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Traditional Marble Games

Stone marbles dating back as far as 3000 B.C. lead researchers, historians and marble collectors to believe that marble games may have been a part of childhood, even in ancient times. Roman historical accounts reference a game called "nuts" that used small round gemstones similar to modern glass marbles. Given how long games involving marbles have been around, the term "traditional" could easily apply to any number of games. History and ancient games aside, children from the 16th century to present have enjoyed many of the same marble games.

Ringer or Ring Taw
- One of the most commonly played traditional marble games is Ringer, or Ring Taw to those in the U.K. Ringer is the game of choice, both for the National Marbles Tournament in the U.S. and for the World Marbles Championship in Europe. The game involves two players and a large ring. Thirteen marbles, or mibs, are placed inside the circle. Each player has a shooter, or taw, distinguishable from all the other marbles in play. The object of the game is to aim the shooter with the intention of hitting mibs outside the circle, while leaving the shooter inside the circle. The first player to shoot seven mibs outside the circle wins.
Marble Solitaire
- Marble solitaire is a single-player marble game with a wooden board and 32 marbles. The marbles are placed in grooves on the board to form a cross shape with one empty groove in the center. To play the game, players jump one marble horizontally or vertically over another marble and into an empty space. Each jumped marble is removed until there are no more legal moves left on the board. The object of the game is ideally to have only one remaining marble.
Bridgeboard or Nine Holes
- To play Bridgeboard, sometimes called Nine Holes, players need a wooden board with nine arches cut out and labeled one through nine. In traditional Bridgeboard, players must aim and shoot marbles into the various arches to win the number of marbles labeled on each arch. Play ends when players have no more marbles to wager. In Nine Holes, players must shoot each marble into the arches in numerical sequence. The first player to shoot all nine holes sequentially wins.
Boss Out or Long Tawl
- Much like Ringer or Ring Taw, Boss Out is played inside a ring. The first player shoots a marble into the ring as a target. The second player shoots his marble, attempting to hit the first player's marble. If a hit is scored, the shooter collects both marbles. Play continues until one player has no marbles left to shoot or until one player has collected more marbles than the other. Slight variations in rules allow for different handling of marbles left in the ring at the end of a player's turn.

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