The early marbles were made of clay, stone or glass. Ovid’s poem “Nux” (short for knuckles down, a condition of some games?) from Roman literature, which mentions playing the game with walnuts.

So Long, Friends – The majority of Marbles Game showdowns simply saw good friends in the competition having to take the emotional hit of ending each other’s dreams of winning.

Dr. Edwin M. Colburn, an early Bloomington physician, recalled the popularity of marbles and other games in the early 1840s. Not among children, mind you. No, he was talking about ...

But judging by the number of spectators for the game's best-known event, the National Marbles Tournament, in Wildwood, N.J., interest in the United States has plummeted since its peak decades ago ...