Tag Archives: Summer

I wore holes in all my pants…

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I wore holes in all my pants and skuffed up my shoes so bad no amount of polishing could help,playing skully. My mom would put these iron on patches on my pants, they always fell off. In the early 1960’s me and alot of kids always got handme down clothes. Man,those were the days,playing skully at the city school park on a hot summer day in the shade of a city pin oak tree. As long as the water fountain worked,all was good. We seemed to have an internal clock in us,that at one time in our lives we knew play was over,im to old for that now,or thats kid stuff,and stopped playing our games. I remember wanting to play,but fear of being called a baby stopped me. You could always go home and watch cartoons in the safey of your home. About that time 6th grade,a new thing happened,girls!

It is great to know there…

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It is great to know there are others out there that remember this game. I grew up in Chicago in the 70’s and learned this at a summer camp at a YMCA near Fullerton and Central Park. We called it skully caps. My memory of the rules and board are sketchy and my husband thought I was crazy. Now I have proof and the rules of play to teach my son!

I grew up in Brooklyn (MacDougal…

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I grew up in Brooklyn (MacDougal Street) between Ralph and Howard Avenues. Went to P.S. 40, George Washington Carver. I am so enthusiastic about finding this site. I currently live in Maryland but have lived all over and NEVER found anyone knowing of Skelly. I use to play with Lorenzo (LO or China) Raymond, Johnny, Junior,Squeechy and many, many others. Summers in Brooklyn, the memories are the best!!! Get at me if anyone is from this area of Brooklyn. I miss home. I was Michael ( Mike ) Red Devil, Dazz etc.

I played in Queens in the…

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I played in Queens in the 80’s. It was mostly a summer game and we would play from morning until night. Often taking a mid-afternoon break as the summer sun would start melting everyone’s cap filler to some degree. My favorite all time cap is the grey cap of the bottle of 35mm film filled with clay. Other good caps we the cover from babersol Shaving cream(with clay) and the white Tropicana bottle cap with coins. I love to here how this is such NYC game. Gives a certain nostalgia to childhood in NYC. I would love to play again. Need to draw a board somewhere.

Grew up in S/W Schuylkill…

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Grew up in S/W Schuylkill (56th & Paschall ave) We played all the street games listed back in the 50’s and early 60’s. Hide and seek was referred to as “Ring up” wall ball was referred to on some corners as “chink” Loved them all! We also nailed the broken bats, taped the ball playing Hard ball, Buck-Buck, baby in the air and alot of half ball in the summer and “two hand touch” in the winter. Great era and a great time! They actually had “box ball leagues” in the summer at the Mitchell school yard at 56th and kingsessing ave!

What a fun site brings back…

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What a fun site brings back such wonderful memories of youth! I grew up in Brooklyn during the 70’s and during the summer all the kids on the block (and it seemed everywhere in NYC) would play Skelsies (or Skully), morning til night, we’d even play it under city street lamps. The most popular cap that we used was typically a milk jug cap and we would fill it with either melted crayon or putty clay as well. But, I haven’t seen any children play this game in years, seems as if the game has disappeared. But, what great memories of a fun game played on the streets of my youth.

I played Skelsies in the…

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I played Skelsies in the 70’s in the Vladeck Housing projects on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. I played so much in the summer that my knees were permanently black with dirt all summer long. I discovered the gray lids from the 35mm film worked great with a little melted crayon. I would float a dime in the middle for style and weight. There were quite a few fights due to the Slappsies which shot the opposing cap down the block. I miss the simpler times. Now with giutar Hero you just don’t get the neighborhood feel. Thanks for the warm memories.

Im from East New York Brooklyn…

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Im from East New York Brooklyn 11207 to be exact..Born in 78.. – so, Im talking to a friend in V.A. about classic games from our childhoods…I mentioned “skelly” and He looks at me with “THAT” face and thought I was Making it up…It was more than a Game to us, they will never get it….Glad to see you all, Those who Know… First thing every summer morning for us was “skelly”..BEST CAPS – We played with two types…The plastic TWIST caps from the gallon of milk container and the smaller pop off tops of the milk/Juice containers…melted candle wax was always my preference because you could always change the colors and add and remove wax for different techniques…BEST COURT- Over Black smooth tar in the summer…(AMBOY st. between Blake and Sutter in Brownsville)…The Great Ole Days…

G. Gallagher is absolutely…

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G. Gallagher is absolutely correct. Kelly park on East 15th St and AVE S. The entrance was of Ave S about 150 feet east of East 15th ST. Walk in, and we had swing sets all the way to the left against the 15th St Fence. In front of that on the left of entrance was what I recall were paddle tennis courts. Behind the paddle tennis courts to the north and west were some stone Chess tables. On the right side of the entrance, we had a full court basketball court and all the way to the right, or up against the BMT line were two hand ball courts. beyond the basketball court going north, you and a large open feild area that was paved in blacktop With two softball diamonds. A homeplate on the North East corner of the field and one on the southwest corner. As I recall, the size of the field was somethink like 250 or 300 feet east to west and about 170 feet north to south. To the north of the softball field were I believe 6 or 7 tennis courts. Spent many a summer day playing softball, stick ball, Squash and tennis at this location.