History
Exactly where and when marbles began no one really knows, but it is quite possible they were a product of the early Egyptians and spread from there to other parts of the world.
From the Encyclopedia Britannica
Marble is defined as a small, hard ball that is used in a variety of children's games and is named after the 18th-century practice of making the toy from marble chips. Marble games date from antiquity, and ancient games were played with sea-rounded pebbles, nuts, or fruit pits. The young Octavian (later the emperor Augustus), like other Roman children, played games with nut marbles, and engraved marbles have been dug up from the earthen mounds built by some early North American Indian tribes. Jewish children use filberts as marbles at Passover.
In the 20th century, marbles have been made of a variety of materials: baked clay, glass, steel, plastic, onyx, agate. Particular marbles may be known for their use (shooters may be called taws, a word of obscure origin); their original material (alleys were once made of alabaster); or their appearance (e.g., "flints," "cloudies").
The object of marble games is to roll, throw, drop, or knuckle marbles against an opponent's marbles, often to knock them out of a prescribed area and so win them. (Knuckling is the act of placing a marble on the forefinger, balancing that finger or the bottom of the hand against the ground, and shooting the marble outward with the thumb.)
The names and rules of marble games are as varied as the localities and countries where they are played, but a few may be mentioned. In taw, ringtaw, or ringer, players attempt to shoot marbles, sometimes arranged in a cross, out of a ring as much as 6 to 10 feet (about 2 to 3 m) in diameter. In hit and span, players try to shoot or roll marbles either against an opponent's marbles or a hand's span from them. In various pot games (a pot is a small hole in the ground), including moshie, the player tries to pitch his own marbles or knock his opponents' marbles into a hole. In bridgeboard, or nineholes, a board with several numbered arches is set up, and players try to shoot their marbles through the arches. A Chinese marble game consists of kicking a marble against an opponent's to make the latter rebound in a specified direction. Local, regional, and national tournaments are held in many countries.
Game Rules
There are several different games which can be played with marbles, which are described below:
Ringer - using chalk or string draw a circle 10 feet (or 3 meters) across. Place 13 marbles in the center of the circle leaving 3 inches between each marble. Players must take turns shooting from outside the ring trying to knock the marbles in the middle out of the circle. The first player to knock out 7 marbles wins!
Tic Tac Toe - Draw tic-tac-toe squares on the ground with chalk or in the dirt and take turns shooting from 3 feet away. The first one to line up their marbles three in a row wins. Of course if you knock the other player out of the square you need to win, that just adds to the fun!
Boxies - Set a shoe box or other box on its side with the opening toward you. From 3 feet away take turns attempting to shoot you marble into the box. The first player to get his marble into the box wins!
Lagging - Draw a line on the ground, or you can play against a wall. Players take turns tossing their marble from 3 feet away to ward the line or wall. The object is to get your marble as close to the line or wall as possible with out going over it or hitting the wall. The player closest to the wall or line wins!
Keeps - Each player contributes 5 - 10 marbles from his own collection to any of the above games. The winner gets to keep all the marbles from the play when the game ends. This is where you get that forlorn look on the boys faces in the famous picture by Norman Rockwell below:
