Why on Earth would a guy play a girl's game? The real question is, "Why not?" This highly coordinated game of skill requires the speed and dexterity unparalled to any modern video arcade game. Besides, if you ever wanted to get intimate (in a pre-teen way) with any girl in the neighboorhood, you would have to play jacks with her.
Another reason could be that toys were not always available nor abundant back in the 1960's. When I was a kid, we either played with DIRT, or dirt accessories like ARMY MEN (miniture action-figures back then). But summer break was the perfect time to "borrow" any toy my sister "accidentally" left on the hallway.
There was always a reluctance at first, but that quickly transformed into hard-core addiction. Meanwhile, my mumbly-peg knife sat at the corner of someone's damp garage, rusting away. I never knew this until now, but secret jacks tournaments were being held between the boys and the girls at my junior-high school 30 years ago; and during all this time I missed out in the sexual revolution in Akron.
In Akron, Ohio we used:
Exactly 10 jacks, and a
1-inch diameter high-bounce ball.
I didn't think I had to spell that out, but it turns out that other towns used as many as 12 or 15 jacks, and as few as 8 or even 6. Our neighbors in Cleveland didn't even use the ball! They played Street-Jacks, where you would toss the jacks in the air, flip your hand around, and catch as many as you can between your fingers. The diversity is due to the fact that the instructions were never included, or were destroyed in the rare event when they were printed on the packing that was always ripped apart. Thus the rules we remember were handed down by word of mouth, usually by the best player on the block.
One thing I do have to spell out is the type of jacks to use. Back in the 60's, there was no such thing as the soft rubbery safety jacks. We always used high-rent metal jacks, and they are still manufactured to this day somewhere in a remote factory far away in China. These are the best kind; they appear to be severed at the "equator" because the halves seperately molded, then welded or melted together during the molding process, and finally electro-plated with an extremely thin but hard shell of colored metalic paint. There also exists an inferior type of metal jack, the CE approved kind. Here, they impale the stem through the 4-armed star, and finish it with a heavy coat of latex paint. They may look like the real thing, but they cannot spin.
Enough about safety jacks; let's go back to the 60's. The radical difference among the regions were the rounds. In Akron, we had ten:
Each round of course had onesies, twosies, etc., all the way up to tensies. Now I'm beginning to remember why this was a girls game... it wasn't the game itself, just the (-yeechk-) terminology. The main regional differenence was not the so much number or order, but the type of rounds played. Akron was always ignorant of 'Sweeps' and 'Scrubs' as being actual rounds. Their were also some areas that only played a single round! What fun was that?
Also known as Normal Round, One-Handed, Single-Bounce, Baby Game, Plain Game or even Regular Jacks. This is the core round, the template cornerstone, the defining pillar of jacks; all other rounds are but mere variations and deviations. (Think "Jack Webb" while reading this paragraph).
Start off with Onesies: Before doing any of the steps, you must scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself.
Continue on with Twosies: Same as Onesies, except now you must grab (and hold and transfer) 2 jacks at a time.
Threesies: Grab (hold, and transfer) 3 jacks at a time. There will be one jack left over, which gets grabbed at the last try.
Foursies: Grab (hold, and transfer) 4 jacks at a time. There will be two jacks left over, which get grabbed at the last try.
5's: See the pattern? You get the picture.
6's: Grab 6, transfer, grab 4.
7's: Grab 7, transfer, grab 3.
8's: Grab 8, transfer, grab 2.
9's: Grab 9, transfer, grab 1.
Tensies: All 10 jacks at once.
As usual, before doing any of the steps you must scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself.
...Repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
Easier? Maybe. On one hand, you have more time to grab a jack and catch the ball, due to the second bounce. On the other hand, there will be times when you sit helplessly and watch frozen in fear, as the second bounce comes dangerously close to hitting another jack.
As usual, before doing any of the steps you must scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself.
...Repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
Keep your eye on the ball! Study the jacks you are about to capture before tossing the ball, and blindly grab them while watching the bouncing ball. This is (by far) the hardest round to complete, and because of that some fouls were excused in the "Akron rules".
As usual, before doing any of the steps you must scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself.
...Repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
This round can be easy but tricky. You use one hand (the left) to toss and catch the ball, while using the other hand (the right) to grab and hold the jacks. However, this round must be maintained in perfect sequence. Remember: you must grab the jack(s) after tossing the ball and before catching the ball. Executing two operations at the same time qualifies as a foul.
Scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself, and...
...And repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
In Akron, this round was officially known as "Cherries in a Basket"; but I prefer the reference to the eggs, as it helps me remember what the next round is.
Scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself, and...
...And repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
A seasoned jacks player would rap her knuckles at the same instant the ball bounced.
Scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself, and...
...And repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
The extra steps in this round causes it to become twice as long as most other rounds. However, the time is compensated long ago from the rapid "Two-Handed" round.
Before doing any of the steps:
Scatter the jacks.
Cup your left hand on the ground, forming a "cave" (or "pen").
Note: the pen must be to the left of the scattered jacks.
...Repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
Billy was a mountain. Ethel was a tree growing off of his shoulder.
Before doing any of the steps:
Scatter the jacks.
Place your left hand upright against the ground, forming a "fence".
Note: the fence must be to the left of the scattered jacks.
...Repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
A seasoned player would carry the jacks over using her fingertips, and then crack them on the ground at the same instant the ball bounced.
Scatter the jacks on the ground in front of yourself, and...
...And repeat the steps until all jacks are captured.
Start off with Onesies and continue on with Twosies, Threesies, Foursies, etc.; all the way up to Tensies.
Not the hardest round, but still a very difficult one. It is best to circle around the ball after it bounces, but it is also legit to circle around the ball before it bounces.
The list goes on and on. Most of these are obvious, so let's focus on the odder type of fouls:
Sometimes, you will accidentally nudge a jack that you did NOT intent to grab. This rule also applies to brushing a jack with clothing, so wear short sleeves!
The penalty is the same; you lose your turn and are demoted to Onesies. However, the consequences do not end here. Sheer pandamonium strikes as the ball bounces aimlessly away in a wild and uncontrolled fashion, while the jacks randomly scatter in all directions at unfathomable distances.
The penalty is harsh. Not only do you lose your turn, but your must start at Onesies of the same round on your next turn.
Sometimes there may be two jacks that are touching each other after scattering. They can legally be seperated by announcing "Kissing Cousins" while splitting them apart with a single swift poke. This optional loophole is only valid immediately after the initial scatter.
When doing Threesies, there is one odd jack leftover. When doing Foursies there are two odd jacks leftover. Instead of picking up the odd jacks last, they can be picked up anytime as long as the player announces "Bread and Butter". This loophole was never santioned in Akron. Jinx!
Before starting a new round, you could use this shortcut:
Hold all 10 jacks in the palm of your hand, then toss them upward while flipping your hand around, and then catch as many jacks as you can between your fingers (or on the back of your hand). Now, flip them up in the air again, and try to catch the rest of the jacks with the palm of your hand.
The jacks that fell down are the only ones you would have to pick up for the "onesies" part of that round. But for the rest of the round (twosies, etc.) it was business as usual, meaning you still had to scatter all 10 jacks on the ground, and pick up all 10 of them up according to the rules.
This rule was forbiddened in Akron, except when playing solo. In a tournament, however, you would take turns flipping jacks before the game even started for another reason... to challenge each other for who goes first.
This page is dedicated to my sister Lisa McFarren, the guru of jacks in the entire north-east Ohio area, and who also helped me remember the rounds and rules. In reality, we still argue about what the rounds really were. But because she is indeed the jacks guru, it is only fair to include the list of rounds as she remembers it:
In case you didn't notice, there are two new rounds, Sweeps and Scrubs; and two missing rounds, Double Bonce and No Bounce. The first round, One Handed, is the same as the Basic round. Here is a brief description of the newer rounds:
Sweeps: Toss the ball, "sweep" the jacks(s), grab the jack(s), and catch the ball after it bounces ...all with your right hand only! Now take a breather and transfer the jack(s), with ball still in hand, to your other (left) hand. To sweep a jack, you quickly drag it all the way towards yourself.
Scrubs: Toss the ball, "scrub" the jacks(s), grab the jack(s), and catch the ball after it bounces ...all with your right hand only! Now take a breather and transfer the jack(s), with ball still in hand, to your other (left) hand. To scrub a jack, you quickly drag it towards and away from yourself.
What about the missing rounds, Double Bounce and No Bounce? The truth is, they are not missing at all; my sister would embed them into every round that she played. In other words, she would play a Single Bounce, Double Bounce and No Bounce version of each round before moving onto the next. This meant that she actually played thirty rounds of jacks... no wonder it took her 2 hours to play a single game!