Marble Season

Spring means Marble season

The weather is turning warmer.  It is late spring now, the Rhodies are finished blooming, and we have already had our few days of false summer.  My thoughts drifted back to what I would be doing at this time, if I were back in elementary school.

All kids look forward to spring break.  A week off of school,  a week of sleeping in, or vacationing with their family.  But for the kids at MelroseElementary school, Spring break meant something else as well.  It meant that a very special day of school was coming.  A day as anticipated as the first football practice or Christmas Eve.  That Monday back from spring break must have been the bane of a teacher’s existence.  A day where a lot of the rules in school would change, most of them becoming more strict.  That first day back to school was the first day of Marble Season. 

Marble season was upon us and god help those who got in the way of kids stampeding their way to the running track with their marble bags.  When I was in school, kids ate their lunches quickly so they could have more time for recess.  During marble season, it was a race, to see who could get done with their food first and out to the track the quickest.  See there were two ways to play marbles at Melrose, there was the marble challenge, and then there was marble poker.  To understand Marble season, you must understand the currency of marbles.

First let’s go over types of marbles.  Starting with the smallest, we had the pee-wees these tiny marbles were about half the size of normal marbles.  They were cute, but no one wanted pee-wees.  Then there were the standard marbles everyone thinks about.  Up in size from the marble was the boulder.  Boulders were a nice large size and could fit comfortably encircled by your thumb and index finger. Then there were half-pints.  These seemed to be mutations resulting from a marriage between a marble and a boulder.  Larger than a marble, but smaller than a boulder, these were novelties but not played with a lot. The same went for steelies.  Steelies were usually steel ball bearings that someone found around their father’s garage.  The heavy steel balls were fun to roll around in your hand, but not something to play marbles with.

For a year or two in the late 1970s there was another size, the monster of the marble world, they were called Clackers  Clackers were originally prizes given out at the fair.  They were made of two acrylic orbs attached by a piece of string to a handle.  The goal was to swing the handle up and down and get the two orbs to ‘clack’ together over and over again without missing.  The kids at Melrose simply cut the orbs off the string and had a larger marble to play with.  Unfortunately the Clacker had a short life span.  The school outlawed the clacker’s presence on school property.  It was said that Clackers caused too many fights, but many of us suspected that someone got hurt by one.

Size wasn’t the only difference in marbles or boulders.  What they were made of and what color was also a VERY important detail.  Most marbles were made of glass and had leafy, feathery looking designs inside.  Most of these marbles are referred to as cats eyes.  One variation of the cats eye was a glass marble that had orange striations and stripes inside and outside, these were referred to as Tiger stripes.  A brown or black variation of this kind of marble were referred to as Spiders. Painties, were usually white glass marbles with bold splotches of bright glass or paint in them.  Orange, yellow, red and green were most common.  Blue was highly prized and  I once saw a purple paintie that was beautiful.  The white marble had plum colored markings that faded and striated across the surface.  I have never seen another like it since.  Pretty painties marbles and especially boulders were quite valuable and sought after

The next classifications were the Clearies.  Clearies were serious business.  You had the white clearies, which were made of clear glass.  Then there were the Rootbeer Clearies, one of my favorites, which had that wonderful amber color of rootbeer, bubbles and all.  Then you had your Blue Clearies, and Green Clearies, the greens I believe were the most rare.  But most prized of all, and to this day I can’t figure out why, was the Ruby Cleary. 

Ruby clearies were the diamonds of marbles.  A twelve year old boy treasured his Ruby clearies as much as a bride treasures her diamond ring.  Even pee-wee Ruby clearies held value.  There was something about the dark, red glass.  As with all colored clearies, we would hold them up to the sun, and put it just millimeters away from our eye to stare into the red glass, noting the tiny bubbles, scratches and imperfections.  Of course the less of these impurities, the more valued the Ruby cleary was.  Ruby clearies were passed and admired among friends and only friends.  You couldn’t trust just anyone with your Ruby Cleary.  If you were passing it in class and the teacher caught you, or worse, if it dropped and hit the floor, Devastation.  The teacher would put out his hand for you to drop it into and the prized marble disappeared into the teacher’s desk for ever and ever.

