Anyone remember playing stoopball and a variation of it called roof ball.

You could play this anywhere with just a spalding and a few buddies.

Who needed video games.

On our block we couldn't use any stoops. But we did play what is called off the point. On apartment buildings, the bricks had a sort of indented section every so far apart. We would hit the corner of the point of the brick, hence, off the point. Sometimes we would throw the ball off the curb, or off a basement window ledge, if the window was boarded up so we wouldn't break the glass.

The buildings on our block had a border around the bottom that was about 12 inches tall and stuck out about 1 inch. It was ideal for playing off the point. When the super used to complain about it we would then back up and play off the curb.
The buildings weren't to good for King/Queen though because if the ball hit the ledge it might go anywhere. Fortunately we had Mt Carmel school on the same block and it's walls were nice and flat all the way to the concrete.

I played King and Queen all the time: But at JHS 22 we had 30 people palying in one game,all around the walls of the building. You did not get the ball very much, and when you lost a point you moved to the other end of the building

quote:

Originally posted by JohnnyM:
The buildings on our block had a border around the bottom that was about 12 inches tall and stuck out about 1 inch. It was ideal for playing off the point. When the super used to complain about it we would then back up and play off the curb.
The buildings weren't to good for King/Queen though because if the ball hit the ledge it might go anywhere. Fortunately we had Mt Carmel school on the same block and it's walls were nice and flat all the way to the concrete.

Yea,Supers could really ruin a fun day for kids.lol
The supers on my block were constantly chasing us away from their building.
The game you call King/Queen,, we called "slug" on our block. It was sort of like handball except the ball was bounced before it hit the wall. And every player stood in their concrete square from Ace, King, Queen,,, down to how many would be playing. There was always some poor guy who would have a basement window in his square. Well, that's part of the game.

When you played KIng-Queen or Slug
did the loser have to go ASSES UP?

Also what you called stoop ball, we called Off the Point.

quote:

Originally posted by DUKE 69:
When you played KIng-Queen or Slug
did the loser have to go ASSES UP?

Also what you called stoop ball, we called Off the Point.

On my block we called it "Booties Up", when someone lost they had to bend over and everyone would throw the ball at their butt very hard. I mean the ball would be thrown very hard, not the butt was very hard,,,Oh never mind.

All us kids loved to play stoopball and "point" on the sides of buildings. It was a really fast game of handball. I don't think any of us ever sat still. We ran and played all day...some sort of sport or another. Some games were invented. Then there was stoop tag, hopscotch, rollerskating on "ballberrions", as we pronounced ballbearing then. Pennsy Pinky balls were not as popular as the good old "spaldeen". We didn't have all the trappings kids today have, but you can bet, we were alot healthier. Obese kids were so rare, because we were always active. Hey remember how thirsty you'd get after running all day? How really great any cold drink tasted, and how it was appreciated? In those days, I was so healthy and fast, I felt I was flying, not running. Nowadays, kids sit like lumps in front of the tv or playing video games. I knew video games would be anathema way back when they first came out. Ah, but the good old days! Good old Bronx! God bless. Kris

Anyone remember "kick the can". I guess that was the early version of soccer in the Bronx.

WE played all those street games ubtil we were about 15 or 16. Then it was all about girls and music in the streets.

I remember "kick-the-can" - I think you just found a can, maybe the size of a soup can, and literally kicked it - sometimes over an imaginary boundary line, sometimes at someone. Maybe there were teams, and the idea was to hit the opposing team member - every hit was a point.


I remember stepping on cans bending them right around my instep, fitting them to my shoes and walking down the block, on them, until they fell off. I guess I use to save cans from our garbage. I wonder why I did that - cheaper than this playstation stuff - lol.


I too remember asses-up and the same way Yvonne described it.


Also "running bases" - slamming the Spaldeen in the seam of the el pillar, where the pillar joined the base. If you were lucky, the ball would fly almost straight up into the air, giving your team member time to "run the bases". At 179th and 3rd, we played out in the street under the 3rd Ave el, with the ball flying toward the buildings. We played in front of some type of garage where the ball had a good chance of flying up onto its roof.


I remember that every once in a while, us kids, out of balls and money, would beg the garage owner to go up on his roof and throw down all the lost balls. Then it would rain down Spaldeens for minutes; we'd all run like the little urchins we were for these gems - and we never kept one for ourselves - they belonged to us all!


Gees - what a buried memory that was - thanks.

We played kick the can. We would crush the can flat, making it sort of like a hockey puck. We played similar to how soccer would be played, with goals at each end, oh yea, the goals would be part of a fence or brick wall marked off.

Did anyone play BOXBALL?

