marbles

[Immi666]

dont know if this is the right place to put this, but here goes....

i;ve been collecting marbles again, but for the life of me i cant remember any of the games we used to play with them as kids. anyone know?

[Clanad]

Marbles were a big deal when I was a kid. Every day at school recess, if the weather was good someone would draw a circle about 3 feet in diameter and (boys only!) a game of "knuckles down" would begin. The title came from the method of using one's "shooter". Each player placed 5 marble randomly in the circle, and, after "lagging" to see who would shoot first. The shooter would attempt to strike a marble with his and knock it out of the circle at which time it became to property of the successful shooter. He could shoot again if the marble he used to shoot remained in the circle. Some boys were absolutely amazing at playing the game.
Cat eyes and swirl designs were highly desirable. I still have about 100 in a black leather bag with a drawstring closing...

[SteveD]

Here's one:

http://www.playgroundfun.org.uk/GameRules.aspx?gameID=55

[BillyNoMates]

I had a very old wooden bagatelle game which used marbles. I think it is French in origin and is a little similar to the modern day pin ball.

It was basically a slightly angled board with edging about 3 ft long by 2 foot, covered in pins and with holes depicting the different scores. The marbles were fired by a spring loaded plunger. Never seen one since.

[maxximus]

we used to play a game called potsie's, we'd dig small holes at different intervals, each participating player would put a marble in each hole or pot, amount of pots to be dug decided by mutual consent. then putting a marble on an agreed upon starting line and using your (catseye) or shooter , usually your favorite fancy marble , you would advance your starting marble to the pot. the pots were spaced far enough apart it took several shots per pot. as in croquet if you hit an aponents marble, not his shooter you got a free crack at knocking him as far from the pot as possible.the first man into the pot claimed all the marbles in the pot.the fine art of stickems came in handy in this game, by holding your marble slightly elevated and shooting at a downward angle you could get like a chipshot happening, with a couple of good bounces you could get some good distance. if you could win most or all of the pots you would get quite a haul of marbles. then go home to one of mom's hot meals , get up to nice clean clothes , breakfast ready, packed lunch, no bills, no worries, go do it all over again. wasn't it grand, the good old days!!