Playing Marbles - An Insight

As you already know, Marbles are glass-like balls ranging from ¼ to 3 inches in diameter (if it exceeds this range, we cannot call it a marble. We shall call it a paper-weight)

Of all, I enjoyed playing marbles the most. I seriously feel the concept of ‘marbles’ has become almost absolete after the inception of gaming consoles, video games and simulation contraptions. Through my experience and expertise in this domain, I would like to try my bit to enlighten the readers on the topic Playing Marbles – An Insight

For me, on any given day, nothing is as evocative and nostalgic as ‘marbles’; not even Mallika’s thighs. The very sight of marbles reminds me of myself wearing a tight sleeveless banian, a double-pocket’ed chaddi and blue lakhani chappals and walking down the playing field (usually the backside of quarters) with a sense of determination to fill my pockets with marbles on return. For the female, a ‘marble’ is just an item of aesthetical appeal. But for the guys, it is definitely more than that. I am sure, 99.998976% of guys have played atleast one dye in their whole life (as per marbles terminology, one gaming session of marbles is called a dye)

A few vernacular versions of the term ‘Marble’:- Goli Gundu (in tamil), Goli (in malayalam), Goti (in telugu), Goti (in hindi), Goti (in urdu).

Generally speaking, the basic objective behind playing marbles is to win others’ marbles. After returning home for the day, the winners put the marbles in a dabba and the losers wash their hands. The dabbas usually used are vanaspathi dalda dabba, farex dabba, palmolive oil dabba, etc. My favourite dabba was vanaspathi dalda dabba.

Days went by, and I became badly addicted to playing marbles. After a few months, when my efficiency in the game improved, I migrated my marble storage to a big biscuit dabba (ampro glucose biscuit) to archive my marbles everyday. I could fill it up in one year because I turned out to be a Kantipeter (refer to terminology below). As it happens with any human being, when success dawned upon me, I started thinking of marbles on commercial lines - I started selling marbles to my fellow players (usually non-kantipeters). I play with them, win their marbles and sell them again. If players buy from me, a mere 10-paise could fetch them 6 new-shiny marbles or 8 old and fully-used-up marbles. While the shop-keeper nearby sold 4 new marbles per 10-paisa. Since there existed an obvious cost arbitrage for the players, I was the most preferred vendor for them. This way, I amassed adequate change for my 2/- ticket for the movie in the theatre nearby. Even my kappalandi (peanuts) for my film interval was sponsored by my marble-selling business.

As you know, every business has its flipside. So did my marble business. Sometimes, it could also be in the form of an external threat. In my case, the threat was my achan (my dad). My entire storage used to be in the backyard without my dad’s knowledge. On a not-so-fine evening, he caught me red-handed when I was unloading my day’s winning into the dabba. My furious dad rolled up his designer lungie, approached me sliently, asked me to handover the dabba to him and gestured me to quit the place. I handed over the dabba to him and quit the place. After a few minutes, I came back to the backyard to know about the whereabouts of my dabba. I could find the dabba there but not the marbles therein. I looked around with tears in my eyes. I didn’t know what has he done to them. After a few days, I launched an enquiry with my mom. I felt bad to know that dad has dumped my marbles into the sewage system.

There ended my marble business and my nexus with the whole world of marbles.

Playing Marbles - An Insight (continued...)

Marble Terminology: Few frequently used terms and common games in marbles.

Dampur – It is the ‘cue ball’ equivalent in the game of marbles. While you use the white cue ball to hit another ball in snooker, you would be using a dampur to strike another marble in any marble game. A dampur can be choosen from any of the marbles you have, or sometimes you can borrow from the opponent too. Generally I prefer unique marbles as my dampurs; viz., full blue marble, full brown marble, fully transparent marble, etc.

Bacha – A bacha is equivalent to ‘foul’ in marbles. If you are asked to strike, say marble-1, and you end up striking any other, say marble-2, then it is called a bacha. Once you do a bacha, all your marbles at stake in the game session would change ownership.

Shaadi – Shaadi is my favourite game in marbles. In this game, your opponent points to strike a marble, say marble-3. In order to win the session, you should strike any marble except the marble pointed by your opponent, ie marble-3. Perhaps, the game is called shaadi because, after marriage, you say something, and your wife does something else.

Saam & Peech – Any marble with the greatest proximity before you is called saam and the one with the least proximity is called a peech. So when your opponent says ‘saam’ it imples you should strike the most nearest marble in the game. These terms are derived from hindi – saam from ‘samney’ and peech from ‘peechey’

Chool – Chool is a kind of game wherein you should strike the marble exactly as pointed out by your opponent. If you strike any other marble, you are deemed to have done a bacha.

Kantipeter - as per marbles jargon, a champion in marbles is called a kantipeter

Fick – Fick is the term used to describe a marbles player who lost all his marbles. For example, when I ask you “Fick ho gaya kya’? I mean to ask “have you lost all your marbles hehehee”?

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My next favourite game is Gilli Danda...(coming soon..:)