Marbles, Gazes, Voloi or Gialenia
The Famous Greek Game of our Childhood!!!
Some Rules for Playing Marbles
Object:
To knock more marbles (“mibs”) out of the ring
than your opponent.
1. Set up 13 glass or clay marbles (“mibs”) in a cross shape at the center of a circle
or ring. If you’re outside you can draw a circle in the dirt, or with chalk on a hard
surface. If you are inside you can make a circle with tape or string. Traditionally
the game calls for a ring or circle ten feet in diameter, but if you’re a beginner we
suggest something smaller – perhaps four or five feet.
2. Players take turns with their “shooters” (larger marbles) trying to knock one or
more of the mibs out of the ring. They must shoot from outside the ring (hands
and all body parts must be outside), but can shoot from anywhere outside the ring.
3. If, when shooting…
…you strike a mib and knock it out of the ring, and your shooter stays in
the ring, you may take another shot (and you “win” the mib); you may take
your next shot from inside the ring from the point your shooter came to
rest. As long as you keep knocking mibs from the ring and your shooter
stays in the ring you may keep shooting!
…you strike a mib and knock it out of the ring, but your shooter also goes
out of the ring, you “win” the mib but your turn is over
…you strike a mib but do not knock it out of the ring, and your shooter
stays inside the ring you do not win any mibs and your turn is over; your
shooter must stay where it came to rest until your next turn
…you strike a mib, do not knock it out of the ring, but your shooter leaves
the ring, your turn is over but you can pick up your shooter; on your next
turn you can shoot from anywhere outside the circle
4. If your opponent’s shooter is left inside the circle, and his or her turn is over, then
on your turn you may elect to try to knock it out of the circle rather than shooting
at a mib; if you manage to knock your opponent’s shooter out you win all of the
mibs that he or she has gathered to that point.
5. The game ends when all of the 13 mibs have been knocked out of the circle; the
player with the most mibs at that point is the winner