Marble Terminology

Aggie:  Real Aggies are made of a mineral called agate.   In the 1800s, machine made aggies changed the game of marbles.  They were harder and made better shooters.  Aggies are one of the goodies given to the winners of the National Marbles Tournament.

Alley:  Alley is short for alabaster.  Alleys are made of true blue marbles made of true blue marble or a glass marble made to look like a real marble.  Confusing isn’t it?

Bombsies:  Bombsies is when you try to drop your marble onto another marble.

Cat’s eye:  A marble made of clear glass with a swirl of color inside.

Dubs:  When a player hits two or more marbles out of the area, it is called dubs.

For fair:  When you play for fair, you always get your marbles  back.

Fudging:  If you fudge, you lift your hand off the ground before you shoot.

Handspan:  A handspan is a measurement used in tons of games.  It goes from the end of your pinky to the end of your thumb.

Hunching:  Don’t hunch, it means you’re moving over the line while you shoot.

Keepsies:  Keepsies is the opposite of for fair. You get to keep the marbles.

Kimmie:  Any target in a marble game is called a kimmie.

Knuckle down:  This is the better way to shoot a marble.  One of your knuckles must be kept on the ground when you shoot.

Lagging:  This is a way to find out who goes first.  To lag, roll a marble toward a target.  Whoever hits it,  goes first.

Mib:  Long, ago, mib meant a clay marble. Nowadays mib means a target in any marble game.

Mibster:  A mibster is a person who plays marbles.

Plunking:  When you plunk, you make your marble bounce or jump before it hits the marble.

Snooger:  A snooger is a target that’s hit out of it’s position but is still in the ring.  Riding a snooger means knocking a snooger out of the ring while making your shooter end up closer to the center of the ring.

Taw:  This word is another word for shooter.  Rules of the National Marble Tournament say that a taw may not be any bigger than 3/4 of an inch wide or smaller than 1/2 an inch.

This is the line where you shoot your taw at the targets.