Marbles
Posted: Fri May 13, 2016 9:51 pm
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.
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.