Rolley Hole Marbles (game) rules and interpretation document

[RolleyHoleMan]

Hey all, new here. I see I have some pending messages to get to but while I have access to my laptop I am sending some documents about Rolley Hole marbles. One is an interpretative program, and the others are handouts we give to guests who visit and have no idea what is going on. 

 

The Rolley Hole tournament is ongoing and occurs every year at Standing Stone State Park in Hilham, TN, usually in September. We have live music, food, live marble making, glass blowing, etc. 

 

There are also some youtube videos up along with some live streams of gameplay. 

1873_001.pdf Rolley Hole Rules.pdf Rolley Hole score.pdf

[Steph]

Thanks for sharing!  

[bumblebee]

Neat! I always wanted to watch a game of this in person although I'd probably need to read the rules a few times first.

[RolleyHoleMan]

37 minutes ago, bumblebee said:

Neat! I always wanted to watch a game of this in person although I'd probably need to read the rules a few times first.

It can be very confusing but the livestream by Overton events on YouTube isn’t too bad. The ESPN videos I need to post have computer generated graphics and coverage of a game that’s very good. It’s made for the general public so it has some good  breakdowns. 
 

The major obstacle is I have digitalized thousands of photos and many videos and am struggling to find the best way to get them into the hands of the general public. I have everything from unknown photos of Cordell Hull (father of the UN) to a photo of Junior Strong (local marbles player) showing the queen of England how to hold and shoot a marble. I also have coverage of the 1998 international marbles event here with many many photos of marbles and people enjoying games. It’s nuts and I haven’t found an appropriate platform to get these out in a place where they’re not hidden in some corner of the internet. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

 

Here is the live stream that was later uploaded. 
 

Now there is a lot of good footage here HOWEVER the last game that determined the champs was cut from the stream. The kid who did the videos originally only posted the last game, then when editing he cut the last game and posted the rest. 
 

The last game was described by Bobby Fulcher (the father of this tournament) as the best game he’s seen in his 40 years. It was intense and we all stood there in silence. Every shot was a hit and it was an insane battle. When the last marble was in, one of the winners ran around hootin’ and hollering while CBS news dismounted their camera and they, and the locals all stormed the field. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Luckily this photo is on my phone. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

Went in on my off day to get this together. Here is the playlist of Rolley Hole videos from the 1980's. If there is an issue with them please let me know and I will try to resolve it. I will also be posting this elsewhere on the forum for those who haven't been in this thread or this section of the forum. 

 

 

[RolleyHoleMan]

The other day I realized the score card is incorrect. 
 

It should be:

Team A player 1

Team B player 1 

Team A player 2 

Team B player 2 

 

My bad. Though I doubt anyone took off playing Rolley Hole in my absence haha. Watching gameplay should confirm this pattern. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

As an update

 

I am back at the park and the marbles are rolling. Today I did a couple marbles programs and we had a pretty good time. 
 

As things progress I may be posting more. There’s not a lot more info I can share regarding the game, but will try to update on Rolley Hole news as we inch closer to the 40th Rolley Hole in September.

The 40th will be held at Standing Stone State park in Livingston TN as is tradition. 

[Teddy H]

Hey RolleyHoleMan,

It appears that in the Rolley Hole Interp pdf that was posted Section III, IV, and VII are missing. Are these available? Thanks.

[Steph]

5 hours ago, Teddy H said:

Hey RolleyHoleMan,

It appears that in the Rolley Hole Interp pdf that was posted Section III, IV, and VII are missing. Are these available? Thanks.

 

 In the 1873_001 document.   Good catch.  If that was a test for the rest of us to see if we would miss those sections, then we failed.  

[RolleyHoleMan]

On 5/9/2023 at 5:44 PM, Teddy H said:

Hey RolleyHoleMan,

It appears that in the Rolley Hole Interp pdf that was posted Section III, IV, and VII are missing. Are these available? Thanks.

