MARBLES

HISTORYMarbles originated in Harappan civilization

in Pakistan near the river Indus. Various marbles of stone were found on excavation near Mohenjo-daro. Marbles are also often mentioned in Roman literature, and there

are many examples of marbles from ancient Egypt. They were commonly made of clay,

stone or glass and commonly referred to as a "Glass alley".

Ceramic marbles entered inexpensive mass production in the 1870s.

Marbles games

• Various games can be played with marbles; any such game can itself be called 'marbles' (cf. darts, skittles, bowls).

• One game involves drawing a circle in sand, and players will take turns knocking other players' marbles out of the circle with their own marble. This game is called ringer. Other versions involve shooting marbles at target marbles or into holes in the ground (such as rolly or rolley hole). A larger-scale game of marbles might involve taking turns trying to hit an opponent's marble to win. A useful strategy is to throw a marble so that it lands in a protected, or difficult location if it should miss the target. As with many children's games, new rules are devised all the time.

TERMS• Kunchey is the term used in northern India to refer to both a game played with marbles, and the marbles themselves.• Lakhoti is the word for marble in many parts of western India, mainly in Gujarat. Names for types of marbles include

anto, antak and picchi.• Goli Gundu is a Tamil term used to refer to both a game played with marbles, and the marbles themselves.• "Knuckle down", the position adopted at the start line at the beginning of a match.You begin with your knuckle

against the ground.• Marbles are also named by their color.• "Quitsies": Allows any opponent to stop the game without consequence. You can either have "quitsies" (able to quit)

or "no quitsies".• "Keepsies" (or "for keeps"): The player keeps all the marbles he or she wins. [10]

• "Elephant Stomps": When called, it allows a player to stomp his/her marble level with the ground surface, making it very difficult for other players to hit the marble.

• "Bombies": When called, it allows a player to take 1-2 steps while holding his/her marble and normally closing one eye will line up over one of the opponents marble and drop the marble trying to hit the marble on the ground.

• "Leaning Tops": When called, a shooter leans in on his/her off hand for leverage over an indentation on any type of surface or obstacle.

• A "taw" or "shooter" is used to shoot with, and "ducks" are marbles to be shot at.• Various names refer to the marbles' size. Any marble larger than the majority may be termed a boulder, masher,

popper, shooter, taw, bumbo, crock, bumboozer, bowler, tonk, tronk, godfather, tom bowler, giant or Biggie. A marble smaller than the majority is a peawee/peewee or mini. A "grandfather" is the largest marble, the size of a billiards ball or tennis ball.

• Various names for different marble types (regional playground talk, Leicester, UK): Marleys (Marbles), Prit (white marble), Kong (large marble), King Kong (larger than a Bosser), Steely (Metal Ball-bearing). Names can be combined: e.g. Prit-Kong (large white marble). There are many more such names, as discussed in the next section.

Types of Marbles• Alley or real - made of marble or alabaster (alley is short for alabaster),

streaked with wavy or other patterns with exotic names like corkscrew, spiral, snake, ribbon, onyx, swirl, bumblebee, butterfly, and...

• An orange and white toothpaste marble– Toothpaste - Also known as "Plainsies" in Canada. Wavy streaks usually with

red, blue, black, white, orange.– Turtle - wavy streaks containing green and yellow– Ade - strands of opaque white and color, making lemon-ade, lime-ade, orange-

ade, etc.– Oxblood - a streaky patch resembling blood– Oilie or Oily - Opaque with a rainbow, iridescent finish– Pearls - Opaque with single color with "mother of pearl" finish– Lutz - a type of swirl, taken from the skating term– Onionskin - swirled and layered like an onion– Clambroth - equally spaced opaque lines on a usually opaque base– Cat's Eye or catseye - central eye-shaped colored inserts or cores (injected

inside the marble) • Devil's Eye - red with yellow eye• Beachball - three colors and six vanes

• Aggie - made of agate (aggie is short for agate) or glass resembling agate, with various patterns like in the alley

• Bumblebee - mostly all yellow with two black strips on each side.• China - glazed porcelain, with various patterns like in the alley

– Plaster - a form of china that is unglazed

• Commie or common - made of clay – Bennington - clay fired in a kiln with salt glaze– Crock - made from crockery (earthenware) clay

• Croton alley or Jasper - glazed and unglazed china marbled with blue

• Crystal or clearie or purie - any clear colored glass - including "opals," "glimmers," "bloods," "rubies," etc. These can have any number of descriptive names such as "deep blue sea", "blue moon", "green ghost", "brass bottle". – Princess - a tinted crystal– Galaxy - lots of dots inserted like a sky of stars

• Indian - dark and opaque, usually black, with overlaid stripes of colors; usually white, and one or more other colors. Some new ones are also many colors like blue, green and scarlet.

• Mica - glassy to translucent with streaks or patches of mica, ranging from clear to misty

• Steely - made of steel; a steely was sometimes made from a flat piece of steel folded into a sphere and shows a cross where the corners all come together.

• The interior figures are made of white clay or kaolin, and appear a silvery color due to light refraction. A sulphide in a colored-glass sphere, or with a painted figure inside, is also very rare and brings a high price. Like other types of antique marbles, sulphides have been reproduced and faked in large quantities.

• Tiger- Clear with orange/ yellow stripes

HISTORY

•(FrOm the collection of the British museum)

• #1-3 Pottery-Roman, 1st-2nd century AD from Cnidus, Asia Minor. # 4-5 Pottery balls, perhaps marbles; Minoan, 2000-1700 BC from Crete. #6 Stone-Roman, from Carthage. #7-9 Glass from Egypt; given by the Egypt Exploration Fund. #10-12 Multi-colored glass, Roman, 2nd-3rd century AD from Oxyrhynche, Egypt.

• The contents of this page has been copyrighted 2000 by Chris

Glass Marbles by the Million

• http://mm.bglances.com/1-06-05-00%20Ravenswood%20Glass%20Novelty%20Works.htm

• Ancient Egyptian Games•   The ancient Egyptians had great lives and

although they built a magnificent civilization by hard work they never forgot leisure and recreation. The ancient Egyptians had games to play as adults and children. Mostly board games were available but also toys were made for the little children. The game of Senet was mostly played by adults.

• Senet was a popular Ancient Egyptian board game. It was played mainly by wealthy adults. The game symbolized the struggle of good against evil. The evil forces tried to stop you from reaching the Kingdom of the god Osiris. One of these games was found in the tomb of Hesy along with painting of it and how to play. The rules of this game were very complex. It consisted of a board with 30 holes, 3 rows and 10 columns. Most of the games used 7 pawns, sticks or knucklebones for each of the two players but some only had 5. During the New Kingdom, the game of Senet had acquired a religious and magical meaning which symbolized the passage of the deceased through the other world with his resurrection dependant upon his/her ability to win the game. Most of the games used 7 pawns, sticks or knucklebones for each of the two players but some only had 5. During the New Kingdom, the game of Senet had acquired a religious and magical meaning which symbolized the passage of the deceased through the other world with his resurrection dependant upon his/her ability to win the game..

• Since boards games of all quality have been discovered it is needless to say that the games were played by all classes of people in Ancient Egypt.

• King Tut was buried with 4 Senet boards. They were made of ivory and ebony. They were made with a drawer for game pieces and stood on 4 legs carved like bull's feet. More commonly, the board was made of plain, undecorated wood. The pieces would have been made of stone or wood. Almost all boards were made with a drawer.