SQUARE RING

A "Square Ring" sounds odd, but such things go in playing marbles. The
square may be of any size, but four feet is the best. The taw line
must be from twenty to thirty feet away. Before a player can win the
game he must first kill all the others. Perhaps that is why it is
sometimes called "Injun."

The first player is at a great disadvantage, for if he knocks out a
duck he must replace it, and if his taw stops inside the ring he has
killed himself, and is out of the game. The best way is not to knuckle
down but to toss for a good position near the ring. The second player,
for obvious reasons, must keep away as far as possible from the first,
so he shoots through the ring with force, hoping to get a duck on the
way, for he does not have to replace it. He can take the duck back to
taw and holding it in his left hand shoot at it so as to send his own
taw close to number one, which he can then kill.

If number two misses, number three pitches his marble off to one side,
and so the game goes on, each player guarding his own taw and trying
to kill his rivals. Knocking out ducks gives the privilege just
described, after which the duck is replaced.




CHAPTER II

WHIP TOPS, PEG TOPS, HUMMING TOPS AND SOME TOP GAMES