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:

Pinball

Popular in the 1900's, particularly in New England, Pinball is the predecessor of the modern pinball machine. The marbles version calls for a simple pinball board easily constructed from a cardboard box or wooden crate. This board is propped at a slant, and players hold marbles, then let go. The marbles roll down, striking nails and brads strategically placed within the path. The object is to land the marbles in the holes cut in the board or into a numbered pocket at the bottom of the box. Numbers over the holes and pockets indicate the number of marbles the player receives. With luck, the marbles will not drop out of the way to be collected by the lucky owner of the pinball machine.

* * *

Maurice Steele's game

In Hartford, Connecticut, at the turn of the 20th century, Maurice Steele developed this action game where a marble zips down three levels, emerges through a hole and hopefully hits a bell. There is little skill involved, but players get a lot of action from this forerunner of many modern marbles games.

* * *

Song: "Woofie"