I had a favorite shooter which was larger than my other marbles. Dad had given it to me from his childhood. It was a very plain, perfectly round stone marble and someone had given it to him. I still have it and have no idea how old it is. My favorites small marbles were the cats eyes...in many different colors.
Our main game was four holes in the dirt with a center hole. The goal was to shoot into, hoping to knock out the other guy's marble with out getting knocked out yourself. You "knuckled down" to play, using your thumb to "shoot" the marble. The first one to make it to the last hole without being knocked out was the winner.
I know this doesn't sound like much fun but oh, it was. I could play for hours in our driveway alone. I prized my marbles and never traded.
In the fourth grade our teacher gave us each a marble and we lined them up in front of the heater. As they got hot, she dropped the marbles into cold water. We were given a beautifully cracked, yet intact, marble as a souvenir.
Certainly doesn't hold a light to video games but for us it was the cat's meow.
