Jacks
Jacks (sometimes called jackstones, jackrocks, fivestones, onesies,
knucklebones or snobs) is a playground game for children.
The game originated hundreds of years ago, when the only playthings
boys and girls had were materials they found near their homes. They
collected small stones and animal bones and learned to use them in
a game. They tossed them into the air in a way similar to today's
version of the game. An older version of the game used five stone
cubes made of clay, wood, ivory, bone, plastic, or other
substances. This game is usually played with two people. The game
origanated in Ancient Rome Greece and Eygpt.
Pieces
Traditionally, jacks are metal objects bearing six tips
at right angles to one another, four of which are usually rounded,
with two opposite tips more pointed. This ensures the jack is
relatively easy to pick up. Also required is a small rubber ball,
used as a sort of timing device: the jacks are manipulated in the
time it takes the ball to bounce up in the air and return to the
height of the hand that catches
it.
Play
The
players decide who goes first, usually through "flipping" (when the
set of jacks is placed in cupped hands, flipped to the back of the
hands, and then back to cupped hands again; the player who keeps
the most from falling in his/her turn, goes first); or perhaps via
ip dip, (or Eeny, meeny, miny, moe), or a variant. Then the jacks
are scattered loosely into the play area. The players take it in
turn to bounce the ball off the ground, then pick up jacks, and
then catch the ball before it bounces for a second time. The number
of jacks to be picked up is pre-ordained and sequential: at first
you must pick up one ("onesies"), next two ("twosies"), and so on.
Depending on the total number of jacks included, the number may not
divide evenly and there may be jacks left over. If the player
chooses to pick up the leftover jacks first, one variation is to
announce this by saying "horse before carriage" or "queens before
kings." The playing area should be decided between the players
since there is no official game rule about
that.
Winning
The winning player is the one to
pick up the largest number of jacks. If playing with fifteen, that
goal is rarely, if ever, achieved. If ten jacks are used, the
person who gets to the highest game wins. Game 1 is usually single
bounce (onesies through tensies); game 2 is chosen by whoever
"graduates" to game 2 first, and so on. Some game variations are
"double bounces," "pigs in the pen," "over the fence," "eggs in the
basket" (or "cherries in the basket,") "flying Dutchman," "around
the world," etc. Some games, such as "Jack be nimble," are short
games which are not played in the onesies to tensies
format.
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