Toss and Capture

The game of marbles...Toss and Capture
Toss and CaptureI still remember my introduction to the game. I had to be a very young boy just starting my schooling. We lived about 15 miles outside the town on a farm that dad was managing. I had just started the first grade and the only school was in town. My grandparents had moved into an apartment about three blocks from the grade school and that was where I would wait for mom and dad. I’m quite sure the game Grandpa (my dads dad Agustus Burres) taught me was a defense to pass the time with an over active six year old. Pass the time it did we would play that game as often and for as long as it took for mom and dad to come in from their work on the farm to pick me up. The game of toss and capture that Grandpa taught me was a simple. . He would set the game up by covering the sofa with a nice soft Pendleton wool blanket so we wouldn’t lose our marbles behind the cushions and then the game would begin. One marble would be placed towards the front edge and in the center of the sofa, standing back about five or six feet (this increased as I grew), we would draw marbles out of a big gallon jar and take turns tossing at the marble in the center. The one who finally hit the center marble got to keep the collection of marbles that were missed shots. We repeated this process until all of our spare time was used up. The one that amassed the largest collection by the end of the play period was winner for that day. All the marbles were returned to the jar ready for the next day’s challenge.