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Marbles

Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 9:51 pm
by Stephen Whiteside
Marbles were big when I was in primary school. Everybody had a collection. If you beat somebody, you got his marble; if you lost, he got yours.

There were two main games - followers and rings. Followers was a simple game. It was played between two people, each with one marble. The first person tried to hit the other person's marble three times in a row. If he failed, it was the other person's turn. You kept taking it in turns until somebody won the other person's marble. You were always torn between two impulses - not that I was conscious of this at the time. On the one hand, you wanted to be as far away from the other marble as possible, so it couldn't hit you. On the other hand, you wanted to be close, so you could hit it!

Of course you couldn't just throw the marble. You had to hold it between index finger and thumb, and propel it by flicking your thumb.

Rings was a more complex game, and involved any number of players. I forget the details, but it involved drawing a circle in the dirt, and hitting other marbles out of the ring without your own marble going out.

The marbles were made of glass, and there were two types - the transparent marbles known as 'cats' eyes', and the opaque type. There were also larger marbles known as 'tom-bowlers'. All were coloured in one way or another, though the tones of the 'cats' eyes' were more muted.

I was terrible at marbles - I was terrible at all ball sports - and eventually lost my entire collection. I have this vague, largely repressed, memory of my mother trying to intervene on my behalf to have some of my marbles restored to me. I am sure she was trying to do the right thing, but the embarrassment of being rescued by my mother was even greater than the pain of having lost all my marbles in the first place.

It is funny to think that something that was such a huge part of my emotional landscape as a child is now completely forgotten. I can't even recall hearing anybody talk about marbles for many decades now, let alone ever seeing one.

Re: Marbles

Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 10:00 pm
by Bob Pacey
I know a few people who were good at them at school Stephen but now they appear to have lost their marbles.



Bob

Re: Marbles

Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 6:33 pm
by Heather
The day Stephen lost his marbles! :lol: I remember marbles Stephen but it was a game the boys played. Do you remember "knuckles"? We used to save the knuckle from the lamb roast, clean and dry them.

Girls played skipping games, hoola hoops, clapping games and hop scotch.

Re: Marbles

Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 6:51 pm
by Neville Briggs
I had a small collection of brightly coloured marbles.
I never played any games with them, I kept them as if they were jewels, with swirling shapes and colours in shiny crystal to gaze at. I was intrigued by how they had make the swirling shapes set into the glass.

The only other use I made of a marble was when a mate and I made a gun out of water pipe and a double bunger, and fired a marble as the projectile. It went well. :o :o

Re: Marbles

Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 7:24 pm
by Shelley Hansen
Have you found the marble yet Neville - or is it still on its way through the cosmos being mistaken for a comet??? :lol:

There once was a fellow named Neville
who said, "I will certainly revel
if I shoot this as far
as a planet or star ..."
Now it's flying past Pluto! The devil!


Stephen, see what you've started!!! It's out of control now ;)

My marbles (before I lost them) were also for looking at and admiring - as an only child I had no brothers to play with, and as you say, Heather, at school girls played other games. I do remember knuckle bones too!

Suddenly I'm feeling very "dated"! :) Ho-hum!

Cheers
Shelley

Re: Marbles

Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 9:21 pm
by Neville Briggs
Thanks for the verse Shelley :lol: in fact it hit a cardboard box and made a great hole and when my mate's mother heard the noise and saw what was being done we got immediately banned from using our
cannon. :lol:

Re: Marbles

Posted: Sat May 14, 2016 9:49 pm
by Shelley Hansen
Some mothers have no sense of humour!! ;)

Re: Marbles

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 12:57 am
by Catherine Lee
Ooh yes, I well remember my marble collection. I used to keep the prettier ones to myself and play with the ones I didn't mind losing, although admittedly more with my brother and his friends than at school… As for knucklebones, I was pretty good at this and still have my old set, along with a list in my schoolgirl handwriting about the more intricate manoeuvers as you progressed in the game….Heather, if we ever meet let’s play hopscotch – we might be 80 by then but what the hell?!...
I’ll tell you one thing though – whatever we played it was more fun and social than sitting on our backsides spending all our time on our phones like they do these days (Ha! Just listen to the old bag!)

Re: Marbles

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 9:50 am
by Shelley Hansen
You and me both, Catherine!

Remember that game (can't remember what it was called), where a rectangle was made by stretching elastic around the legs of two people while another person performed manoeuvres jumping in and out and over the two strands, which were brought higher for each turn? And then there was tunnel ball, and medicine ball ... and ...

... and I want to be included in the 80+ hopscotch game too, girls!!

Cheers :D
Shelley

Re: Marbles

Posted: Mon May 16, 2016 10:56 am
by manfredvijars
As I recall "Rings" was played (after a circle of an indeterminate size was drawn) where the contestants would drop an agreed number of marbles into the centre. Then, in turn, one would fire from the edge of the ring to shoot the marbles out of the ring. What you shot out, you would keep. The more accurate shooters could hit a marble in the centre and their 'taw' would stick where the other marble (now outside the ring) once was. Getting that close to the centre meant that you could keep firing at the remainder until you missed. sometimes if you fired, missed, and never made it out of the circle, your 'taw' would be fair game and if someone shot it out, it was theirs.

I'm sure there are variations ...

Another game we played was "Pots" ..

Definition:
Marbles: teaching young kids how to gamble - Early ... :D