90's Most Popular Game

Marbles: 

Kanche/ Marbles are one of the most popular Indian games played all of the country in India mostly by boys. It appeals to people of all ages. It is known as Kanchey in the North and Golli Gundu in the South. There are various different games played all around the country with marbles.

A marble is a small spherical toy often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about 1 cm (¹⁄₂ in) in diameter, but they may range from less than 1 mm (¹⁄₃₀ in) to over 8 cm (3 in), while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 30 cm (12 in) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of gamescalled marbles. They are often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic colors. In the North of England the objects and the game are called "taws", with larger taws being called bottle washers after the use of a marble in Codd-neck bottles, which were often collected for play.

Marbel's Game:

In Australia, games were played with marbles of different sizes. The smallest and most common was about 15 mm (⁵⁄₈ in) in diameter. The two larger, more valuable sizes were referred to as semi-bowlers and tom-bowlers, being about 20 mm (³⁄₄ in) and 25 mm (1 in) in diameter respectively. They were used in much the same way as ordinary marbles, although sometimes they would be declared invalid because of the advantage of their larger mass and inertia. Owners of large marbles were also afraid to use them lest they be lost to another player as "keepsies". They were usually of the clear "cat's eye" or milk glass type, just bigger.

"Firing" a marble meant that a player had to flick his/her marble from a stationary position of his hand. No part of the hand firing the marble was permitted to be in front of the position where the marble had been resting on the ground. Using that hand, (s)he would flick or fire the marble from his/her hand, usually with the knuckle on the back of his/her hand resting on the ground, and usually using the thumb of that hand to do so. All shots of the game were conducted in this manner throughout except the very initial pitch towards the bunny hole that started the game.

Once a player was able to land his/her marble within the hole, (s)he would immediately then fire his marble at his opponents' marbles. However, if any player hit another player's marble before his/her own marble had been to 'visit' the bunny hole, the act would be referred to as "a kiss"; the game would be over, and all or both players (in the case of two players only) would have to retreat back to the starting line to restart the game, without result. This, of course, could be quite annoying or frustrating if a player had already built up quite a few hits on another player's marble! So, most skilled players did not resort to this kind of tactic.

The overall aim was to hit a particular marble 3 times after getting into the hole, then you had to "run away", before the final contact shot was allowed to be played - which was called "the kill". Once a player made a kill on another marble, if the game was 'for keeps', (s)he would then get to keep the marble [bunny] (s)he had 'killed'. The format of playing this game was that each time you successfully hit another player's marble, you were to have another shot - even if it was not the marble you had originally intended to hit.

Of course, the ploy was to hit the particular opponent marble 3 times, and then 'run away' to the bunny hole, because once you rested the marble into the hole, you immediately had your shot again, thus leaving no opportunity at all for your opponent to retreat his/her marble before "the Kill" was made on it.

In India, there are many games with marbles. One simple game with marbles is called "Cara" in which every player puts one or more marbles in a long line of marbles with each marble being one centimeter or slightly more, apart from each other. After this, each player throws another marble as far as possible from the line, perpendicularly. In this game, the player whose marble is farthest from the line of marbles gets the first chance to hit the marble's line and subsequent players who get to hit the line have their distance from the line in decreasing order. Any player who hits and displaces a marble in the line of marbles gets to take that and all marbles to the right of it. Usually, marbles in the line are smaller marbles and the players have bigger marbles for hitting the line of smaller marbles.This game needs the playground to be flat and hard and with no loose soil for effecting games of "Cara". The distances of the marbles thrown determine order of players who get to hit the line are anywhere from 10 to 30 meters and may depend on player's desire to hit the marble line first and how much risk they will take so that they would be at some distance and yet be able to hit the line of marbles and get more than 2 marbles. Players have to roll their marbles from a distance to hit the line of marbles. Each player gets to hit the line of marbles only once assuming there are marbles left in the line and every player gets a turn in order. In a line of twenty marbles, its reasonable to get at least 5 to 20 marbles depending on how skillful somebody is at hitting the line of marbles. When all marbles are taken by players as above the game is restarted with players putting their marbles in the line and trying to win as many marbles as possible.If some marbles are left in the line after each player takes a chance, the players again throw their marbles perpendicularly to this line and start to roll their marble to hit the line according to the above rules. This process is repeated until all marbles are taken in the game.

In Uganda, a popular marbles game is called dool. It requires a small pit dug in the ground for two or more players, each with his own marble. To improvise, Ugandans also use the seeds of a candlenut tree, locally referred to as Kabakanjagala^[9] (The King loves me). To start a game, a throwing line is drawn on the ground using chalk or a stick about a meter (or some feet) from the pit. Then the players roll their marbles close to the pit. The one whose marble falls in gets points equivalent to one game. If a second marble falls in and hits the first, a player gets more points than the previous player, but all have to return to the throwing line. When no marble falls in, the player whose marble rolls closest to the pit starts the firing session. When he misses, the next opponent fires. You can only fire 24 consecutive times per turn earning one point for each hit. But all that time, a player must make sure the gap between the marbles is bigger than two stretches of the hand. If an opponent realises that it isn't, then he can make a call, pick his marble and place it anywhere. When a player is targeting a marble placed near the hole, he must avoid knocking it into the hole or else give away an advantage. There are various rules for doolbut the player with the most points wins. Favoured fingers include the middle finger for blasting strength and small finger for accurate long distance target.

How to Play:

There are various games played using marbles. In one of the popular games with marbles, a circle measuring approximately 2-3 feet in diameter is drawn in the ground using a stick or a stone. Each player contributes 2 marbles each to begin the game.” All the marbles are collected at the centre of the circle. To decide the turns for the players, a line is drawn approximately three feet away from the hole. The players stand at the second line and try to throw their marbles into the hole. The person whose marble is closest to the hole gets to play first followed by the second closest and so on.

To play the game, the players take turns to shoot the marbles. The player shoots by holding the marble tautly in the forefinger of the left hand, then stretching the finger back like a bow-string by the pressure of the forefinger of the right hand and finally by releasing the finger such that the marbles flies forward. At all times, the left thumb should firmly touch the ground. The players take turns to knock marbles out of the circle.  They get to keep the marbles that were knocked out of the circle.  The game ends when there are no marbles left in the circle. The player with the highest number of marbles wins the game. 

 Then remembered childhood

The age of

That game of crust is old

Loser-robbing

To keep the shroud in the bundle,

That mummy scold

And the rebuke of father ...

Forgetting to play in a skeleton

Go with friends away from home

And condition of quilt from others

Hamstring

That ten-twenty game,

I miss that

Passed time !!