Marble Playing Ring

[skoronesa]

I know in jersey they play on a 10' painted concrete circle. In greyhound its a smaller concrete circle with sand thrown on it. In school we played on the one piece of smooth concrete, it was poured by a janitor who took pride in his work. As a kid visiting my relatives in the city it was the side walk. But in my own backyard I played on hard packed dirt. When I was 13 and made our patio we had extra trap rock dust which I packed into a steel ring from an old wagon wheel, about 3 1/2' in diameter.

I want to make a good old fashioned hard packed dirt circle to play on with my children. We will be getting a house soon. I am thinking I can pour a concrete ring to pack the dirt into. Not sure how large I could go without making the wife upset. I will probably do one without the concrete first just to get an idea of what I need to use for dirt, might dig some up from my parents house. It had a bit of clay in it and packed real well, also there's nostalgia.

[pedidoll]

great project for you and your kids!!!!!

[duffy]

^{you can get those premolded concrete parts that make a circle...any thing manu to make a ring around a tree...we always played on good ol dirt....but then we had no sidewalks.......}

[FISHSLAYERMARRBLEGRIFF]

I think if I were to play marbles now,I would want the play area to be elivated,

to about 3&1/2 ft.,and a covering,similar to a pool table.

Of course,when I did play marbles,the "play area" was the fire pit,I lined the bottle up,in front of.

You know,back when bb guns and sling shots were toys, and pc didnt exist!--LOL

[kbobam]

I like the idea of the pool table top.

Kind of keeps things precise and honest having a perfect surface.

Come to think of it, not having to get down on what's

left of my knees sounds pretty good too!

[skoronesa]

If you watch the music video for "dumas walker's" by the kentucky headhunters you will see the old guys playing marbles on the pool table.

I may do an indoor ring out of felt, I eyeball the rolls of felt every time I go to wally world. I think the rolls of car carpet in the automotive section would be better because they have a thicker pile, felt might be too fast, I want something similar to dirt.

[duffy]

dumas walker was a famous marble player in the tenn. area...rolly hole...

[duffy]

heres a link...its after the lyrics..http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/k/kentucky_headhunters/dumas_walker.html

[skoronesa]

From your link:

"salizaarApr 3, 2009 at 1:59 pm

As my mother said, "Why, they've made a song about that old bootlegger, Dumas Walker!" Yes, he was. And he loved to shoot "marvels" as he called them. That was why "you oughta see him GRINNIN' when you walk through the door, the marble king ready for more!" More people to play marbles with. More business. They played Rolley Hole, which was a game carried to Appalachia from England and Ireland. But he also sold liquor in a dry county. And the home made stuff. And they bet on the marble games, and laid money down on the floor.
A "slawburger" is a hamburger with cabbage slaw on it instead of lettuce.
A bottle of "Ski" (not skeet) is a kind of soda pop, off brand, I think it was made by the ones who bottled are. C. Cola, it's like a Mountain Dew or something, one of those lemon/lime eye burners.
The country music video of this song showed them shooting marbles on a pool table, which as far as I know doesn't happen. But they have a marble tournament at Standing Stone every year."

That's pretty cool to know, thanks for sharing. I figured a bottle of ski meant a brew-ski. Slawburgers are good.

[skoronesa]

From the wiki:

According to The Kentucky Headhunters' band member Doug Phelps, the song refers to a retailer and world class marbles champion named "Dumas" from Moss, Tennessee who owned a "package" shop near the Kentucky-Tennessee state line, close to Annie Hanrahan's place. The shop sold "beer, snacks [and] fireworks" and was "part of the Kentucky boys' lives growing up." The lyrics that reflect a desire to purchase "slaw burger, fries, and a bottle of Ski" are completely unrelated to the real-life "Dumas Walker", referring to a restaurant in Greensburg, Kentucky called Adolphus Ennis, where the band would go following a show.^[3]

At first, the record label did not want to include the song on the Kentucky Headhunters' album because they believed it was too regional. However, the Headhunters pushed for the song to be on the album because of the reaction it received during live shows.^[3]

[FISHSLAYERMARRBLEGRIFF]

"Come to think of it, not having to get down on what's

left of my knees sounds pretty good too!"

BINGO!

[Steph]

Nice project!

[Steph]

Somewhere I have an old photo of adults playing marbles on a table but I must be using the wrong terms to do my search. Couldn't find it.

[skoronesa]

Goose playing on our marble ring. Erick and I made it abot a month ago. We are living in our new house. I want to put one in the front yard as well.

We made it by digging up a 4ft circle of sod and setting it aside, taking a foot of the dirt below which luckily had a lot of clay in it and putting that in the wheelbarrow, put the sod back in and the good clay dirt on top.

We also picked out the rocks, roots, and glass. The last owner was a drunk and there is glass EVERYWHERE.

[skoronesa]

The ring with the bag of nicer cheap marbles I keep in my car.

[skoronesa]

Goose loves marbles, so does Erick. When Erick was younger everyday we would check the mail for a bag of marbles. He would get so excited waiting for me to come home so we could sort them. Two kids later the marbles don't come any where near as frequently. Goose was so happy the first time he could do more than watch erick and I.

I bought copies of the same klutz book of marbles I have from my childhood.

[Steph]

Fantastic!

I'm so glad you made it a reality!