Category Archives: Other Games
This is too cool. My boys…
Original author: eileen [e-mail]
This is too cool. My boys were whining there’s nothing to do outside…so it was time to teach them “bottlecaps” as we called it in NE Philly (circa mid-70s). I couldn’t remember all the rules, called my sister and brother, both not home, and started surfing. What a great site! We played a variation with a deadbox in the center. We only used bottlecaps(soda or beer), as is…no wax or anything to weigh them down. We had other/different rules (like if your cap got run over by a car, you advanced a box – 2 boxes if both tires nailed you.) We used “head for the hills” instead of “out of town”. We used to kick a player’s cap down the street, but I can’t remember why. You could also “cuff” your cap into a box if you were within a certain distance of the box, a foot length, I think. (I know…Baby s@*^!) I wish I could remember them all…we played this game for hours, every day, until mom was yelling at us to come in. If anyone remembers this version, feel free to email me. Thanks for the memories…looking forward to new ones with my kids and bringing the game to Cherry Hill, NJ!
No one here has really described…
Original author: Cynthia
No one here has really described the game “statues” and I was wondering if it’s the same game I knew. I grew up in Chicago in the 60’s and the girls in my neighborhood played a game called “statue maker.” I don’t know who taught us it (one of our moms?)or how we learned it, but it was one of our favorites. From what I remember, it went something like this: You needed at least 5 or 6 girls in order to play. One girl played the part of the “statue maker” and the other was the “customer.” The statue maker would spin the other girls around and around by the arm and when she let go, the girl would have to freeze in whatever position she landed in. (We used to have the most hilarity with this … crazy positions that you remain in!) Then the statue maker would walk the customer by each girl, trying to “sell” the merits of each statue. The customer would eventually pick one of the statues by tapping her. This brought her to life and then she would chase the customer around and around. My memory is fuzzy at what happens after this point, but I think the freed statue then becomes the customer and repeats the same. Does this ring a bell with anyone? I’m curious if this is a similar version to what you all played in New York?
Playing Skelly in Sheepshead…
Original author: Howard Chernick [e-mail]
Playing Skelly in Sheepshead Bay/Marine Park during the 60’s was my favorite game. I guess that’s why I have knee problems today. I now live in East Brunswick, NJ and hope to spread the word of “Skelly” to others. In fact, tonight I’m suppose to teach by 8 year old how to play the game. I’m curently refreshing my mind on how to play the game by checking out this site. It’s been atleast 40 years since I scraped my knees against the concrete. Can’t wait!
Slattery Park,Summer of Love…
Original author: Eddie Richardson [e-mail]
Slattery Park,Summer of Love 1967. All night Hoop, Johnnie on the pony, hand-ball, stick-ball and Hot Beans & Butter. Music filled the Air as well as roof top romance. Eddie & Dale, the Richardson Bro’s E-ME Love, Peace & Happiness
Wow, wow wow! This site…
Original author: Denise N. Wagstaff
Wow, wow wow! This site is a blast! Skully was one of my favorite games growing up on 37th street! inBrooklyn. I had a brushed cotton pair of pants, bright yellow. They were for school, and I remember wrecking them up with tar, you know, laying across the sidewalk for that perfect shot! I got in trouble for wrecking a lot of clothes over that game. I now live just north of Toronto, (that’s in Canada for any of the geographically challenged!) and hope to get my kids and the neighborhood into this great game. I have 2 boys that I am sure would love it if they started playing. Geez, this has gotten me nostalgic. I also plan on looking up SPUD, I saw someone mention earlier. We played this too, but all I have is a vague memory of chasing friends with a ball. LET THE STREETGAMES LIVE ON!! Signed, missing my Brooklyn youth, Denise
Skully comes to Massachusetts!…
Original author: David Chesler [e-mail]
Skully comes to Massachusetts! See http://www.geocities.com/chesler.geo/Woburn/woburn_skully.html This morning I demonstrated Skully to my daughter’s kindergarten class at the Charles Goodyear Elementary School in East Woburn, Massachusetts. See http://www.geocities.com/chesler.geo/Woburn/skully_goodyear.jpg and http://www.geocities.com/chesler.geo/Woburn/skully_mahoney.jpg My most optimistic hope is that the game spreads virus-like through the school and the rest of the community. If this is not the northeasternmost Skully board in existence, it may be the most colorful. I used dimensions suggested in Hugh M. McNally’s rules here but "about a square foot" seems awfully big. Even for kindergarten beginners I reduced it to 8″ by 8″ and that seemed big. If the board is only 4′ on a side, 1′ boxes would meet! My recollection from Co-op City was a board no more than 4′ on a side, and boxes maybe 4″ or 6″ on a side. I don’t recall numbers in the Skull, nor did we play much more than a straight race 1 to 13 and back. It wasn’t a particularly popular game in the 1970s — paddleball was popular, and there were enough grassy areas that sidewalk games took a backseat. For the mathematically-inclined, I did use the rope-stretcher’s 3-4-5 triangle (with a tape measure and a metal yardstick, not knotted ropes) to lay out the square.
How about Potsy? You make…
Original author: Anonymous
How about Potsy? You make a 8 boxes and you use 2 bobby pins hooked together or keys and throw them in a box one at a time 1 – 8 and you can’t step on the lines. When you complete 1 – 8 you go backwards 8 – 1 and when you complete that you own a box of your choosing and no one can step on it throughout the game. We spent hours playing Potsy.
What’s in the ice box today!…
I am so attention-deficit…
Original author: Paul Morrison [e-mail]
I am so attention-deficit its not funny….I read the archives as found a few other people mentioning the 1-9 configuration and was relieved that my memory was intact. In 1981 I did a term abroad in Seville, Spain and lived in a barrio that was very urban with many apartment buildings. I enjoyed hanging with the kids better than the college students and remember showing a group of kids there how to play skully. When I left Seville 10 weeks later I spotted a few 1-9 skully boards chalked into the sidewalk over a mile away. Its a really satisfying thing to pass on….a piece of your childhood in Brooklyn! My kids, Caitlin and Connor, and me are in the process of bringing skully to Delaware and Schoharie counties