A to Z Blog Challenge 2021 – Letter J – Jacks

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JACKS

Do you remember playing the kids’s game of Jacks? I remember how much fun we had.

The game of Jacks is played all over the world, by kids of all ages. There are as many types of Jacks games, as there are kids who play.

The ones I used were the little metal pronged toy that you throw onto a hard surface, like the floor. You have a small rubber ball, which you throw up into the air, pick up a set number of the jacks, and then catch the ball after one bounce.

Other’s rules say not to let the ball bounce at all, and some use a wooden ball or token. Some jacks are made of brightly colored plastic.

Friends can play together, taking turns, or you can play and practice on your own. We used to go early to school, just so we could get in a game before classes started. It was the rage for awhile.

There are different ways to pick up the jacks during a game. They all have funny names, for each round. Here’s a few I remember…

• onsies – tensies
• eggs in the basket
• peas in the pod
• piggies
• flying pigs
• round the world
• kiss’ems
• shooting stars
• over the fence

 

Honestly, we could have played these rounds of jacks all day. Sometimes, we’d use a golf ball instead of the rubber ball. This worked best on the sidewalk. Long ago, inside a regular golf ball, was another smaller, rubber ball. We’d get an old, beat up golf ball and cut it open. It was fun and funny, because also inside the golf ball, were all these long strands of rubber band things. They’d come popping out all over the place, and we’d scream and laugh. Then, we’d grab the smaller ball to play our jacks with.

Sometimes, the adults would warn us that if we weren’t careful…if we accidently poked a hole in the small ball, there was a poison liquid inside; if it got in your eye, you’d go blind. We never did poke any holes, though, and no one went blind.

This is the the craziest sounding thing…now that I think about it. I mean, we were kids, using sharp knives to cut a possibly poison golf ball…and the adults were not concerned about this…just the poison part…and they let us do it anyway!

All I know, is we sure had fun playing the game of Jacks. I’ll bet I could still play a pretty good game…in fact, I do have a set. I think I’ll try a game or two.

How about you? Want to join me?

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Thanks for visiting! Peace ☮️

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