Bob S. has opened a can of memories.Growing up in 
Northeastern Pre-Rust Ohio meant that you MUST play marbles. 
It was a mandatory activity and  was a real rite of passage 
when you finally, with difficulty,came of age.The marbles had 
names; piries(sp?), aggies, cats eyes, etc.  We called the 
marbles "glassies".  Marbles was practically a professional 
sport; all young kids (mostly boys but I remember some girls 
who were very proficient at it)played the game and there were 
interminable tournaments for the ones particularly gifted at 
the sport. The circles in the hard baked ground surface were 
rigorously measured since most of us were brazen enough to 
play 'Keepers'. This meant just that; to the victor belonged 
the multicolored glass orbettes so skillfully won by smacking 
them out of the circle with your prized shooter. My brother 
wore his large Warren City Marble Championship patch on his 
jacket deep into his Warren High School days until the lure 
of Black Panther baseball and football finally conquered 
him.My favorite Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post Cover 
is the one of the girl "cleaning up" in marbles while two 
feckless lads could only watch as their prizes vanished!!

We made belts out of the bottlecaps and also flipped them 
like we did baseball cards. Oh the fifties..O Tempora, O 
Mores!!!  dgo