In high school we played a form of handball (any number could play) wherein the server threw the ball on a bounce to the wall. The next player (in line) had to hit the ball (on the fly, but usually on no more than one bounce) on the ground first before it hit the wall. Then the next player did the same thing. Etc. Is there actually a name for this form of handball/non-boundry boxball?
Grew up at West Fordham Road (Tolentine parrish) in the late fiftes and early sixties. Played outside all day. Skelly was a favorite, also box ball (each player took a box on the sidewalk, a total of four in a square), stoop ball and stick ball. Kept busy all day. No electronics, but plenty of fun. Fond memories!
I grew up in Richmond Hill NY, playing skelly every day, come summer time in Smokey Park in the early 70’s. I remember using crayons and the rim of the glass beer bottle to make a skelly cap, but there was one more way of doing it that was my favorite. We’d take a twist off beer cap, find a plastic soda cap, and some small pieces of glass for weight. I’d dig the plastic insert piece out of the soda cap. The glass went inside the beer bottle cap and the plastic piece was fitted in side the beer bottle cap, over the glass upside down, to hold the glass in place.I remember always giving the new cap a real good rubbing on the ground to roughen it up. I was a good shooter and didnt want it flying anywhere I didnt want it to. I have taught my kids how to play all the street games I can still remember. Their favorites are: I Declare War, Box Ball, Chinese Hand Ball and Stoop ball and Red Rover.
Hey..52nd street.. I grew up in Guttenberg NJ (Hudson County) we also played ringalerio and box ball etc… Being a girl I played that game mentioned above called Russia.. I cannot for the life of me. I just came inside from my porch trying to teach one of my daughters and was searching the internet for the rules of that game.. Anyone else know??
Grew up in West New York, NJ in the late ’60’s. The spaldeen games we played included : boxball, slapball, “fly’s up” (which is referred to here as stoopball), stickball, and my personal favorite “Fireball (which seems related to what others here have called “War”). In Fireball, the game was usually played everyman for himself. (i.e., no teams). Typically 4-8 participants. The game started with someone throwing the ball straight up high into the air. Everyone had the option of catching it. Whoever caught it was free to throw the ball usually as hard as possible at any of the other players, with one exception. If any player touched the player in possession of the ball, then that player could not be a target. The player with the ball was not allowed to move. All other players were free to run away. Once the ball was released, it either hit another player or it missed. In either case, the ball was free for anyone else to pick up and play resumed. A maximum number of times hit was established at the start of the game. Usually, this number was three. So, if a player was hit three times with the ball, he was eliminated. Eventually, all but one player would be eliminated in this way and the remaining player was declared the winner. If a player violated one of the few rules, he was then put in front of the “Firing Squad” (this is referred to in Streetplay as “asses up”). A typical violation would be throwing and hitting someone who had just managed to touch the playe with the ball. In the Firing Squad, the violater faced a wall with hands and legs stretched out, similar to the way a criminal would spread on a vehicle when asked to “spread ’em” by a cop. Each player, standing about 30 feet back from the violator, would get one chance to throw the ball at the violator. It was during games of fireball that I would witness the advanced trait of sympathy. Some players would throw the ball lightly at the violator during the Firing Squad phase. This is how we learned things in West New York.
variation was “diamond ball” .Pitcher would pitch a fluke, if it hit the chalk filled diamond and the batter didn’t swing, he was out. each batter only got one strike (except if it was hit foul) per out. played in the street, 3 base + home. Minimum of three players – pitcher, catcher and third baseman. anything over the infield on a fly was out, but going down third base line could net homer.
I just found this site and it’s great.We played skully for hours on end on 189th St.in Manhattan.In between,we’d play stickball,off the point(curbball)or Johnny ride the pony.Also,I noticed someone mentioned “slugs”.We called this “Chinese” which I found out was short for Chinese handball.How about that,a bottlecap,a broomstick,and a “spaldeen” was all the equipment we needed for fun from March to November.Who needs Playstation?
We had several painted Skelly squares in our Cypress Hills projects back in East New York Brooklyn. Skelly, Boxball, HopSkotch, seemed every ten feet. I remember generations of us playing it back in the sixties, and waiting our turn to. It was always the older teens first, then they’d leave to go the the basketball courts, or the top circle. Then we’d get the chance. My favorite cap of use was the coke top or wine cap with wax, but like many, I longed for the cool glass ring of the Coke, Tab, Fresca, or beer bottle ring. Seems I remember the older teens (back in the sixties) used to fish them out of the trash cans, and proceed to skim the necks on the asphalt or stoop until you got the perfect ring.