“I’ll play you a Rootbeer for a Ruby.”

“How about my Painty for your Rootbeer.”

“Okay, Three hits, no ticks?”

“How about two hits, no ticks, no bombing?”

“Okay, but no grassing, or clearing, and three foot thumbsies.”

“You go first?”

“Sure.”

Hits were when you were able to hit the opponents marble hard enough to move it quite a distance.  If you were able to do so multiple times in a row, you won his marble.  Three hits was the most common. 

Ticks were when you could only just barely nick the opponent’s marble.  Their marble might move an inch, or just waver.  Sometimes the rules would include a number of ticks usually greater than the number of hits.

If your marbles were, as in the example, within three lengths of a players shoe from each other, the attacker, had to shoot thumbing the marble.  If the player wasn’t any good at thumbing, he could always toss his marble the other direction in retreat.

Grassing was when you could or could not play in the grass.  Grassing had it’s benefits as well as disadvantages  depending upon how you played.  One benefit, was that if you were playing defensively, the grass could camouflage your marble.  The grass also muffled any hits or ticks scored.  Grassing didn’t allow the marble to roll on and on and on as the track sometimes did.  Grassing also made it difficult for someone to Thumb the marble.

Clearing was whether or not the attacker had the ability to clear away any obstacles which might block his shot.  This included pebbles, sticks and grass.

Bombing was sometimes called in place of thumbing.  If the marbles were really close together and often in grass, the attacker had the option to pick up his marble and droop it from a height to score a hit.

Two really good players could play a challenge through out the entire recess.  Sometimes they would even gather a small crowd of on-lookers who would follow them and their marbles, calling out suggestions on playing as they chased the marbles down the track or across the grass.

  Marble poker was the only other way to play.  Marble poker was a crash course in running a business.  A class in marketing, risk taking, and in merchandising, Raising capital and profit sharing. The first kids out to the track were able to stake off the most valuable real-estate. 

The prime location to set up a marble poker stand is the same as is in starting a  business,  right down in the thick of it all.  A centrally located space, which was cleared of obstacles was the desired location.  Even better were the spots were the grassy field bordering the track was raised a couple of inches from the track.  These locations allowed for more comfort for the ‘casino’ owner, as well as an extra bonus which I will go over later.  Each casino owner would dig his heal into the track base and carve out his property boundaries.  Looking back it is quite amazing how consistent in size these marking were, usually between three and five feet.  The owner would usually know what type of game he or she wanted to offer by the time they marked off their boundaries.  Now it was time for he or she to set up shop. 

There were several kinds of games in marble poker,  there was the safe and slow capital building game, where the casino owner would set up marbles in a straight line, evenly space apart allowing about two inches between the marbles.  This way was slower in bringing in the gamblers.  There was too much risk for the gambler and not really enough pay off.  One way that this game could bring in ‘customers’ was to set out the best and most sought after marbles.  If you displayed Painty boulders or Ruby marbles, then you may start ‘hooking’ them in.

Another game was where the casino owner would have to put up a little more capital and take a little more risk.  In this game, the owner would line up his marbles in a line, all touching each other, an easier target would bring in more players, but in doing so, you took the risk of several of your marbles being struck at one time.  A bigger pay out for the gambler.  The odds in this game were usually evened out, by marking the shooting line further back from the marbles.  Usually the longer the marble line, the further back the shooting line.  A variation on this game was when you had your property set up with the rise to the elevated field.  The elevation to the field was usually rounded off and the first four to six inches of the field was clear of grass.  The casino owner would line his marbles up at the top of the elevation, about an inch back from the edge.  The ‘player’ or shooter in this game would have to consider the change in elevation when deciding  how hard to shoot his marble.  Too soft and his marble wouldn’t make it up the incline.  Too hard, and the marble would simply jump over the string of marbles.

