March is Marbles Month

Last updated 04/11/2007

At Horsham 298 Primary School every March is Marbles Month when we bring our marbles along and play marbles at school. There are many different sizes, colors and words we use during Marbles Month.

How much do the marbles cost?

Shooting Your Marble

1. Rolling
2. Flicking
3. Knuckling

Did You Know?

Marbles is basically a game of miniature bowls. Over the years pebbles, nuts, or anything small that could be rolled along the ground have been used to play the game. At one time the little balls were made of marble and it's from here that we get the modern game.

*Source: Marbles, Hopscotch and Jacks, John Dinneen, Angus and Robertson Publishers, 1987

Rules

In one of the principal varieties of the game, a marble called a shooter, or taw, is projected by means of the thumb at marbles in a circle outlined on the ground; those driven out of the circle are won by the shooter.

In another form, players shoot or roll marbles from a suitable distance at a marble considered of unusual value; all the marbles that fail to strike the target become the property of the owner of the target marble. The game is played until either the marbles of the challengers are exhausted or a challenger's marble hits the target. When this hit is made, the challenger wins the target marble and may set it up for others to shoot at.

"Marbles", Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2001. © 1993-2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

From our Readers

Thanks to Ray for this information

Games

• Big Ring
• Little Ring
• Poison

Expressions

• Allies (possibly alleys - we were never required to spell it - i.e. marbles.
• Allie bottle  Small soft drink bottle using a clear glass marble and red rubber ring inserted into the shaped neck of the bottle as a closure for the aerated contents. These bottles were smashed to obtain the precious marbles. Today an alley bottle would have considerable value at an antique shop.  At the time, I was rather fortunate as my Dad worked at a soft drink factory where faulty rubber stoppers and allies were replaced in returned bottles.  
• Allie bag. Draw-string bag, usually made by your Mum, in which you carried your allies.  Taken into class, in most cases in the right hand pocket of your short pants and sure to earn you from two to four of the best if you jingled them at any time during the lesson.
• Dribble  Underarm projection of your "taw" towards your target area, without being able to take advantage of any positive advantage should your taw contact a target marble.
• Fudge  As I recall to "crib" or creep over the designated spot from where a shot was to be taken.  I am not 100 per cent sure of this definition. "Crib" could be the definition of this despicable cheating.  However "fudge" is definitely marbles terminology.
• Funny knuckle  The little kids or beginners method of firing a marble.
• O Ya  Terminology used at the end of a session of play if a player had lost all of his own marbles and had borrowed others from a competitor in order to continue playing and was still in debt at the finish of play.
• Toss  Procedure at the start of games of small ring and some other games, where players project their taws (usually by a shot or underarm throw) towards a start line which has been scratched into the ground a short distance away. The proximity of the taws to the start line thus determines the sequence of play.

Another reminiscence is that of a peculiar stance adopted by good players of the game.  This was done to achieve better results on long range shots.  It involved standing on one leg, usually the left leg if the player was right handed.  The right foot was then placed on the left knee, the left hand on the left knee and that hand used as a platform to steady the right hand, which was used for firing the taw. This procedure correctly executed produced a more powerful shot with greater range and undoubtedly much more accuracy than the conventional method of folding the non-firing arm across the waist and using the projecting hand as a rest for the firing hand.

Thanks to Scott from Sydney for this information

I remember the "ring game" (drawn with a stick on the ground) where you would shoot a marble from outside the ring, trying to knock a marble outside the ring; if you did, you got to keep the marble. Of course, you'd always aim for the best-looking marble, usually a cats-eye.

 Another game I can't find the name for on the internet is "folly-on" or "follow-on" where two players "chased" each other with a single marble and I think you "won" one of the opposition's marbles (from their marble bag) each time you struck their single marble with yours.

 I went to school in Sydney in the late 50s, and another marble "phase" we went through was a variation of "Bobs". 

Kids (or their dads) would make a small timber structure, say 600mm long by 150mm high, and cut semi-circular holes out (about 8) along one of the edges of the long side. Some of the holes were slightly bigger than a marble, others slightly larger. 

The object was for a challenger to roll a marble from a set distance, say two metres, along the ground aiming to get the marble to pass through one of the holes in the board. The more difficult holes (smaller) rewarded the roller with more marbles, say between 5-8 marbles), the easier holes offering only 2-3; (these reward numbers were written above each hole in the board. The ones that missed and struck the wood between the holes were retained by the operator. Some boys began to cheat, by using smaller steel ball bearings, which of course would give the roller more chance.

 Fudge (the action of moving your shooting hand closer to the opponents marble) or fudger (as in he's a real 'fudger')

Marbles Sayings

To lose your marbles = to go crazy

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Tel: 03 5382 1534 Fax: 03 5382 6544