Games people played back then (Pikeville: fit in, neighborhood, eat)

[Kklynnt]

Wow, seeing the mention of games that used to be played brought back some great memories.

I can't remember what it called...but as "younguns" we used to roll a small metal hoop around by using a specially made push stick.

You basically just pushed the hoop along in front of you ... with practice you could drive it around in circles and even guide it down slopes, etc.

My dad made the hoops for us, but I think the original hoops were taken from the hub of a wagon wheel.

I remember trying to learn to roll the hoop and getting frustrated. My grandfather told me "I wasn't holding my mouth right" so I literally took off again, trying to figure out how I needed to hold my mouth.

I eventually learned to roll the hoop and we probably rolled our hoops for hundreds of miles as we played around the neighborhood.

I'll bet there is somebody on this forum that has done this before and will even know what this was called.


Anyone know any other "older" type games that was played back in the day?

[gemkeeper]

We always called it a "hoop roll". Whether that is a name that was colloquial or not, I don't know. How about "kick the can" and baseball with a good gooney stone and a stick - original "stick ball"?

We could make a game and have fun with whatever was available - and it usually wasn't much. What fun!

[Kklynnt]

Originally Posted by gemthornton

We always called it a "hoop roll". Whether that is a name that was colloquial or not, I don't know. How about "kick the can" and baseball with a good gooney stone and a stick - original "stick ball"?

We could make a game and have fun with whatever was available - and it usually wasn't much. What fun!

I think there may have been different names for the activity, but I was sure there would be someone on here familiar with it. Amazing how we managed to take something so simple and amuse ourselves for hours...getting plenty of exercise too by the way.

How about playing marbles? I never done this, but as I understand from my dad they didn't have to worry about cutting the grass in their front yard because all the neighborhood kids used to play marbles there on a daily basis.

[gemkeeper]

Originally Posted by Kklynnt

I think there may have been different names for the activity, but I was sure there would be someone on here familiar with it. Amazing how we managed to take something so simple and amuse ourselves for hours...getting plenty of exercise too by the way.

How about playing marbles? I never done this, but as I understand from my dad they didn't have to worry about cutting the grass in their front yard because all the neighborhood kids used to play marbles there on a daily basis.

You never played marbles? It is never too late to get started. At about 6 years old we'd start out with just a band aid can from Mom and load it up with generic marbles. As we got proficient at all of the various marble games we started to collect our shooter marbles, cat's eye marbles and those beautiful twirly, swirly colored marbles. They wouldn't fit in a puny Band-Aid can any longer, so Dad would find each of us an old shammy cloth that Mom would sew up into a bag with a leather shoes-string drawstring at the neck of the bag. Strong enough to hold even the steel shooters that some of us were lucky enough to win from somebody!

And, of course, if you were the one with enough foresight to have about a yard of string in your pocket to form the shooting ring - or at least a nice dusty spot to finger draw one out - you were pretty much in charge.

Girls playing marbles??? Hey, if you could whip your big brother at Chinese leg wrestling you were in the next marble match in the neighborhood even if you were a girl! But, would big brother play jacks with his sisters? Ugh! Go eat a worm first! Great old days.

[Tinman313]

Kick the can.............:

[gemkeeper]

Originally Posted by Tinman313

Kick the can.............:

Even more fun if you put about 8 or 9 big stones in it to get as much noise out of it as you could. Annddd, it had to almost close to dark to make it really fun!

[alleycat]

Uh, oh. You should have titled this thread Games people played back then . . . in Tennessee.

That pesky moderator will be shipping this one off to the wasteland too.

;-)

[beachbyrd]

Well,are there games specific to TN?

[Kklynnt]

Originally Posted by beachbyrd

Well,are there games specific to TN?

Beachbyrd, I'm sure that there are games that could have originated in Tennessee.

I'll bet laurac can find some data.

Some of these games were a part of Tennessee's heritage for sure. Given that families were large (12 children as an example) I'll bet parents were always actively seeking something to keep the youngsters busy.

There is a lady from Pikeville that has an extensive collection of toys that were handmade for children years ago.

Kerry

[Kklynnt]

Seems there is more interest in the game of marbles than I thought.

Rolley-Hole

Looks like there is an international event held yearly at one of our state parks.
The link has contact info and lots of information about the game of marbles.

Kerry