I do not seem to have those it seems. I don't know how I missed that. Despite that, there is nothing to spanning and the scoreboard section that is missing can be covered by the attachment score sheet as the score sheet is the exact same as the scoreboard. On the sheet, you put an "X" in the box when that hole is made, while on the board we hang an "X". 

Spanning is easy as well and covered better in the videos I believe, but I will explain it out. Spanning is what you do before your shot. You place your thumb on the marble (where it lies) and make the "surfer hand sign" also known as a Shaka sign or the "hang loose" sign. You stretch your hand and draw a line in the dirt in front or around your marble in a circle (I like to so a circle). You can then place your marble anywhere within span, or shoot anywhere in your span. If you are within span of the hole, you may place the marble in that hole. From there, since you made the hole, you have earned an extra shot and can then span out of the hole to stay for defense, or span to shoot where you would like to go. That all depends on how the game goes and what is happening. Some may decide to "lay" in the hole which is a form of defense. 

Laying in the hole is tricky because your opponent may shoot you out of the hole and then gain a second turn because they hit your marble. I have personally been hit, then the person was within span and was able to span into the hole and earn another turn. They then used this turn to hit my marble again on the way to their next hole, which is called "riding" or "riding the marble". Bud Garret called the marbles horses because "everyone was always riding them". 

 

Section 7 on "Going out" is one that I would like to see. Going out is making the last hole (both you and your partner), thus winning the game. This is a very tricky spot because of the order of gameplay. You could make that hole, and then the next person to go (who is your opponent) can wack your teammates marble away and play defense. Its a hard moment of strategy and making sure your opponent has no/little chance of making it back to you. The defense and offense can be intense with a player defending the hole while their partner catches up, or the team which is behind can take turns with one player making holes, and the other player catching up. Then they may switch to allow the other team mate to catch up. 

 

The battle around that last hole can be intense. The final game played at the last tournament was intense around the last hole, with players continually knocking each other out of bounds.  

 

I will post another document which is an article written by Bobby Fulcher (father of the tournament) that has an account of a game like described in section VII. One team was behind a good ways, but they fought their way back. The age difference between teams is also an interesting point. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

So this document I will send anyways despite it not having the story I wanted. I will have to see what I was reading that had the story. 

 

Regardless this document was written by Bobby Fulcher and is another very good one I have not posted yet. 

 

The main thing with Rolley Hole and documents is a lot I have had to dig up, and a lot I find by accident searching national archives and the Smithsonian. Sometimes I find something and then it seems its back lost to the depths again. 

Bobby Fulcher Marbles.pdf

[RolleyHoleMan]

https://vault.si.com/vault/1994/09/05/rolley-hole-heaven-an-age-old-game-of-marbles-is-still-the-rage-in-kentucky-and-tennessee

 

Found what I was after. This was written for Sports Illustrated by John Grossmann in 1994. I will also add a PDF in case the link fails or ever breaks. 

Rolley-Hole Heaven - Sports Illustrated Vault _ SI.com.pdf

[RolleyHoleMan]

UPDATE! I made a mistake thinking I did not have the rest of that interpretative document. I kept going through copies with no luck until I found my original yellowed and worn copy I laminated for and tucked away for preservation. 
 

In my rush to get stuff online I failed to do the critical thing of telling the scanner to PRINT BOTH SIDES. I made a copy of the original once, didn’t do this, and then used the copy of a copy. 
 

I’m not near my scanner or at work, but the copy was here in my personal files. I took photos of it and when I get time I will try to scan it all together for one big PDF. Apologies for missing something basic like that. 
 

As a side note, I’m covered in Rolley Hole dirt from tonight after a good game. We cracked open a couple of bottles of SKI soda (as mentioned in the KY headhunters song “Dumus Walker”) and we had at it. The yard badly needs drug with a tire and needs more dirt added, but it was a great time. 

[RolleyHoleMan]

On 5/9/2023 at 4:44 PM, Teddy H said:

Hey RolleyHoleMan,

It appears that in the Rolley Hole Interp pdf that was posted Section III, IV, and VII are missing. Are these available? Thanks.

Teddy, I found and added the missing pieces.