost always would that other team cave in, giving us the win.