school-yard game of marbles just keeps rolling along Sometimes it feels like everyone on this Island, especially the younger generation, is losing their marbles.

The game used to be played so often in Bermuda, especially before high-tech Nintendo and Sega toys flooded the market with games bearing titles like Death Squad and Mortal Kombat.

Low-tech marbles is such an integral part of growing up on this Island that the phrase "we didn't knick/pitch marbles together'' has always been one of the most "Bermewjan'' ways of saying that "you ain't none of my company''.

However, the Easter holiday weekend has traditionally been a time when Bermudians return to more traditional pastimes like flying kites and playing with bongies, half-pints and pee wees.

According to one source, Good Friday in England was once actually celebrated as "Marbles Day'' as a defensive ploy by the clergy who considered a countrywide marbles day preferable to "more boisterous and mischievous enjoyments''.

So The Royal Gazette decided to explore a little bit about the history of the ancient game of marbles.

Marbles represent one of the earliest games ever played, and ancient marbles found at archaeological sites in Egypt, Mississippi and Europe were made of both clay, stone and flint.

Games with marbles are popular in countries all around the world; in Brazil it's called "Gude'', in Italy it's called "Pallina di Vetro'', and in the US it's known as "Ringer, Immies or Mibs''.

In Iran it's sometimes played with the knucklebones of sheep and in Australia it's often played with polished wooden balls. Children in industrial areas have been known to play with steel ball bearings.

And a number of popular games, including Chinese checkers, billiards, pinball machines and golf, are said to have marbles as their forerunner.

As marbles became more popular in Britain, they were made from real marble as well as more common stone and baked clay.

The art of collecting marbles is still popular today. There's even a site on the Internet called the "Marbles Collector's Classified'', with links and info about how to get hold of those antiques, akro agates, and handcrafted pushcarts (www.idcny.com/marbles/new/links.html).

Glass marbles were made from glass rods or canes. Hot glass rods of various colours were put together, pulled and twisted until they're about six feet long and two inches in diameter.

Marbles would then be cut off the glass rods using marble scissors which resembled a pair of U-shaped tongs.

Some claim that glass marbles were originally made in Venice by the old glassmakers, and were called `monstrosities' by the English who didn't think they were sturdy enough for their games.

Handmade candy stripe spiral glass marbles can often be identified by rough spots at either end of the marble where they had been cut and twisted off the cane.

The threads and ribbons of colour in the marble should meet at each end -- modern marbles made by machine will not contain the two rough areas and the swirls don't meet at the edges.

In addition to the more popular glass marbles, there are also the blue-glazed crockery marbles, unfired plain white porcelain marbles, agate marbles, and of course marble marbles.

Although marble games vary from country to country, the games fall into three basic categories: chase games where two or more players alternately shoot at each other along a makeshift meandering course, enclosure games where marbles are shot at other marbles in a marked-off area, and hole games where marbles are shot or bowled into a successive series of holes.

Bermudians have their own childhood favourite games, but here are a few more that you may want to try over the holiday: DOBBLERS: A game for any small number of players. Each player contributes one or more marbles to a straight line of marbles spaced so that there is room for two marbles to pass through the gaps.

Each player then shoots in turn and may keep any marbles they hits. The player's shooter remains where it lies at the end of his turn and subsequent turns are played from where the shooter lies. A player whose shooter is hit by another shooter must add one marble to the line.

LAG OUT: An order of play is decided by any number of players. Each player in turn throws a marble at a wall so as to make it rebound. The marbles are left where they fall until one player's marble rebounds and lands on another. That player then claims all the marbles on the floor and play is restarted.

SPANNERS: A simple capturing game for two players. The first sends forth a marble, and the second shoots to hit it and capture it. However, if his marble stops within a span of the opponents marble he still takes it. A span is the distance between the spread thumb and forefinger of the biggest hand available. If the player is unsuccessful, play passes to the opponent who in turn tries to capture the marble.

There's a goldmine of information about the history of marbles from Eileen's Marbles website at www.tdn.com/nwbhc/refiner/marbles.htm and the Imperial Toy Company.