Just up from that game was the jackpot game.  A lottery of sorts, but more like the roulette wheel, heavy odds in favor of the house, but a large pay off for the player if he hits.  This game was set up with just one marble out as a target.  A pile of marbles was usually displayed close by the ‘target’.  If the shooter could hit the target marble, he would win the pot.  With this game, the player had to listen carefully to the casino’s pitch.  The casino could advertise in two ways.  One was ‘if you hit the ‘target’ marble, you won them all’.  The other was ‘if you hit the ‘target’ marble, you win the pot’.  This second pitch usually went along with owners setting out one of their prized marbles as a target.  A marble that was to catch the eye of the casual player and get them to try the game.   

One enterprising casino owner took this ‘jack pot’ game a step further and carved a hole into the hard packed track.  The hole, about three inches in diameter, had nice rounded sides and if you looked carefully a nice rounded bottom.  His game was if you could get your marble in the hole, you could win the pot.  A shooter playing this game, quickly learned the laws of physics.  Because of the nicely rounded sides and bottom, if you shot your marble too hard, it would simply roll into the hole and right out the back side. 

Once you set up your game, and decided where the shooting line would be, it was time to advertise.  Carnival barking was the preferred form.  Variations of children calling out “Maaaarblllle poker.” Over and over again, would fill the area.  “Maaaarrblllle poker, hit one, win them all.”   “Marble pokeeerrrr.”  “Rubies, Painties, give them your best shot.”  The barking would sometimes become a like a mantra, the children sitting on the grass in the sun, staring off into space unaware of their surroundings and calling out over and over again.  “Maaaarrrrbllle poker….Maaaarrrblllle poker.”  Looking back I feel sorry for the teacher who had their classrooms near that part of the track.

As important as deciding what kind of game to display, was where and how you marked your shooting lines.  If you had the shooting line too far back,  a kid would look at your display then back at the line, and walk to the next casino.  If your shooting line was too close, you could be bankrupt of marbles within five minutes.  

A lot of owners created secondary lines and third lines.  Lines which you couldn’t step over or lines which your arm could not pass and lines if you were in a certain grade, gereraly the older the kid, the further back the line.  I always felt that those were all a waste of time.  If you had a good display with reasonable odds, you wouldn’t need all the different lines.  I saw some shops with so many lines, that they needed a friend to stand back by the lines to direct different players to different lines.

The biggest attraction for me in lines was the Thumsy line.  Shooting lines were for those who tossed or rolled the marble underhand almost like bowling.  Thumbsy lines were for the talented few who could curl his index finger lightly around the marble and flick it with his thumb, shooting it across the ground.  Because most kids, couldn’t Thumb their marbles very far, or hard, Thumbsy lines were usually made much closer.  When Thumbing a marble, you weren’t allowed to swing your arm, but had to rest your knuckles on the ground.  This didn’t bother me, it only kept my aim more stationary and accurate.  I bankrupted a quite a few kids using the thumbsy line. 

I remember one particular teacher who would join in the marble fun.  Mr. Cowgil, a fifth grade teacher, who I never had for home room, but did have the pleasure of having for math and P.E.  Mr. Cowgil would bring out a few marbles that fell on his floor during class and try his hand at marble poker.  I remember sitting in the sun on the grassy field and seeing this tall man with silver streaked hair come up to my ‘casino’.  His large hands could palm a basketball and were now dwarfing a marble in his fingers. 

“Can I play” he would ask with a toothy grin that appeared beneath his bushy mustache.  I nodded my assent.

“Do you have a Thumbsy line?” he would ask.

“Right there, Mr. Cowgil.” A shy kid, my heart would quicken.

