Anyone ever play with marbles as a kid???

[K. Roman]

I was in an antique shop and picked up some marbles. I used to play a lot when I was a kid in the early and mid 70's in Hawaii. I used to live in Fort Shafter. All the boys went down to the park and played a few different games, such as Long-Tawl, nine-holes, etc.

I looked up marbles on Ebay and was floored at the prices of some of these marbles. They are going for 1000+ dollars for single marbles! Crazy talk, I know.

[Bill Douglas]

I sure did. Rules were you kept the other kids marbles if he lost.

[Heel n Toe]

I played a little in 4th grade... '61 and '62. The games we played, you won individual marbles from the other kids.

I'll have to check out ebay... I've got 50-100 marbles in a ceramic container... some newer, some older, some found over the years around the house here when digging/cultivating. Not attached to any of 'em... would rather have the cash.

Seems like I remember marbles even came as "prizes" in some cereal boxes.

[Rick V]

they made great ammo for the slingshot

[K. Roman]

Winning the others folks marbles was what it was about. That's why I loved it. Gambling essentially.

[cantdrv55]

Originally Posted by Rick V

they made great ammo for the slingshot

Yup, that's how I used to play with them.

[911Rob]

Yup

[johnco]

"they made great ammo for the slingshot"
especially after boiled, cooled in cold water so they would fracture. we called it cracking them. exploding ammo that shattered on contact. our "special" cateye marbles, only available thru us, were traded 1 for 2 crystals or 5 cateyes on the 4th grade playground blackmarket. the rare " special" crystals were worth much more. we kept the good ones from the trade and transformed the less valuable cateyes that afternoon. since everyone's "collector" marbles fell apart with the slightest contact, they would line up to trade for more the next day. had a good little racket going for a while.we had boxes of crystals in clear, blue, green and black we then traded for other stuff. and so began a lifetime of wheeling and dealing.

[VaSteve]

Originally Posted by K. Roman

I looked up marbles on Ebay and was floored at the prices of some of these marbles. They are going for 1000+ dollars for single marbles! Crazy talk, I know.

I read an article about some marble factory in VA (near me I suppose) that when they couldn't sell them, would dump them in the flower beds of the property. People went digging them up years later. You can buy them by the pound in the antique shops in Western VA.

[VaSteve]

Seems my facts weren't perfect. Man, how is it that I can recall an article I read 8 years ago and have no idea what I did at work on Friday????

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/52812482.html?dids=52812482:52812482&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=Apr+23%2C+2000&author=Jason+Wilson&pub=The+Washington+Post&edition=&startpage=W.12&desc=MARBLE+DREAMS%3B+The+American+marbles+busines s%2C+a+relic+of+the+industrial+age%2Chas+been+revi ved+by+the+Internet.+And+now+collector+fever%2C+pa ranoia+and+secrecy+reign

[Jim Richards]

Yep

[vash]

lemme find a camera...i got some cool marbles.

[mossguy]

I lost all my marbles years ago!

Best,
Tom

[vash]

sorry for the crap camera.

the three marbles on my calculator are from the 1906 earthquake era. i found them in an ancient outhouse buried 20 feet down in the san francisco bay mud. cool stuff.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by johnco

"they made great ammo for the slingshot"
especially after boiled, cooled in cold water so they would fracture. we called it cracking them. exploding ammo that shattered on contact. our "special" cateye marbles, only available thru us, were traded 1 for 2 crystals or 5 cateyes on the 4th grade playground blackmarket. the rare " special" crystals were worth much more. we kept the good ones from the trade and transformed the less valuable cateyes that afternoon. since everyone's "collector" marbles fell apart with the slightest contact, they would line up to trade for more the next day. had a good little racket going for a while.we had boxes of crystals in clear, blue, green and black we then traded for other stuff. and so began a lifetime of wheeling and dealing.

You gotta be kidding! The innocence was lost by the time you came around.

I played with marbles but not jax. That was a girl's game to me. Or I sucked. Too long ago to remember. After a rousing game of marbles it was time to find a tree and read some Dell comic books.

[vash]

jacks from a slingshot....now that is a game.

[Super_Dave_D]

I lost all of my marbles a long time ago!!

[rammstein]

Teacher said if I played with my marbles too much I would go blind, so I stopped.