Category Archives: Other Games

I grew up on New York’s Lower…

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I grew up on New York’s Lower East Side 80 years ago. About 40 years ago, I was amazed when a woman friend, reminiscing about her childhood in Winthrop Mass., north of Boston, sang a group street game chant: “Oh, Oh, the ring we leave-o!” It struck me immediately that her “Ring we leave-o” was obviously the phrase that somehow morphed into the Italian-sounding “Ringoleavio” in the streets of New York. It may or may not have been exactly the same game. Does anyone know? How did they play The Ring We Leave-o in Boston in the 1930s?

For skully caps our favorites…

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For skully caps our favorites in my bronx neighborhood were the plastic liquor bottle tops filled with some tar scraped out of the street; or the metal cap from the bottom of the school chairs legs that made the chairs slide on the floors. The school chair pieces were heavy enough the you didn’t need to give it any additional weight, the only problem was the extreme difficulty of getting it off of the bottom of the chair leg. In all the years that I tried I don’t think that I ever got one off of a chair.

I played Hot Peas & butter…

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I played Hot Peas & butter in the Bronx in the late 60’s early 70’s before the bronx started burning. I was about 5 or 6. I remeber the person would hide the belt and come back and say “Come and Get It”, or “Hot Peas and Butter Come Get Your Supper”, then we would look for the belt.

I’m from the Southwest Schuykill…

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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.

Oh, my god!!!!!!! I cannot…

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Oh, my god!!!!!!! I cannot believe I have found this site. Skelly was my all time favorite street game growing up in the Bronx, though I first learned the game during the short time my family and I lived in the Edgemere projects in Far Rockaway in the mid-60’s. They called it skully there, skelly in Co-op City, but no matter the name, it was so much fun! I moved to Rochester, NY 8 years ago, and no one has ever heard of it, their loss. I am going out as soon as I can, get some sidewalk chalk, and draw a skelly board on my driveway come this spring…….Maybe I can teach these hicks up here what a good game looks like……… Thanks to the webmasters, and the creators of this website, you have brought back a flood of great memories for me, and I am going to pass this along……

We played a variant of Deadbox…

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We played a variant of Deadbox in Feltonville (4500 Hurley near D & Whitaker) where the numbered boxes went from 1 to 16. The 14,14,15,16 boxes were long and narrow, and arranged along the four sides of the deadbox. I’ve got the board memorized and can supply a diagram. Jim – dtvjho-dead [at] emailias [dot] com

I used to play Potsy in about…

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I used to play Potsy in about the 3rd grade – a long time ago – on the playground. We would dig one hole in the center and 4 holes on the corners, probably 2 feet apart. I don’t remember the rules and would really like to know so I can teach my grandchildren. I was really good and used to win the boy’s marbles all the time! Thanks to anyone that can help me. Judy

I grew up in Long Island…

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I grew up in Long Island City, Queens in the Ravenswood Projects 1960’s. We played “skezie” religiously every day in the summer and after school. I have vivid memories of playing the game with my friends. I had patches on patches on my dungarees. We used beer or soda caps mostly and we didn’t have twist off’s back then. I remember melting crayola crayons into the bottle cap as we tried to come up with what we thought were cool designs. A few of the kids would use heinz ketchup bottle caps or baby food jar lids – we called those kids fagots. The kids across the street called the game skully. I have taught my 11 year old twins to play the game – but they just don’t appreciate it.

VannyPoo is right – I grew…

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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…