Jacks, Pick Up Sticks, Marbles…does anyone play these games anymore?
I remember playing with metal jacks as a kid and receiving a set of pick up sticks in my stocking one Christmas. I don’t recall playing traditional marbles, though I had acquired a few.
When I was six, I found a marble someone had lost. It was clear and large–about the diameter of a quarter–with blue swirls and tiny air bubbles trapped inside. I treasured it and kept it in a special box. I used to wonder how the swirled colors got inside.
At age ten, I found a couple in a drawer at my grandfather’s house–treasures left behind by my father and his siblings.
Many years later as an adult, I unearthed a few more marbles on our property. My husband and I just had ground broken for a garage to be built. Forgotten over time, the glass spheres and an old medicine bottle resurfaced from a dirt pile after an afternoon rainstorm. I remember feeling a bit like an archeologist.
I don’t recall playing with marbles as a kid, but the ones I do have are attached to some fond memories.
Did you play with marbles?