Category Archives: Skully

> I “invented” the glass…

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> I “invented” the glass bottle cap I knew it would be someone from the Bronx. The game was just so much more “evolved” there. Only a Bronxite would use the term “technology” in reference to a skully cap. Your sewer cover description of cap production is how I did it too, but now that I have a Home Depot credit card, I went out and bought a glass cutter to see if it would facilitate the process. Amazingly, it kinda works! -Hugh McNally / Bronx native / Skully player hmcnally [at] streetplay [dot] com

I “invented” the glass bottle…

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I “invented” the glass bottle cap described in earlier messages (i.e. the glass ring at the lip of a bottle which can be broken off if scraped just right over a sewer cover) Actually, it was discovered by accident, but as soon as we saw the glass ring we knew it would be perfect for Skully. This amazing discovery occurred on Walton Ave. in the Bronx circa 1965. Of course, it is possible that others developed this technology independently. Does anyone recall seeing a glass bottle cap in use pre-’65?

I used to play skully in…

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I used to play skully in Staten Island during the 70s. It was the perfect game to play on a hot summer’s day. Every neighborhood had it’s own skully board either chalked or painted on the street. I can still hear someone yelling, “Car!” That would make us grab our skully caps and run to the sidewalk for safety. We made our skully caps by melting Crayola crayons with matches…

Grown men and women wept….

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Grown men and women wept. Children were amazed. About seven years ago, I was a Cub Scout Den Leader, and seeking something dangerous to do with the guys, I had them fill a supply of beer caps with candle wax, colored with a few drops of Crayola (not including “flesh”). I didn’t tell them why. They didn’t care, ’cause it was fun burning eachother with the wax. The following week, I drew a board in my suburban driveway, and introduced the game to the group. The next step was to set up a demo for the whole Cub Pack, but since the meetings were indoors at night, I had the boys make a board on a 4’x4′ piece of masonite, using black paint & stencils for the boxes & numbers. We took the board to the next Pack meeting. The results were as stated at the top. I even brought the board to a company picnic. Imagine Skully & grass coexisting! Best of both worlds.

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When we didn’t have chalk to draw the skully court, we would pull a handful of leaves from a boxwood bush or something and bunch it up into a tight ball and scrape it against the ground to draw the court. It was just as good as chalk for a little while, but it wore off fairly quickly. We had a little technique we would use called “five finger stretch” when the caps got jammed against a curb or some other object. You could stretch your fingers out on one hand to move the cap toward the court away from the object. I had three caps. One was empty for really long shots, the 2nd was half full of wax for medium shots and the third cap was full to the brim for short shots and to make the cap heavy and slower. I replaced one cap for another during the game depending on the shot needed. If you turn the heaviest cap upside down when someone else’s cap was about to “hit” yours, that would prevent the cap from being hit very far. (An opponent could really send you sailing if he wanted to!)

I know the game originated…

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I know the game originated in one or all of the 5 boroughs, but I learned the game from friends in my neighborhood on Long Island. I have fond memories of hot summer days playing ‘skelly’. I wish I could have had this information 20 years ago when my own kids were growing up – I guess I’m going to have to teach my grandchildren! Thanks for the site.

There must be an old 9 box…

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There must be an old 9 box (with 4 trapezoid) skully board still around somewhere. If anyone finds one, please get exact dimensions. A photo would be great. “Thegrape”‘s diagram above is pretty close to what I remember. The dimensions of the boxes, the distance between them and the starting point are all key. Perhaps after we get the game layed out, we can work on finding some old bottle caps to melt crayons in. Hopefully then the rules will come back to us.

I remember the game well,…

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I remember the game well, but I also remember manufacturing and selling wax filled caps. I’d create designs in the bottlecaps and other kids would bid on the best. Mostly they sold for a nickel and 3 for a dime. In 1968, it beat hunting for dirty deposit bottles. Thanks for the memories

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In West Philly, we called it “caps”. Sometimes “Skelly” which I always thought was short for skeleton. We packed our decorked bottle caps with dirt. We took turns looking out for cars. I am teaching it at recess at our K-8 school for TV Turn-off Week. My husband is donating his plastic Odwalla (SF Bay Area exclusive) and metal Stewarts root beer caps to the cause. Your rules are really helpful for refreshing my memory about the skull section conseqences. I intend to give the kids several sets of your rules and let them go for it. I hope with practice that they are able to improve upon our old techniques. A fellow parent from NJ hipped me to your fab site. Eyewater is rolling mourning childhood’s end :{

I remember putting a small…

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I remember putting a small piece of crayon in the bottle cap and sitting it on the radiator overnight. The crayon would melt and fill the cap giving you a little more control. Man, that memory came out of nowhere. I hadn’t thought about skully in close to 40 years.