Tag Archives: slugs (the game)

I was born and raised in…

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I was born and raised in the Bronx, Live there for 18 years, I am 33 yrs old today and I remember the game being called “slugs”, that was one of the best games to play, besides “skellzies”. I am getting my father-in-law, who is the youth pastor to our church to bring these old games up to his youth group. I failed to mention that I live in Boyertown,Pa. where they never heard of any of these street games, so I got my father-in-law interested in these games, so I’m hoping it comes back strong. I’ll keep everyone informed. I’m pretty excited to see how these kids take to our old style games, seeing how they have all these electronic games to entertain them now. Come on old school city games, It’s time for a comeback.

I was wondering if anyone…

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I was wondering if anyone knows any information, about a game called “Slugs”. It was a game you played up against an apartment building, and I know you used the cracks on the sidewalk as your own box. It was almost like handball, but you had to hit the ball off your hand and onto the ground first than onto the wall towards the box that you chose to hit it towards, depending on how many players you had. You had the Ace server, and there were a bunch of other players were trying to knock off and become the Ace server. But I don’t remember exactly how you play that game. So if someone can please post any info about this street game I would greatly appreciate it. I love this website. Stay strong and God Bless.

I was born and raised in…

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I was born and raised in the Bronx for 18 yrs of my32 yr old life. I grew up playings skellzies, scully, etc… I moved away from the Bronx when I was 19, to Pa., the country part, so I hope you see where i’m going with this. When I was a younger kid, we played out in the streets til dark, keeping out of trouble, playing such games as stickball, skellzies, kick the can, slugs, and handball. When I first moved out here to Pa., I never gave thought of my childhood games because I was excited about being on my own. Now that I’m married and have three beautiful children, and becoming a born again Christian, I want to bring back some of my childhood memories not only to my own kids, but to my church I attend. My father-in-law is the youth Pastor to our church, and he has a different age group from 12 to 18, but we also have the younger kids who I know would love this game. Ever since I found this website, I’ve been very excited about bringing skellzies back to our new generation. I have told a few people about this game, and they look at me like I don’t know what I’m talking about, but I told them to remember me, cause I’m going to be the one to bring back skellzies and hopefully make it popular again. Thank you again for this website.

Growing up on the same Bronx…

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Growing up on the same Bronx block for 21 years, we called the game “slugs” although i do recall the other names (ace, king, queen and chinese handball). It was one of the most popular games on the block. As a kid, I’d watch the older guys play with awe and once I started playing, i loved it. Expecially after learning to “cut” the ball, which would fool the hell out of an opponent, unless he had a nastier cut than you. Then there were all the other “rules” we’d throw in like “waterfalls”, “baby waterfalls”, “hindus”, etc. I’m just mad that I can’t remember what all of these mean or how they were used in the game! I remember how the whole neighborhood would get into the game and we’d play for hours, with sometimes 8-10 players at a time. Then it was on to skelsies, johnny on the pony, or ringolevio. Ah, the good ole days.

I’m also from Washington…

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I’m also from Washington Heights, on Bennett Ave. We played this game, but we called it “Slug”. I wonder if anyone else knew it by this name. I don’t remember our rules so well so I’m checking w/ my older sister… hopefully she will.

We always used Spaldeens…

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We always used Spaldeens in the Bronx– One day, Willie’s candy store had Pennyslvania Pinkies for sale — no spaldeens! We bought one to play SLUG with — it was horrible. Later we did the Spaldeen/PP test — droppping them both to the ground at the same time. Spaldeen won — it just had that extra zip to it!

July,1939,The Bronx. Six…

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July,1939,The Bronx. Six of us were playing a pickup game on Daley Ave. (between Tremont and 178th St)right in front of the “Mad Doctor’s” house because it always ticked him off. This day he called the cops. As the Squad car rounded the corner, someone yelled, “Cheese it, the Bulls” We scattered to various spots on the sidewalk and tried to look innocent, so that the cops would just keep going. But they didn’t. The stopped in front of the Doctor’s house who came out and began fingering the guys. The cops herded five of the six ( and the stick) into the Squad Car and hauled them down to the 48th Precinct Station. The 6th player (me) had ducked into a doorway and escaped notice. As soon as the coast was clear, I (like Paul Revere)sounded the alarm to a few parents who had to pay a nickle (each way) to take the Tremont Ave. trolley to the police station and “bail out” their kids. The lectures and the warning didn’t impress us because we were back the next day, right in front of the Doctor’s house playing stickball, curbball, stoopball, slugball, and/or boxball. In those days, we paid 5c for a Leader and 15c for a Spaldeen. One day we found a golf ball and used it to play stoopball until I got a great hit that broke a neighbor’s window. We scattered because we knew she was an old grouch and wouldn’t give back the ball.