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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 81.131.175.228
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 06:18 pm:   

Am I embarrassed to report that I spent 90% of my childhood in the 1950s and 1960s racing coloured marbles down a slope. Lining them up, for example, behind a crib board on a supported boardgame board, then lifting up the crib board ,,, then letting them GO!… and see which rolled furthest on the carpet.

Knock-out competitions.

Leagues.

Endless hour after endless hour. I even named the marbles – split dark blue, thin red, big light blue, spot yellow… ?

I even had a ‘Palace Corbie’ published story about it later… http://weirdmonger.blogspot.com/2007/03/piano-player-has-no-fingers-no-1.html
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 81.131.175.228
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 06:24 pm:   

This is a sort of 'coming out'.
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Gary Fry (Gary_fry)
Username: Gary_fry

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.31.214.170
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 06:53 pm:   

And when do you think you lost your marbles, Mr Lewis . . . ?
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.199.129
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 08:38 pm:   

It's funny you should mention that, Des. When I was a kid we had a living room carpet with stripes in it. I had a set of plastic horses and I used to race them along the living room floor, throwing a dice for each horse. If, for example, I threw a six, that horse would move up six stripes on the carpet. For the next horse I might throw a two, so that horse would only move two places. Of course, I'd set a finish line so that I could see which horse would win each time.

I wonder what other strange childhood games fellow RCMBers played ...?

(come to that, do kids nowadays have the kind of imagination to do things like that, or have computer games and so on spoilt their ability to make up their own games?)
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 81.131.175.228
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 08:55 pm:   

I wonder what other strange childhood games fellow RCMBers played ...?
===============

What you did with dice, Caroline, I did many similar solitary games, ie with toy soldiers on the carpet, and simply with pen and paper as some kids played 'fantasy football' or 'fantasy cricket' with dice etc.)

Led eventually in the late 70s I guess to D&D etc with multi-shaped dice etc etc...
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.199.129
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 09:39 pm:   

Oh yes, I did the fantasy football thing with dice too. I had leagues and knock-out competitions going there as well!

Marbles didn't do much for me though. I did have a collection of them, but didn't actually play marbles as it didn't appeal. I just used to like looking deep into them as they were so pretty with all those swirling colours. Maybe that's where the imagination thing comes in too ..?

But my favourite toys were always my collection of Matchbox cars. Yes, I was a strange girl as I just loved to play with boys' toys!
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 81.131.175.228
Posted on Sunday, October 30, 2011 - 09:47 pm:   

I also designed fantasy radio station programmes on paper - and even 'fantasy-broadcast' some of them with my Dansette autochange record player.

(We are all now 'broadcasters' of sorts with the internet.)
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Des (Des)
Username: Des

Registered: 09-2010
Posted From: 81.131.175.228
Posted on Monday, October 31, 2011 - 08:20 am:   

And when do you think you lost your marbles, Mr Lewis . . . ?
================

Indeed, an interesting question, Gary, if one you intended as playfully insulting.
Bu hook or by crook I couldn't seem to keep the original set of my marbles in my possession. Gradually they vanished, what with my own kids playing with them, and other factors or storage and house-moving etc.
It's commnonly known as Marble Entropy. A special form of entropy that differs from that of one's mind or body: The marbles themselves, at worst, only chip but otherwise stay integral, but the whereabouts of that Marble integrity increasingly becomes a mystery.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.142
Posted on Monday, October 31, 2011 - 01:30 pm:   

I wonder what other strange childhood games fellow RCMBers played ...?

Well dare I suggest it but I suspect Gary McMahon had a lot of fun with his conkers.
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Carolinec (Carolinec)
Username: Carolinec

Registered: 06-2009
Posted From: 92.232.199.129
Posted on Monday, October 31, 2011 - 02:29 pm:   

I knew someone would come out with a statement like that - and it had to be you, didn't it, Lord P?!

And tell me, please, what did you play with when you were a kid, John? I bet it was a toy doctor's kit complete with plastic scapel, stethoscope and nurse's uniform, eh?

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