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DEVELOPMENT AND HISTORY The earliest marbles were made of flint and stone and baked clay. Examples have been found in archaeological sites around the world and some of these, from Rome and ancient Egypt, can be found at the British Museum.

There are frequent references to marbles in Roman literature and it is probably fair to assume that the Romans took this popular form of entertainment with them to all parts of their empire.

For centuries thereafter the marbles were made of common stone or in some cases, real marble. China and crockery marbles were introduced around the year 1800 and before that glass marbles had been made in Venice. However, it was only when a German glassblower invented a tool called the marble scissors in 1846 that production became quick enough to make the sale of glass marbles to the public an economic proposition. These marbles became increasingly popular throughout Europe and America. An enormous variety of colors were used and intricate patterns were created within the glass.

Clay marbles began to be produced in bulk from about 1870 onwards on both sides of the Atlantic. In the 1890′s the first machines for the manufacture of glass marbles were, introduced. However, machine production remained low until the 1914-18 war in Europe cut off supplies of marbles to North America. This stimulated the machine production of glass marbles in the U.S.A. This production technique and the machines themselves are now found in many countries, east and west.

At the time of writing, there are only thought to be three people in the world making glass marbles by hand. One of these modern, handmade ranges is available through the House of Marbles and one can still sometimes find early examples in antique shops. However they are much sought after as collectors’ items and are becoming increasingly scarce. A marble made of pure, ground marble, or other suitable stone, is highly prized and regarded as being the most accurate for shooting. They are expensive and therefore they are rare. Conversely, clay marbles are very inexpensive, but they tend to be inaccurate in dimensions and dull in appearance and, although they were once the most common of marbles, lack of demand has made them hard to find. These days, marbles are made from all sorts of materials, but glass remains by far the most popular. Glass lends itself to machine production and provides an article which is appealing to the eye and the touch.     http://www.ustoysandgames.com/custom.em?pid=855231

The classic game of ‘Four In A Row’, has been enjoyed by children and adults for centuries.

During his long sea voyages, Captain Cook was apparently often absent of an evening and eventually the crew began to joke that he must have a mistress in his cabin. When they discovered that the Captain had simply been playing this game with the ship’s scientists, the game was christened ‘The Captain’s Mistress’!

This game is simple but can require deep thought. It’s a great game for children and adults alike.  http://www.ustoysandgames.com/custom.em?pid=855299

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The royal game of Ur, at the British Museum

The Royal Game of Ur refers to two game boards found in the Royal Tombs of Ur by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. The two boards date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC, thus making the Royal Game of Ur probably the oldest set of board gaming equipment ever found. One of the two boards is exhibited in the collections of the British Museum in London.

[edit] Oldest game?

A board game known with some certainty to be older than The Royal Game of Ur is the ancient Egyptian game Senet, the existence of which possibly dates as early as the 33rd century BC. Also, recent excavations of a sixty piece set in the “Burnt City” located in Iran has shown that a very similar board game existed five thousand years ago, slightly edging out the age of the Ur set.

[edit] Playing the game

The Royal Game of Ur was played with two sets (one black and one white) of seven markers and three pyramidal dice. The rules of the game as it was played in Mesopotamia are not known but there is a reliable reconstruction of gameplay based on a cuneiform tablet of Babylonian origin dating from 177–176 BC. It is universally agreed that the Royal Game of Ur, like Senet, is a race game.

Both games may be predecessors to the present-day backgammon.

[edit] Graffito boards

 

A graffito version of the game in the British Museum in London

A graffito version of the game was recently discovered scratched by Assyrian guards onto one of the human-headed winged bull gate sentinels from the palace of Sargon II (721 – 705 BC) in the city of Khorsabad, now in the British Museum in London (see illustration). Similar games have since been discovered on other sculptures in other museums.

Very similar to the Czech version of checkers, the Argentinian, Thai, and Turkish rule variations of the game contain an excellent mix of exciting rules and concepts. Aside from being played on an 8 by 8 checkerboard, these three games allow jumping kings, while simultaneously prohibiting the backward means of capturing the opponents’ pieces. Furthermore, the rules of all these checkers variations mandate players who are controlling the white pieces to make the very first moves in the games.

While these three excitingly unique game variations may share a couple of more characteristics and aspects, certain differences are always unavoidable. Although they may differ from one another in terms of rule implementation, they all got what it takes to provide quality entertainment and challenge to anyone. At the same time, the diversity of checkers only proves how far the game has become and developed since its inception.

The Argentinian version of checkers uses 12 pieces for each player to dispense and protect throughout the game. While a single capture may serve as the game’s most basic way of cutting down the opposing players’ army, players are not prohibited to perform multiple captures in one direct sweep. Whether it is two, three, or more, as long as the opportunity and rules allow, players can get into a capturing spree. While not exactly the same, this version shares a lot of likeness with Spanish checkers.

Meanwhile, the rules of the Thai checkers are another great way of playing the game. With only eight pieces given to each player at the start of every game, this is an internationally recognized game variation with the fewest pieces set at the beginning of every match. Just like Argentinian checkers, this game shares many commonalities in terms of the rules of Spanish checkers. One main difference that sets the Thai version from the Spanish version is that in the former, a king must stop after the captured piece, before it can make another capture.

On the other hand, Turkish draughts is another exquisite form of checkers that is widely recognized all over the world. In this excitingly unique game variation, players will have 16 pieces each at the beginning of every match. By then on, they should protect and use these pieces as means to earn victories. This is only possible if they can eliminate the capacity of the opponents to triumph. Instead of the traditional diagonal moves used in most checkers variations, the pieces in Turkish draughts can move forward or sideways. Aside from the Middle East, this version is also very popular in countries like Greece, Lebanon, and Turkey.