Marbles

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Image:WestAfricanMarbles.jpg Image:Historic Marbles.jpg

Marbles can also refer to marble sculptures, for example the Elgin Marbles.
For the 2004 album of progressive rock band Marillion, see Marbles (album).
For the indie pop band, see Marbles (band)

Marbles is a class of children's games played with glass, clay, or agate balls usually about half an inch (1cm) across, but they can range from less than 1/4 inch to over 3". Some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 12" wide. Marbles are also often collected, both for nostalgia and for their aesthetic appeal.

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Gameplay

One version of the game involves drawing a circle in sand, and players will take turns knocking other players' marbles out of the circle with their own. Other versions involve shooting marbles at target marbles or into holes in the ground. A larger-scale game of marbles might involve taking turns trying to hit an opponent's marble to win. A useful strategy is to throw a marble so that it lands in a protected or difficult location if should it miss the target. As with many children's games, new rules are devised all the time, and each group is likely to have its own version, often customised to the environment.

One such specialized game is called gaipar, popular in Bengal. Each player contributes four marbles, which are positioned on the edge of a rectangle. One special marble (the gai) is placed in the center. Players take turns to hit the marbles on the rectangle with a bigger marble (often called a boulder or matris). The marbles hit by the matris must be propelled out of the rectangle. If they are hit but remain within the rectangle, the player plays one more marble as a forfeit which is placed within the rectangle. The aim of the game is to hit the central gai and take it out of the rectangle. This is not easy when there are marbles on the periphery. If a player can take out the gai, he wins all the marbles. However, other players then get a chance to hit the gai-taker's boulder and, if successful, all the marbles change ownership.

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Terms

  • "Keepsies" (or "for keeps") is a variation in which players win the marbles used by their opponent.
  • Various names according to the marble's size. Any marble larger than the majority may be termed a boulder.
  • Marbles are also called by their colour.
  • Quitsies: Allows any opponent to stop the game without consequence. You can either have quitsies (able to quit) or no quitsies (unable to quit).
  • "Goli Gundu" is a Tamil term used to refer to both a game played with marbles, and the marbles themselves.
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History

Image:Klickerpeng1.jpg Marbles were originally made from clay or marble, hence their name.

Marbles are often mentioned in Roman literature, and there are many examples of marbles from ancient Egypt.

They were commonly made of stone, metal, or glass until the 18th century, when ceramic marbles become more common.

In 1846 a German glassblower invented "marble scissors", which allowed the first large scale production of marbles.

Ceramic marbles entered mass production in the 1870s, the first truly cheap mass-production of marbles.

Glass marbles entered mass production in the early 20th century, when WWI cut off their importation from Europe, causing American innovation to be applied to the task, producing a mechanized method of glass marble production which became the most common system in the world. Glass marbles, too, became the most popular variety, and have remained so to this day.

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Marble collecting

Marble collecting is a hobby enjoyed by thousands of people around the world. As with any collecting hobby, the hyper-specialization that takes place might seem astounding to the uninformed.

Any marble can be categorized by many factors including condition, size, type, manufacturer/artisan, age, style, materials, scarcity, and the existence of original packaging (which is further rated in terms of condition). Each of these ratings is used to calculate the marble's worth, with the final value influenced by overall demand. Ugly but rare marbles may be valued as much as those of very fine quality.

As with any collectible toy, the value seems to first peak when the collectors with the fondest memories enjoy recalling their childhoods through their acquisitions. Thus, it may be predicted that the value of today's marbles will soon reach a peak, then decline as vast amounts of similar marbles enter the market (as the collectors' estates are broken up) and then slowly increase again over time. This trend is typical of toy collecting and has been seen with baseball cards, postage stamps, metal toys, and dolls.

Due to a large market, there are many related side businesses that have sprung up such as numerous books and guides, web sites dedicated to live auctions of marbles only, and collector conventions. Additionally, many glass artisans produce marbles for the collectors' market only, with some selling for hundreds of dollars.

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Manufacture

Marbles are made using many techniques. They can be categorized into three general types: hand-made, machine-made, and semi-machine made.

Marbles were originally made by hand. Stone or ivory marbles can be fashioned by grinding. Clay, pottery, ceramic, or porcelain marbles can be made by rolling the material into a ball, and then letting dry, or firing, and then can be left natural, painted, or glazed. Glass marbles can be fashioned through the production of glass rods which are stacked together to form the desired pattern, cutting the rod into marble-sized pieces using marble scissors.

One mechanical technique is dropping globules of molten glass into a groove made by two interlocking parallel screws. As the screws rotate, the marble travels along them, gradually being shaped into a sphere as it cools. Colour can be added by dropping dyes onto the marbles while they are still liquid.

Early mechanical methods were similar to modern ones, but used as assistance in manual production rather than automated mass production. Marbles made in such a way are difficult to classify and generally grouped as "semi-machine-made".

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External links

de:Murmelspiel eo:Rulglobeto es:Canica fr:Jeu de bille he:גולות ja:ビー玉 nl:Knikker pt:Berlinde sv:Stenkulor zh:彈珠

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