Marble racing, which has apparently been around for a while, is booming in popularity in the absence of regular sports to watch.

Quite entertaining, actually!

YouTube

That's pretty good. Some body made use of their spare time setting up that "track" and had quite a bit of imagination in it's design.

Pretty wild!
Wonder if they all weigh the same.

As a lad, I swallowed the marble pill. I carried around a leather pouch full of marbles and also inside was a Bugler bag of shooters.

It was serious bidness back then.

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I lost my marbles a long time ago.

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What, me worry?

Thanks for the shot down memory lane. When I was five my dad was trying to sell Fuller Brush in DesMoines, Iowa, our apartment was built onto the roof of a large house, the floor was so sloped I could only set up toy cowboys and indians uphill or downhill any sideslopes fell over. I used to entertain myself by rolling marbles up the hill on the floor and then shooting them on the move as they rolled back down. We moved back to civilization before I started 1st grade and although I did not do well at ring marbles I was king of chase. My secret was to shoot the other guys marble before it stopped rolling, I got called out on it but after some negotiations was allowed to continue this heresy. I started with my "Aggie" shooter and ended up with bag full, you never lost your shooter but had to call it and pay up from the bag if hit. It got to be high stakes if shooters were eligible, like racing for pinks.
Which reminds me of what I did outside that dump we lived in. I remember there was a big river and a huge Quaker Oats man on a smokestack across the river. Rats the size of housecats that screamed when dad caught them in the trap under the sink. The tenement owner had an old coon hound named Comanchee, I loved that old dog he was the only friend I had, no other kids in the area that I remember. I rummaged around looking for something to play with and found this big ole turtle shell, big enough for me to sit in. I got to thinking and got a hank of rope I found and tied it onto Comanchee's collar, sat in the shell and held on for dear life as he hauled me around in the mud. My wife asked me why I wasn't in kindergarten, I told her that when mom took me to school we were told to get a blanket and take a nap around noon or so. I told the teacher that I was five and didn't take naps, my baby brother does though. The teacher wanted to see my mother, my mother was hot because she had to haul my kid brother in the freezing weather. Mom asked the teacher what the problem was, teacher said "He won't take a nap." I'll never forget my irate mother hovering over the teacher "He's five years old, he doesn't take naps, he reads...give him a book to read." They kicked me out of kindergarten...Dad blamed Eisenhower.

The house I grew up in was on a hill. When it rained we would have boat races down the gutter. Little homemade boats. Release them at the top then run down the hill watching them go through the white water torrent. You had to be quick to keep it out of the storm drain at the end. It actually was pretty interesting to try different designs. To keep them from sinking or flipping.

Marble racing looks much dryer.