At nine years old, I had an amazing marble collection. Green or blue cat eyes were my favorite. Most of the kids I played against weren’t great shooters, so I acquired quite the collection of marbles after each game. After a while, no one wanted to play against me, and baseball card trading took the place of our after school marble games.
Marbles is a fascinating game that dates back to early Rome, Egypt and Greece. Originally the game was played with polished nuts or smooth rocks, eventually evolving into stone or clay formations. Finally, in the mid-19th century, a German glassblower invented a special type of scissor that cut molten glass. Glass marbles became affordable for the first time, changing the game of marbles from then forward.