Friday, March 23, 2007

The Marble Game

marble board game
Someone around here recently gave me a classic old board game. The marble game! I think he made several of these from lumber which had been stored in his barn for decades. Very cool, natural wood grain and distressed hardwood, a classic piece of Americana.

The marble game belongs to a family of race games played on a cross-shaped board, including Ludo, parcheesi, pachisi, the old Aztec game of patolli, and many more. The rules of the marble game are similar to Ludo, except that a roll of 1 has the same privileges as a roll of 6. Around the track you go, and you can be almost home when an opponent's marble lands on yours and sends it back to the start.

A very nice addition to my collection of board games.

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10 Comments:

Blogger Midnight Candle said...

Hm, it reminds me of Chinese checkers. I don't recognise this so-called marble game. I must have missed it somewhere along the way in my youth.

Friday, March 23, 2007 11:04:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

oh I remember parcheesi looks sort of the same

sweet

Friday, March 23, 2007 11:47:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Oh my goodness,
Seeing this board, brings back so many childhood memories of visiting my Grandmother or vistiing some of my Mom's Aunts in North Dakota. We would play for hours. I was given a hand me down board from generation to generation that started to fall apart, so one year (about 10 years ago now) I decided to make a couple for gifts to return the favor to relatives. Not as easy as it looks to make, let me tell you. I used a router and realized, what we today, take for granted, that people (farmers) did by hand. I stumbled across your sight and noticed the board. This year we need to make gifts by hand for our Christmas gift exchange and I thought of the marble board. Not many of us out there that still play that board game, but if you go to a little town in Elgin North Dakota, I'm sure you can find many people that still love to play the games. What I nice surprise to see.
JP - Utah

Monday, October 05, 2009 7:56:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I also remember this game from my childhood. By chance do you recall the rules of the game? I have forgotten how to play it. If you do have the rules, I would greatly appreciate receiving a copy. My email address is AZVALD@aol.com. Thanks!!

Wednesday, July 18, 2012 2:48:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I bought this game at an estate sale . I had one in my teens but i cant remember the rules can someone email them to me please.diane.johnson67@ymail.com

Monday, December 17, 2012 4:52:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

THIS IS THE BEST GAME EVER!!! I remember playing it all night long with my Grandparents. Does anyone know where I can find one? I think it would be great fun to pass on to my family, plus my husband has never even heard of it.

Monday, December 17, 2012 6:49:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So happy to find this page! My family used to play this when i was growing up in Chicago, a swedish friend of my grandparents taught it to them, the board we had was made by my grandfather, sadly no one remembers what happened to it, i can still hear my grandmother yelling six, six, six! Great memories..:)

Sunday, August 24, 2014 2:22:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I remember playing this game with my grandfather and grandmother as a young child. Their board had two sides, one for four players and the other for six. Each person had a home column and must roll a 6 or 1 to place your marble on the home starting point, the lower left corner. If you rolled a 6 you can also move 6 places around the board going clockwise. If you landed on the top of the column inside corner on the left hand side you are able to move to the center. To get out of the center you must roll a 6 or 1 and come out of the inside corner of the right side of your home column. Each player must work their way around the board and place all 4 marbles in the middle of the home column. While you are working on going around the board, if you roll a number that lands you in the same spot as another player you can send that person marble back to the holding tray for them to start again. Also, if they roll a 6 the get to roll again.

Saturday, September 19, 2015 4:11:00 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

It reminds me of a marble game that we have, there is no hole in the middle but the four inner corners have a ring around them. We called the game ( doogee ). We have been trying to find the instructions on it.

Monday, November 30, 2015 8:33:00 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

It reminds me of a marble game that we have, there is no hole in the middle but the four inner corners have a ring around them. We called the game ( doogee ). We have been trying to find the instructions on it.

Monday, November 30, 2015 8:37:00 AM  

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