Mumbley Peg

I just wrote in my "things I've changed my mind about" concerning pocket knives.

I did own a boy scout knife when I lived in Newark.   And I did play the knife game of mumbley peg.  In this game two participants took turn throwing the knife as close as could be to their feet without experiencing impalement.  There were trick throws as well.  If one person did a trick throw, the other had to do the same.   One was called spank the baby, where the knife we rested on the fingers of the one hand and slapped on its protruding blade edge so it spinned off as it went to the ground.   For a throw to count, it had to stick in the ground so two fingers could fit underneath the blade (if it leaned.)

I didn't play much because it was pretty scary.  (BTW, we did not play barefoot...which I believe some kids did!)  What made it particularly difficult was that we played in that little strip of dirt between the sidewalk and street where grass was meant to grow.   In our neighborhood in Newark, I never saw any grass there.   In fact the dirt was packed down so hard, it was difficult to get your knife to stick.

Did I play baseball in Newark?   No
Did I play football in Newark?   No
Did I play basketball in Newark?  No

What did we do?
We played stickball
We played stoop ball (a lot!)
We flipped cards
We flipped coins
We climbed garages
We threw snowballs, dirt bombs, and rocks (at "gangs" from the next block)
We played strip poker (only a little....in the coal bin of the Redluss's house.)
We mostly hung out!