By at least the Roman era and probably earlier, children used pig's knucklebones as projectiles to try and dislodge each other's stationery targets. In the other words, the basic pattern of marbles whereby a player shoots a hard object at one or more similar objects trying to drive it or them out of a demarcated area is probably quite old. The use of perfectly round, durable spheres must be more recent as technology found inexpensive ways to produce them. Marbles, as we know them, are clearly shown in Breughel's 1560 painting "Children's games." In Adriaen van Ostade's "Children and dog" from 1673, boys are playing marbles outside a tavern. (2) And, as this photo illustrates, I have found marbles (and its kin) being played all over the world.

Renowned British folklorists Iona and Peter Opie document three basic versions of the game, but the variation in rules of play is staggering. (3) What was critical from Piaget's perspective was that the game could be played at various levels so that very young children might play even without understanding most of the rules. He wrote:

Children's games constitute the most admirable social institutions. The game of marbles, for instance...contains an extremely complex system of rules, that is to say, a code of laws, a jurisprudence of its own (p. 13).

After documenting the primary dimensions of the game, Piaget begins to probe the players' cognitive representation of the rules.

You begin by asking the child if he could invent a new rule...Once the new rule has been formulated, you ask the child whether it could give rise to a new game...The child either agrees to the suggestion or disputes it. If he agrees, you immediately ask him whether the new rule is a "fair" rule, a "real" rule, one "like the others," and try to get at the various motives that enter into the answers (p. 25).

Piaget teases out distinct age-dependent styles in children's approach to marbles. Initially the child plays with the marbles as interesting objects but there's no game per se. By about age four, the child can play the game, knows how to make the right moves physically, and understands the necessity for turn taking. "The child's chief interest is no longer psycho-motor; it is social" (p. 45) He is able to imitate the model provided by a more mature player but he really has no sense of strategy or of what to do to increase the likelihood of winning. Then, around age 7, players focus on winning, even though their grasp of the rules-as revealed through questioning-is still vague. By age 11, the child is a walking Hoyle on marbles and can explain every rule and exception. Nevertheless, the child still hasn't grasped rules qua rules. He still sees them as immutable. But, by 13, boys understand that the rules are arbitrary and conventional.

In spite of the hundreds of illustrations from history and anthropology of children's games, relatively few describe children actually in the process of playing, as opposed to a rather dry catalog of the rules (4). But we can make a number of generalizations from the descriptions that are available. First, because toddlers are usually under the care and supervision of their older siblings, games are flexible enough to permit their participation. Older, more expert players will handicap themselves, for example, to insure that learners can enjoy some success. Complexities in the rules are introduced gradually. Games are played in a neighborhood play group of mixed age and gender. "Winning" is far less important than maintaining amicable relations. Players, in their roles as child caretakers do not want the cries of an unhappy charge to attract the scrutiny of an angry adult. (5)

The play group is hardly awash in a constant flow of good feelings, however. We have vivid accounts of protracted arguments about rules and their application. Particularly in the play groups of older children-which tend to be homogenous with respect to age and gender-games are not so much about learning and adhering to rules as about a running exercise in negotiation. As the Opies document for marbles and Candy Goodwin for hopscotch and jump rope (6), there is a constant alteration between individual attempts to gain an advantage, cries of "foul" by opponents and, negotiated agreements that permit the game to proceed. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict comes to mind. Collectively, I've referred to these diplomatic skills as "gamesmanship." (2)

Like so many aspects of childhood, marbles and similar amusements are rapidly becoming extinct. The Opies blame this decline on the rise of adult managed games and sports (7) but we might also cite video games as a major factor. Should we be at all concerned about this? Is a fondness for old-fashioned games purely sentimental? I don't think so. As opportunities for children to engage in negotiable rule-governed play dwindle, scholars are increasingly excited by the possibilities of Machiavellian intelligence. There is a revolution underway in our thinking about the sapiens part of homo sapiens. One useful starting point is Richard Byrne's The Thinking Ape. (8) He writes:

...the essence of the Machiavellian intelligence hypothesis is that intelligence evolved in social circumstances. Individuals would be favoured who were able to use and exploit others in their social group, without causing the disruption and potential group fission liable to result from naked aggression. Their manipulations might as easily involve co-operation as conflict, sharing as hoarding (p. 196).

The theory has garnered a steady stream of empirical support (9). Extrapolating from it, I would argue that, if children have Machiavellian brains and, further, that brains need to be exercised to fully develop, marbles and the like are the perfect mental gym. The key elements here are rule-governed play, flexibility in applying the rules and an absence of adult umpires. That is, children must be free to construct successful gaming sessions without adult guidance or interference. That's the essence of gamesmanship.

One bright spot on the landscape is the Horsham Primary School in western Victoria, Australia. The school has declared March to be "Marbles Month," when the game is vigorously promoted (10).

1. Piaget, J. (1932/1965) The Moral Judgment of the Child (Marjorie Gabain Trans.). New York: Free Press.

2. Lancy, D.F. (2008) The Anthropology of Childhood: Cherubs, Chattel, Changelings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

3. Opie, I., and Opie, P. (1997) Children's Games with Things. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

4. Schwartzman, H. B. (1978) Transformations: The Anthropology of Children's Play. New York: Plenum.

5. Gaskins, S., Haight, W. and Lancy, D. F. 2007. The cultural construction of play, in Play and Development: Evolutionary, Sociocultural, and Functional Perspectives. Edited by Artin Göncü and Suzanne Gaskins, Pp. 179-202. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

6. Goodwin, M. H. (2006) The Hidden Life of Girls: Games of Stance, Status, and Exclusion. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

7. Opie, I. and Opie, P. (1969) Children's Games in Street and Playground. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

8. Byrne, R. (1995) The Thinking Ape. Oxford: Oxford University Press.