Kids
Marble Banner

Miscellaneous Marbles Games

The traditional types of marbles games found around the world are the circle, chase and hole games. But there are many other ways marbles have been used by children for amusement. These games vary from the familiar Chinese Checkers and Aggrevation games in stores today to some lesser known games that children invented over the centuries. Here are just a few tp try.

From the The Great American Marble Book on other marble games:

Dicies

This is a New England gambling game from Hartford, Connecticut where a marble is flattened on opposite sides, usually with a file, so it won't roll and so a die will sit flatly on top. The houseman places his/her target on the sidewalk or other flat area and invites contestants to try their luck. Usually shooters are kept behind a line about six feet away at the stationary marble in hopes of jarring it with sufficient force to knock the die off. Successful players are awarded the number of marbles indicated by the fallen die. All marbles which miss became the houseman's property. Most shooters might figure this as a stacked game, but the challenge of a possible 6 to 1 is great.

* * *

Sticker

This is a gambling game, strictly for shooters, where players shoot at a "sticker" or target marble from a shooting line some 15 or 20 feet away. In this New England vintage game, the sticker is a highly prized carnelian, a superb aggie, or a fine oversized glassie, each worth about five ordinary marbles. If a player hits the sticker, he keeps it. All marbles that miss become the property of the sticker's owner, who has an obvious advantage whereby he/she can often collect several dozen marbles before the sticker is hit. With these marbles, trading five for one can quadruple his/her aggie stock. Since, everbody would want to be the "sticker," the priveledge goes to whoever who yells "Sticker!" first. If you hit the sticker, you then have the option of becoming the houseman.

* * *

Rockies

This Canadian gambling game (called Rockies in The Great American Marble Book) is among the most difficult, offering a payoff as high as 50 to 1, therefore impossible to resist. Place a single marble, one of your larger ones, in the middle of a concrete sidewalk square. Players shoot at it from a shooting line two squares away. Carfeully pick the target square, ideally not level and not even with the two adjacent squares. One separated by a deep crack or a protruding ribbon of tar also works well, or better yet, try one with a tree root pushing it up at one end, and with its neighbor deeply cracked and pitted. Higher payoffs come with rougher courses.

* * *

Immie

This game from Brooklyn, New York, is usually run by a houseman with an extensive collection of large, colorful, often valuable, collectors' marbles to offer as bait. Sit on the sidewalk with an immie in front of you and offer it to whoever could hit with a shooter from two sidewalk cement squares away. Ideally the course for this game should be rough. If the marble is hit, it is won by the shooter. All misses, however, are kept by the houseman. The object of the houseman sitting on the sidewalk is to be a distraction to the shooter.

* * *

Purees

It is named in honor of the prized clear glass marbles that are the stake in this Bronx, New York, game. The houseman sist on a curb, a cigar box top in front of him with which to provide a backdrop for a single, prized puree. The object is for players to shoot at the puree from various distances, with higher odds given for longer shots. From six to seven feet, odds of 5:1 are offered; from mid-street, 10:1; and from the opposite curb, 40:1. Anyone who cared to attempt a shot from the roof of a parked car on the other curb, or from a window of an apartment across the street was awarded with 100:1; though I would not recommend doing this from anyone's parked car -- they may not be very happy with you for it. With the heavy traffic today, this would be better played away from the street where some distance can be attained for making shots with greater odds.

* * *

Commies

Created in Pittsburgh, this body game involves the house man sitting on the sidewalk, legs spread wide, and an exceptionally beautiful aggie placed near the crotch of his trousers. The object is for playersto roll commies or cheap clay marbles at the aggie. A hit entitles the roller to the aggie, or the option of taking the houseman's place. All missed marbles become the property of the aggie owner. When four or five players roll simultaneously, an element of tension is added, often resulting in discussions over whose commie hit the aggie. Girls are not known to play this game, at least not in Pittsburgh.

* * *

Song: "Woofie"