Marbles

Marbles originated from ancient Rome and Egypt. The name Marble comes from a material called Marble (expensive stone). In the year 1800 the best Marbles were made out of Alabaster (white Marble). People wanted to use a cheeper material. They tried clay but it crumbled when the marbles would hit each other. Finally in 1846 a German glass blower invented special scissors that could cu t glass and make marbles. That way marbles became cheeper and easier to produce. Now marbles are made in factories where hot glass is dropped onto steel rollers that shape the glass into marbles.

Here's how the pros do it.

Players should choose a larger marble to shoot but they do not have to. If you want to play officially your shooter should be no bigger than 3/4'', but any larger will also do. The players can decide if they want to play with 'steelies', which will usually damage the target Marbles. There are several ways you can shoot a marble, and certain games will require that you shoot a specific way. The easiest way is called fulking.

To use the fulking technique place your shooter on your 2nd knuckle of your forefinger. Your hand does not have to touch the ground.

Then place your thumb behind the marble and flick making it go forward.

Another way is to shoot knuckle down, this is a technique that most tournaments and competitions use. If you are a beginner you will find it a lot easier not to use knuckle down but if you want to play serious marbles you need to learn this one. Put at least one knuckle on the ground (sometimes all four). Place your shooter so that it rests between your first and second fingers. Curl your forefinger around the shooter and curl your other fingers behind it. Then place your thumb behind the marble just like when you use the fulking technique. Then just flick it out!

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This is one of the most important things to decide. The difference is very simple, if you play Keepsies the marble won by the player is kept by the player who won it. If you play Friendlies all the players get their marbles back at the end of the game win or lose. We recommend that you should start playing friendlies when you are a beginner because you might lose a lot of your marbles.

Marbles have been around for so many years that you will find a lot of different versions and different rules but almost all games have some related rules so we'll explain those first. Most games involve a shooting marble. It is usually called the shooter but is also called a taw, or boss. The shooter hits a target marble or mibs. Some games have a taw line it is required that you stand behind it when you shoot your marble.  

Marbles are played around the world and there are more than 100 variations of the game. Some popular marble games in the US are: Ringer, Old Bowler, Football, Knuckle Box, Newark Killer.

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Ringer

1. Draw a circle (10 feet across) and put 13 marbles in it . The marbles should be in a cross and spaced 3 inches apart.
2. Each player shoots in turn from outside the circle, trying to hit a mib out of the ring while keeping his/her shooter inside the ring.
3. If the shooter misses a mib, or doesn't hit any out of the ring, his/her turn is over and he picks up the shooter. 
4. If the shooter hits a mib out of the ring but the shooter also rolls out of the ring, he/she keeps the marbles that rolled outand his turn is over.
5. If the shooter hits a mib out of the ring and the shooter stays in the ring then player shoots again from the place where the shooter stayed.
6. On each new turn a player shoots from anywhere outside the ring.
7. The person who collects the most marbles is the winner.

SOURCE: Cole, Joanna & Calmenson, Stephanie "Marbles - 101 Ways to Play", Morrow Junior Books, New York, N.Y. 1998 pp. 30 & 31

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Old Bowler

1. Draw a square, put one marble in each corner and one in the middle of the square. The marble in the middle is called the 'Old Bowler'.
2. Draw a line somewhere outside the square. This line is going to be the taw line.
3. Players take turns, shooting at the mibs in the corners standing behind the line.
4. Players try to hit the marbles out of the square. When all mibs except the Old Bowler are out, you can start shooting at the Old Bowler.
5. Each player shoots until he misses a mib. If the Old Bowler is hit before all others mibs have been hit out the player is out of the game.
6. If a player's shooter hits a mib out of the square, that player keeps shooting.
7. If a player misses and the shooter stays inside the square then this shooter has to stay inside and the next player in the new turn has to use another shooter.
8. If a player mises all mibs but the shooter ends up outside the square then the player takes the shooter.
9. The game ends when the Old Bowler has been hit out and winner is the one who collect the most marbles.

SOURCE: Cole, Joanna & Calmenson, Stephanie "Marbles - 101 Ways to Play", Morrow Junior Books, New York, N.Y. 1998 pp. 46 & 47

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• Annually every June children gather at the National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, New Jersey to find out who is the mightiest mibster (a marble player) in the country. They play Ringer.
• Abraham Lincoln's favorite marble game was the Old Bowler.
• The knuckle box originated from Brooklyn, New York.
• There are over 100 glass makers in the US who make marbles by hand each with its own design.

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