I grew up in Canarsie and played this game in the playground for years. My brothers and I would melt the crayons for the caps in my easy bake oven. I was telling my husband about this (only married over a year and an old friend of my brothers) and he had heard the stories from my brothers. We live in Maine and are going to get some chalk and play on our driveway. What a great memory!!!!
As a child I lived in the Canarsie area in Brooklyn. We played skully in the street with bottle caps that were filled with melted crayons or candle wax. Some of the fillers in the bottle caps were so cool, we wouldn’t even play with them. Started a collection. I used to put a penny in the bottom of the cap and then cover it with crayon and melt the crayon. It gave more weight to the cap, so it traveled a straight path. It was also helpful when we played games when “Blasties” were allowed, because when they hit the unweighted caps it would cause the lighter cap to go flying off the board. You could become a “killer” even before the other kid got back to the board. Sadly, I now live in Phoenix where it will be 116 degrees today and the ground is so hot it would melt the crayons in the caps…
Cypress Hills Projects, East New York Brooklyn. Born there in ’60 and left for the Rockaways in ’82. Used to go to 214, then 260 in Canarsie due to my art talent. Then back again to 218 for JHS. Memories were bittersweet, like most here. The days of penny candy were soon replaced with gang fights, then social unrest, then the drug wars. My kudos to any and all who survived it to relate it here.
I just spent about a half hour last night explaining the game Skully, that I played as a kid in Brooklyn (1965 Canarsie)to my wife and kids. Could not believe it when I found this website. I’m gonna spend some time this weekend making a few caps. Don’t know if the rest of the family will play but I sure am going to. Thanks!
I don’t know what made me remember the game of bottle caps and street chalk boards except the fact that my son bought a six pack of Coke in the collectible bottles which have caps on them. I started talking to him about the game I used to play as a child and “poof” my brain retrieved the name skully. My son,(7y.o.), was intrigued by the explanation and couldn’t wait to get started filling the bottle caps with melted crayons. What memories this brings back to me growing up in Canarsie, (in Brooklyn, N.Y..) I hope I can show my son that he can have as much fun as I did. (I took a shot at looking it up on th e internet and here I am). SKULLY LIVES ON! Steve T.
Hey I used to play skully in Canarsie Brooklyn, in the late 60’s early 70’s. Anyone remember Coke Bottle glass rings for the long shots? You made them by running the bottle across the octagon sewer covers. then polished them by rubbing them on the blacktop. If a car ran them over you were history, but they were great for the long shots. -Frank
Many things come to mind when I think of skelly. Here are a few: 1)New Jersey, 1964. We stopped at Tony’s Hot Dogs near lake Hopatcong on a Sunday as I recall. I asked the man behind the counter, actually my dad asked the man, if we could have some bottlecaps. I guess some meant all because he filled up a couple of paper bags full. It was a great ride home as a 7 year old digging out all of the cork and couldn’t wait to show my friends my motherlode of caps. 2)I can still remember the smell of melted crayons in my friend’s garage as we readied our bottlecaps for action. We lived in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn and if it wasn’t stickball or Spud it was all day skelly marathons. 3)About 1970 or thereabouts during my last glory days as a pre-teen and the end of skelly as a pasttime, I pulled one of the biggest miscues of my life, to that point. My dad had just bought me a new pair of Pro Keds and I proceeded to wear out the sides in a matter of days due to several skellythons. Needless to say, it was back to discount sneakers for me. I wish this generation could experience all of the great street games that I grew up with in Brooklyn and Queens.
After getting together after 25 yrs., the 3 of us girls grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn. We searched for jacks, and began playing one day. Trying desperately to remember the different rules, esp. “Fancies.” We even put our hair in pigtails to try to recapture the “olden days.” We remembered:5 fancies. Squeeze the lemon, the bride and groom, around the world, jack be nimble, and lick the lollie. When we were kids we would play mostly on hard surfaced floors where ever and whenever we could. WE WERE OBSESSED! Does anyone know of books or sites to find more fancies? We are planning on playing more often now.