Photos

A boy playing marbles at federal capital in Islamabad.
Marbles are often mentioned in Roman literature, and there are many examples of marbles from ancient Egypt. They were commonly made of clay, stone or glass.
Ceramic marbles entered inexpensive mass production in the 1870s.
Glass marbles were invented around 1848 in Germany, and entered mass production in the early 20th century when World War I cut off their importation from Europe, causing American industry to be applied to the task, producing a mechanized method of glass marble production which became the most common system in the world. Glass marbles, too, became the most popular variety, and have remained so to this day. In some developing countries, children use steel minerals or large rocks as a less pricey marble substitute. One version of the game involves drawing a circle in sand, and players will take turns knocking other players’ marbles out of the circle with their own marble. This game is called ringer. Other versions involve shooting marbles at target marbles or into holes in the ground. A larger-scale game of marbles might involve taking turns trying to hit an opponent’s marble to win.
A useful strategy is to throw a marble so that it lands in a protected or difficult location if it should miss the target. As with many children’s games, new rules are devised all the time, and each group is likely to have its own version, often customized to the environment.