I lived on Morris Avenue, between 171st and 172nd Streets, right across from Taft HS. We had two forms of boxball, one involving two players and the other many players. Here's a description I wrote for the two player version:

It could be played anywhere as long as the sidewalk had the expansion cracks, so that a “box” (square or rectangular) could be identified. The two players stood facing each other over the box, but not placing a foot either inside the box or on one of the lines defining the box. The game was played with the ubiquitous “Spaldeen” and that’s all that was needed. The idea was for each player, in turn, to hit the ball, with an open hand, into the box. A point was scored for one of the players if the other failed to return the ball to the box. The game could be played in a gentle fashion, more for a relaxing way to pass the time, or it could be played viciously and competitively. The ball could be hit hard, causing a high bounce, or it could be hit with spin, causing an unpredictable change in direction. If a player was driven away from the box by a big bounce, his return could be “dinked” into the box by the opponent before he could get back in position. If the ball hit on the line, it could be either good, or out, depending on the ground rules agreed to at the start. A footfall into the box or on one of the lines would score a point for the opponent Arguments frequently followed such footfalls, or close hits, unless it was agreed that the receiving player’s call of “in” or “out” would be accepted. You knew which opponents you could trust to be honest in that role. If you were playing someone with a reputation for not calling them fairly, you argued. Often the argument was settled by playing “odds” or “evens.” and it was used constantly to settle differences. In Box Ball, it was advantageous to have a degree of ambidexterity to be able to reach well-placed shots, or to fake out the opponent.

I'll post a description of the many player form of boxball at another time.\

Pete

Pete:

That was the game we played on Sedgwick Ave.

STICKBALL (LONG RANGE,PICHING IN OR A BOX ON THE SCHOOLYARD WALL). SNOW TACKLE FOOTBALL AT NIGHT WITH A PAINTED WHITE FOOTBALL IN THE SCHOOLYARD. ALL PLAYED AT P.S. 82

quote:

Originally posted by MamboPete:


It could be played anywhere as long as the sidewalk had the expansion cracks, so that a “box” (square or rectangular) could be identified. Pete

I remember it involving two boxes, with the line between the two functioning the same way that the net does in table tennis. You served into his box. He had to return it before it bounced a second time. And so on.

Hi CP

Of course, you are right - it took two boxes with the line in the middle treated just like a net. I have a nice drawing I did of a couple of kids playing boxball. I would love to post it, but I find no way of doing that, although the earlier version of this board seemed to allow it.

I'll post the description of the other version that we played, with many players.

Pete

This is kind of a long post, but those interested in the old street games will appreciate it, I hope.


Our “Boxball for the Masses” was played along the sidewalk immediately below the Taft H.S. SchoolYard; i.e., the west side of Morris Avenue, up against the wall. The sidewalk was divided into equal sections by the expansion strips inserted when the concrete was first poured. This gave equal “boxes” (hence Box Ball) along the wall for each player. The game was played from left to right, with the “server” (current Number 1 player) at the extreme left box. The rest of us were deployed box by box to the right (uptown direction) for as many as wanted to play. I think I remember as many as twenty. The server was obligated to hit the ball with his hand to strike the wall on the fly, as far down the queue as he wanted. When the ball struck the wall, it had to fall within the box closest to the wall. It couldn’t go over (on the fly) the first line that ran parallel to the wall. If this was satisfied, the player who occupied that box had to strike it, in either direction to reach the wall on the fly, without stepping across the first line parallel to the wall, and, again assuming that the ball fell where it was supposed to, the game continued.

The receiving player did not have to wait for the ball to strike the ground, he could receive it on the fly, but this was risky since it required excellent timing, and he could not step over that first parallel line. If the receiving player flubbed the incoming shot, or stepped over the line, he was out of the game. If the server didn’t meet the serve requirements, he was out, and the person in the second box moved up to serve. Trickery abounded in this game as the ball moved up and down the line. Most players had mastered a “spin” return where the ball was struck with the hand moving across the ball’s trajectory at an angle. This induced spin which caused the ball to take a weird bounce off the wall, depending on the amount of spin, badly fooling the unwary receiver. Generally “dinking” was not permitted . This maneuver amounted to an action like “bunting” in baseball, where the ball was struck very lightly, with the idea of having it hit the wall just a few inches from the ground, making it almost impossible for the recipient to attempt to retrieve it without crossing the line. Sometimes we allowed this, but then, of course, we didn’t have the rule about not crossing the line to go after the ball. Sometimes the final four players would agree to allow dinking to conclude the game, but all four had to agree.

This game was a great time-waster. It could take a group of twenty players well over an hour to be reduced to three or four. It was usual for unannounced partnerships to form where the group so allied would protect each other, or would apply feints to catch others up and down the line by surprise. When it got down to four players, old grudges might come into play as to who was going after whom. Needless to say, pedestrians were forced out into the street when one of these games was in progress.

As I think back to that particular game, it was a great life lesson: we learned a lot about cooperation, deception, patience, tolerance (as when we let little kids play), honesty, and continuity. Sometimes a game had to end because of darkness, and it was expected that you would remember where you stood in the queue if the game resumed the next day. About the only trait the game didn’t promote was courtesy: there was no way the game would be stopped for pedestrians. The only reward for the winner was that he could start the serving when a new game was begun, unless we played for money. That was usually up to the final four players, who might each toss in a nickel or a dime.

Pete

I don't know this version at all Pete. But I can tell that I'm too old to take it up.