Fun n' Games

This is one of those stories that should start out, "Well, in my day..." There's something that has been on my mind for some time that is kind of fascinating and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. It has to do with kids' playtime and playthings.

Growing up in the frozen north of Wisconsin, you might think that a lot of my play memories would be of indoor activities, at least in the winter, but that's not true. My clearest memories are almost exclusively outdoors, winter and summer. Even at 4-5 years old, what I remember is playing with friends outdoors, which at that age involved pedal-driven toys, Cowboys and Indians, and secret clubs that met in dirty spaces under big front porches.

Once I was in elementary school, the playtime I remember was recess (morning, after lunch, and afternoon), and immediately after school. These were the times that naturally brought us together with friends and so most of the play was group activity. Once I was mostly past the allure of playground equipment, I remember first playing marbles...there were cat's eyes, steelies, aggies, and puries (although we pronounced them "peeries"). Those of you who wonder where my competitive nature comes from (Barb?), pay attention here. This is where my first memories of stress occur. You build your collection of marbles by risking your stuff against the other guys' (sorry gals, I don't remember a lot of little girl competitors). My prized marbles were the steelies, followed by aggies and puries, with the common cat's eyes being the everyday playing piece that contributed to your collection only in terms of boosting the size of your marble bag. When you risked an aggie, purie or especially a steelie, you wanted to feel sure that the odds were in your favor or the potential reward was worth the risk.

So what was the risk? Well, generally playing marbles meant that you were shooting your marble at someone else's in turn. Whoever hit the other player's marble, won that marble...simple as that. I remember only two types of games that we played, although there may have been variations. In one of the games, the classic game that you see portrayed most often, you drew a circle and shot at marbles in the middle, keeping those that you shot out of the circle. Most often we played more of a free form game, mano y mano (marblos y marblos) where you just toss your marbles on the ground and take turns shooting one marble at the other. Unlike golf, though, you didn't want to "lag" your shot up close to its target because if you missed, that left an easy shot for your opponent. I remember being a successful marble player, but I'm sure there were days when I came home in a blue funk, having lost one or more of my prized steelies, aggires, or puries.

OK, so this has gotten long for a blog piece, so I'll continue with more of little Davy's playtime fun in the next post, concluding with a response to the essential question, "Why are you telling me this anyway?"