Marbles

Categories: Physical-skill games | National Toy Hall of Fame | Physical activity and dexterity toys | Collecting

Image:Historic Marbles.jpg
Some historic marbles
Image:WestAfricanMarbles.jpg
Hand-made marbles from West Africa
Marbles can also refer to marble sculptures, for example the Elgin Marbles

Marbles is a class of children's games played with glass, clay, or agate orbs generally approximately half an inch (1cm) across, but can range from a very small size of less than 1/4 inch, to a very large size of over 3". Some art glass marbles are even being made today in a huge size (greater than 12") for display purposes only.

One version consists of drawing a circle in the sand with a stick, and adhering to informally agreed upon rules, players will take turns at knocking marbles out of the circle with their own marbles. Other versions consist of shooting marbles at other target marbles or holes in the ground.

A larger-scale game of marbles might involve taking turns to try and hit the opponent's marble to win. In this game, a useful strategy is to throw a marble such that it lands in a protected or difficult-to-reach location, should it miss.

As with many children's games, new rules are invented all the time, and each group is likely to have its own version of the game, often customised to the particular environment they play in.

While adults rarely play marbles themselves, many engage in marble collecting, both for nostalgia and for the aesthetic appeal of the brightly colored little spheres, or art marbles which excell in art glass quality.

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Terms

  • "Keepsies" (or "for keeps") is a variation of any game, where players win the marbles used in the game by their opponent.
  • A "marble" is the small hard sphere used for playing the game and for decoration and collection, usually made of glass, clay, stone, or plastic
  • Marbles named according to their size, e.g. Queenie? Any marble larger than the majority of the marbles in a given context may be termed a boulder.
  • Marbles named according to their colour
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History

Image:Klickerpeng1.jpg
different glass marbles from a glass-mill

Originally marbles were constructed from clay or marble, hence their name.

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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 can seem astounding to the uninformed.

Every marble can be completely categorized by many factors including its 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 dollar value influenced by overall demand. Very 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 es:Canica eo:Rulglobeto fr:Jeu de bille he:גולות nl:Knikker ja:ビー玉 sv:Stenkulor zh:彈珠