Children's Games: Games of Marbles
these games, players shoot their
marblessmall, colored glass ballsat
their opponents' marbles. It they hit the other
marbles, they win them. Traditionally, games
of marbles have been played in countries all over
the world, including Turkey, Cyprus, and
of the best games we used to play was
marbles. As I remember, we had a lot of
fun playing that game. (Yiannis
Tuncer from Turkey
is a well-know game in the world. I think it was my
first competition when I was 6 years old. Having
lots of marbles was a sign of power. Even if we did
not have enough money, we tried to save our money
to buy more marbles. We
had different colorful marbles, and some of them
were our favorite marbles.
I do not remember how it began that we used to play
this game when we were in primary school, but we
played the game differently, depending on who
played with whom. I imagine different cultures and
different countries have different rules for
We Played the Game
beginning the game, we drew a triangle. The size
depended on the number of marbles we had.
putting all our marbles into the triangle, we
shot our favorite marble at the others so that
we could win some marbles by throwing the others
out of the triangle.
game continued until all the marbles were
We Played the Game
think the important thing was to have as many
marbles as we could. There was quite a competition
to win the most marbles, so we practiced in our
one who won the most marbles was the leader of the
group, and everyone tried to be the leader. Now I
realize that this small competition was our first
experience with power and leadership.
Tziortzis from Cyprus
by bit from the deepest part of my memory, I can
see my self at the end of a tunnel as a child.
Sometimes when I'm alone and trying to relax, I
remember things I did when I was a
a kid, I used to play a lot of games with my
friends, especially in the summer when the weather
was good and we had a lot of time because we didn't
have school. Late in the afternoon when the sun was
down and the climate not too hot, every kid in my
neighborhood was playing a game.
of the best games we used to play is marbles. As I
remember, we had a lot of fun playing that
we Played the Game
player had to bring 6 marbles. Then we drew a
triangle in the middle of the yard. We put the
marbles in the middle of the triangle with 2
centimeters space between each one. Then we
counted to feet and made a line. The game
you are going to ask me how we played the game.
First of all, you had to go back to the triangle
and throw one of your marbles. You took one from
the triangle. You had to throw it as near the
line as you could. The player whose marble was
nearest to the line played first.
you all finished throwing, the player who had
his marble nearest to the line started first.
His goal was to throw his marble and kick some
other marbles out of the triangle.
winner of the game was the player who took all the
marbles from the other players. I would like to
play that game again. I would like to feel like a
kid again, but I think I can't.
Game of Marbles in Indonesia)
Rachman from Indonesia
an Indonesian game of marbles, is a children's game
for two players or more. The main equipment is a
set of marbles--small, round balls made of solid
stuff, usually transparent and of different colors.
the Game is Played
set of marbles is placed at the center of an
approximately 10- by 15 square foot ground or floor
arena, in the form of a triangle or square.
number of marbles may vary from 2 to 8 or even
more, depending on the number of players and
agreement among them. Each game may last from 20 to
player has his or her own shooter marble to shoot
the set. Shooting is done by placing the shooter
marble between the index finger and the thumb and
moving the thumb outward to shove the shooter
marble in order to hit the marbles in the set.
number one starts the game by shooting at the set
and goes on playing until he/she misses hitting any
of the marbles from the set. Then, it is the other
player's turn to shoot the set.
player temporarily keeps any marbles that he/she
can hit and move out of the triangle or
final session the game is scary. All the players
take turns beating each other. If a player's
shooter marble gets hit, he/she loses and must give
his/her temporary wins to the one who hits him/her.
At the end of the game, the winner takes all.
More traditional children's
students demonstrate games.
Children's Games from Around the
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