Marbles and PlayDoh

It is only 12 noon CST 

and I must say I am already exhausted. 

I've completed 3 on-line applications, 

revised and edited my resume,

lost one and had to start all over. 

How about a break and a game of marbles?

Okay, so these aren't really glass and they aren't really marbles.

However, it was a great history lesson for a young one

while having fun doing so.

View A Brief History of Marbles

To the layman, a marble is just a marble. But if you're an experienced player, you probably have a half-dozen slang terms to describe the sphere in front of you. Marbles usually earn their nickname based upon what they look like, what they're used for, or the material used to make them. For example, "aggies" are marbles that are made from agate, a type of stone. An"alley" can be a marble made of alabaster, but it can also be another term for a "shooter" or "taw," the large marble used to knock around the smaller ones, which are sometimes called"mibs" or "ducks." "Bumblebees" are yellow and black striped. "Jaspers" are common, blue marbles made from glazed or unglazed china. "Onionskins" are glass marbles with swirls of layered colors that extend over the length of the marble. "Sulphides" are semi-opaque glass marbles that usually contain a small figured in the middle. Sometimes the figurine is an animal, a character (like Santa Claus), or even a real person (like Teddy Roosevelt, at left). And if you can spot any of these marbles on sight, you're probably a"mibster," a term for someone who plays marbles.

These little hands are precious!

In-game slang includes many phrases that have made it into the everyday lexicon. For example, to "knuckle down" means to put your hand in a position to shoot your marble, keeping at least one knuckle on the ground at all times. "Fudging" means you crossed the line on your shot, which is a minor form of cheating. If you're about to take an easy shot with your taw, you can say the marble you're aiming for is a "dead duck." Playing "for keeps"means that any competitor's marbles you knock out are added to your personal collection. Oddly enough, the origin of the phrase, "losing your marbles" can't definitively be traced back to the game of marbles. However, if you were to lose all your marbles in a "for keeps" game, you probably would go a little bit crazy.

You might think you know how to play marbles, but I'm afraid you don't. That's because there is no single game called "marbles." By the same token, any game that uses marbles can be called "marbles." There are hundreds of games that can be played with marbles, however, the most common game used for modern tournament play is known as "Ringers."

To play Ringers, two mibsters arrange 13 ducks in an X at the center of a 10' diameter ring. The mibsters take turns knuckling down with their shooters and firing into the ducks, scattering them. Any ducks that leave the ring are worth one point each. If his shooter stays in the ring, the mibster can keep shooting ducks, earning more points. However, once his shooter leaves the ring, it's the next mibster's turn. Once all 13 marbles have been knocked out, the ducks are re-racked into an X again for the next round. Play continues until one mibster has 50 points.

Okay, we didn't just make marbles.

We made a snowman,

and whatever you call those little rock monsters 

on Frozen.

Yes, we watched Frozen for 3 days, 

upteen-dozen times. 

We made cookies.

And of course what little boy doesn't say, 

"Look, BonBon, I made a snake!"

And we played marbles.

Can you imagine what happens when you play marbles 

with a 4 year old and a 22 month old? 

Yes, you "lose your marbles!"

I hope you're smiling now.