Marble Coin Pebble and Jack Games Skyte The Bob
( Marble Coin Pebble and Jack, Physical Contest )Note. –The word “skyte” means a sharp glancing blow and as here used indicates the way in which the stones are thrown at the “bob.”
This game is played with buttons and stones. Each player is provided with one or more buttons called “men.” A small flat stone about the size of a quarter may be used as a man in place of a button. In addition each player is provided with a flat stone called a “pitcher.” A flat stone small but somewhat larger than the pitchers is placed on the ground as a base on which the men are piled and is called the “bob.” The game consists in hitting the bob with a pitcher so as to knock over the pile of men the men becoming the property of the thrower or not according to their position as they fall.
From fifteen to twenty-five feet from the pile of men a line is drawn from which the players throw. Each player in turn toes the line and throws his pitcher so as to strike the bob or base under the pile of men his object being to make these men fall off. Any men that are knocked off and lie nearer to the pitcher where it fell than to the bob become the property of the player who threw the pitcher. The second player then takes his turn but his play is more difficult than that of the first player as any men that he drives nearer to the first players pitcher belong to the latter. Any man which lies nearer to the second players pitcher however than to the bob or to the first players pitcher belongs to this second player. This is continued by the different players in succession the player winning who has the largest number when all of the men are disposed of or when all have thrown.