Games People Play In New York City

It seems that the games of New York childhoods are in vogue.

I have to admit I was extremely surprised when I recently ran across an article in the New York Times highlighting some of the childhood games many urban bred New Yorkers grew up with, games that required the simplest and cheapest of equipment but offered just as much comradery and challenge as those with uniforms, stadiums and high paid players.

Following is a quick outline of a few "New York" games. May I suggest you invest your time and energy in one of your liking as soon as possible before they become too "in" and the prices rise to meet and match the demand of the sport -

Skully -
One of the biggest board games ever played in the streets of New York city is Skully. From 2 to 6 players kneel or lay atop a playing board, usually hand drawn in the middle the street, trying to move their pieces from marked area to marked area in the least amount of flicks.

When I was a kid making our caps, the pieces used in the game, was often more important than actually playing the game. The pieces were a personal statement about the player and many of us made the effort to and took pride in finding the most interesting metal soda or beer caps around. The design of the caps often became our trademark and after being filled with whatever could give them weight and stability were sometimes further personalized with paint and marker. Most of us used melted candle wax, crayons or workman's putty but the hardcore players dug up tar right from the street we played on. For history check out http://www.streetplay.com/skully/com/skully/

Stick Ball -
I remember watching the neighborhood boys play this game in the middle of the street, dodging and crawling under cars to retrieve the handball used for the game long after the corner lamppost turned itself on. The bat was always a "borrowed" mop or broom unlucky enough to be left unsupervised. Before it could be used to hit balls sometimes 2 blocks away the guy who made the best bats would artistically tape up one end to create the hand grip and then lovingly store it after each game. If you're interested in learning more about this street game become sport check out http://www.stickball.com/

Hand Ball-
What could be more simple? A wall, a rubber ball and your hands was all that was needed to play this urban version of racket ball. Growing up we knew which courts or walls we could play at and unless we had "game" stayed away from the hardcore players whose callused hands could and would sometimes pop the pink spalding balls used in the game with just one return to scare us "kids" off the courts. With over 2000 handball courts all over the city anyone can find a place to play at their level or a game to watch in awe. Check out http://www.icha.org/ for info.

Paddle Ball -
I remember my first paddle. It was called a "Black Beauty". A hand me down from my mother it had metal trim around its edge that proved rather useful when I had to defend myself while walking home from a specific handball court in an area in Brooklyn that I should have never ventured into. But the danger and fear and need for protection were well worth the games I played during my Paddle Ball Era. This game was supposed to have been invented in New York city in 1940 by a handball player who hands could no longer tolerate the cold. In addition to using paddles instead of hands the ball used in the game is smaller and harder than a handball. Check out Handball Organizations in the City for clubs and tournaments.

Now I am waiting to hear that they are bringing Ringolevio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringolevio) and Johny On the Pony (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_buck) back and I will officially be re living my urban New York childhood!