Mr. Cowgil would squat down and place his meaty fingers on the ground behind the Thumbsy line with his fingers pointing towards the marbles.  He would close one eye and squint with the other down at the marbles lined up at my display, and with a strong flick of his thumb, his marble would always strike one of mine, sending it flying out of it’s place.  He would always look shocked and smile sheepishly as I would hand him the marble that he had just won.  Usually he would thank me and walk on, other times he would try again.  Looking back I believe he would watch the child’s reaction and judge whether he should play again and ‘loose’ the marble back to the kid.

                Another aspect of Marble season as a teaching tool, is that some resourceful kids would pool capital and become a partnership.  While one would set up a marble poker casino, the other would take a handful of marbles and go play at other casinos.  Once the player would win a handful of marbles he would come back to his partner, check to see how shop was doing, tell him of the games he played and brag about the way he won the  prizes he brought back, to add to their bank roll of marbles.  Then the shopkeeper would show the player what they had brought in, or if the ‘casino’ wasn’t doing so well, discuss possibilities as to moving lines closer, or farther way, or what kind of marbles to display.  Or changing the game all together.

                Most of these partnerships lasted a few days or even a week or two.  But a few of them would last all season.  At the end of the partnership, whether it was broken up on friendly terms or not.  The partners would get together and split up the marbles.

                Marble season was such a unique and integral part of our school, that after two years of experiencing the phenomenon, a new music teacher wrote a song about it.               

                                Marbles, boulders, clearies and cats eyes too.

 I remember a few teachers would bring in a mayonnaise or canning jar and place it on his or her desk.  All of the confiscated marbles would go into that jar.  At the end of Marble season, the teacher would have a lottery for the jar’s contents, or have the kids all guess how many were in the jar, the closest one to the right amount won.  Some teachers would save out the Ruby’s and Panties that were favorites and return them to the student who dropped them at the end of the school year.

                Mr. Cowgil, somehow always managed to have one of the largest jars of confiscated marbles.  The last week of marble season he would line up a bunch of kids on the track then toss the marbles out into the field, and yell “Go!”  There would be a wild stampede as kids, dove and piled upon the marbles.  The whole time, he would stand there laughing, with his eyes sparkling and his teeth showing from under that bushy mustache, at least until he shaved it off.  Then of course would be his class lottery for the remaining contents.

                I don’t know if Marble season exists anymore.  With so many schools having ‘No Tolerance’ policies, Marbles probably have been labeled a weapon or a hazard of some sort.  But then again, the Marble season I remember was before Game-boy, or X-box.  To show my age, it was even before Pac-man.  There was no M-TV, or Nickelodeon, We had three T.V. channels, four if we balanced the coat-hanger and aluminum foil on the antenna just right.  Computers were still considered Sci-fi, and only large businesses or government agencies could afford them.

                The other day my nine year old daughter told me that I needed to play her SIMS computer game.  When I asked why, she told me that I would be able to create cool characters and houses, even make characters do fun things.  When I told her I do that whenever I write, she looked at me blankly not understanding.  When I explained to her that writing allowed me to create characters with words that even the computer game couldn’t, she rolled her eyes as if I was making things up.  My only hope is that her SIMS computer game can prepare her for life as much as Marble season did me.

Marble season usually ended a week before school let out.  About the time the kids would clean out their desks.  Teachers would always confiscate marbles during marble season, depending upon the rules they had laid out or how ‘fair’ they were trying to be during disputes.  If a marble was out during class time,  it usually ended up in the teacher’s desk.  If a marble hit the floor, it then became the teacher’s property.  If there was a fight over a marble it was settled by the teacher taking ownership.  Sometimes the teacher would even take the whole bag of marbles.

A Marble challenge was basically a duel.  One kid would ask the other if they wanted to play.  The two kids would decide which marbles they were to play, then quickly laid down the ground rules.  I can still remember the way it would go.