Thursday February 16, 2012
Marble games
IDIOMANIA
By OH TEIK THEAM
THE marble games that I played with the neighbourhood kids during my boyhood were wonderfully exciting. Three boys who lived a few houses from my place often invited me to play with them a game called “Hitting the Target”, which was all the rage with children back then.
In this game, we drew two lines on the ground that were four feet apart and parallel to each other, one measuring five feet and the other six inches. Each player contributed three multi-coloured glass marbles for each set we played, making a total of 12 marbles. The winner therefore won nine marbles. (The 12 marbles were shared equally if there were two or three winners.)
The four of us, each aiming for a win in every set, took turns to cast the 12 marbles over the five-foot line from a squatting position at the six-inch line. To try to win the set, each player used another of his own marbles (the Hitter) to hit one of the 12 marbles (the Target) selected by the other players. The Hitter had to hit the Target with neither of them touching any of the rest of the marbles on the ground – a tall order for the player if he had failed to accomplish a good throw, with some of the 12 marbles as close to each other as peas on a plate.
Sometimes, when a player cast the 12 marbles, some of them failed to cross the five-foot line. He then collected these marbles and cast them again.
While the player with the Hitter got ready to hit the Target, the other players argued heatedly about which marble was to be the Target.
“Let him try to hit this one – it is so far from him.”
“It doesn’t look very far to me.”
“I think this one is a better Target. He will not have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning because it is surrounded by five other marbles.”
I was usually a loser in our afternoon marble games, so that when we called it a day, my trouser pockets were all but empty.
These little hard balls, so beautiful with their variegated centres in swirls of vibrant greens and blues and reds, certainly brought unbounded joy to a bunch of boisterous boys. When I take a walk down memory lane, the delightful marble games of childhood sometimes come to mind.
All the rage: Very popular or fashionable.
Take turns: (Of two or more people) to do (something) one after the other.
A tall order: A task, request or command that is difficult to perform or fulfil.
Not have/stand a snowball’s chance in hell: To have no chance at all.
Call it a day: To stop work or an activity, or to rest.
All but: Almost.
Take a walk/stroll/trip/journey down memory lane: To remember some of the happy times in one’s past.
Come to mind: To be recollected.
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