Skully
From SPwiki
Skully (a.k.a. skelly, skilsies, skelsies, skelsy, skellzies, scully, tops, caps, loadies) was one of the most popular street games in the New York City area in the 1940-1980 period, and it is still played today, though not as widespread. It is typically played on the street using bottlecaps on a board drawn with chalk. Anywhere from 2 to 6 (or more) players can play. Each neighborhood has its own variations on the rules, but the basic theme is to use your fingers to shoot your piece (a bottlecap, poker chip, or other small item) through the course drawn on the street, then "kill" all the other players, leaving you the winner.
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Nomenclature
The name of this game itself has caused much controversy among the readership of Streetplay. We have decided to refer to the game canonically as skully not only from first-hand childhood experience but also because we believe it derives from the middle section of the board, called "the skull." It is our estimation that skelly, skilsies, skelsies, etc., however widespread and valid, are corruptions of the word "skully." Deadbox, a closely related game found in Philadelphia, PA, actually uses a board with a skull drawn in the middle, which reinforces this belief.
Skully is also known simply as bottlecaps to many, as well as loadies in some NYC and Newark, NJ areas (apparently from the fact that one can "load" a bottlecap with wax, tar, etc.).
Basic rules
Make a skully board with chalk on a patch of available and relatively smooth street or sidewalk. The board consists of 13 numbered boxes, 1 through 12 on the periphery of the board, and a box labeled 13 in the center surrounded by a "dead man's zone" or "skull." Start at a line outside the skully box and aim for the "1" box, flicking your bottlecap with your finger. If you get it in (without it touching any line), you keep your turn and shoot for the next box. You can also advance a box by hitting the cap of an opposing player. If you're close to another player's piece, you can try to blast the piece halfway down the block with your own. In some neighborhoods, you can replace your cap with a special heavy one (like from a juice or peanut butter jar) for this purpose, though you couldn't do this if someone calls "no blasting allowed."
After going from 1 to 13, you have to return, going from 13 to 1. After completing the full journey, you shoot back into 13 and then navigate the "skull," shooting your piece in the forbidden "dead areas" of the skull while declaring your new powers ("I am a killer diller").
From this point on, you hunt the other players. Only you (or other killers) can safely go within the skull. If you hit another player (3 times consecutively), they're out of the game. If they hit you, they become a killer too (or, if you decide beforehand, they're out of the game). The last person left wins.
Players may recall a number of words specific to the nuances of skully. From the obvious blasters, killers, and baby stuff to the more subtle pipsies, linesies and marksies, there is a rich lexicon of words attached to the game. And of course, everyone knows the one term in skully universal to all kid games: "do-over." Full terminology can be found the in the Streetplay Official Skully Rules.
The skully board
A skully board can be drawn on a street, playground, driveway, or even a basement floor... anyplace with enough room that's smooth. If making permanent marks is a problem ("painting Mom's kitchen floor" equals "trouble"), chalk does the job just fine. If you play a lot of skully, a painted board is better and more convenient. A great compromise we've used is electrical tape--it's excellent for drawing lines and easy to remove. Drawing a skully board isn't just fun: it can also affect the game (depending on how big the boxes are), often giving the "designer" a home-court advantage. While a typical board is about 7-8' square with boxes about 10-12" square, these dimensions can vary wildly. Bigger boards favor stronger fingers, while smaller boxes stress accuracy. You can vary the dimensions based on the space you have and your skill.
Although the board's size can vary, the basic layout is constant. The numbered boxes 1, 2, 3 and 4 are the corners, the other boxes (5-12) are doubled in pairs in the middle of the side areas. 5 and 7 are paired, while 6 and 8 are directly across. 9 and 11 are always opposite 10 and 12, while 13 is always alone in the middle, surrounded by a "dead man's zone" or "skull." The trapezoidal areas surrounding the 13 box are numbered, but the numbers represent a bonus for knocking a trapped player's cap out of the box, and aren't part of the 1-2-3-4-etc. box progression of the game.
The size of the 13 box in relation to the surronding dead zone varies significantly, as seen in NYC boroughs. In the Bronx, the 13 tends to be quite small, while in Queens it's about the size of a normal box. Other variations include the placement of the start line and distance required when a player had to go "out of town" before becoming a "killer."
The inclusion of numbers within the skull is often neighborhood-dependent. These numbers signifies the amount of boxes that would be awarded to a player who "released" another player from the skull. In the Bronx, the numbers range from 2 to 8, while in many Queens locations, no numbers are placed in the middle and a player could come out after a specified number of turns. But that's the fun of the game: you can decide what to put in there and how to play, just as long as you don't change the rules in the middle of the game!
Making skully caps
"Making" skully caps (for example, loading a beer cap with wax) can be an important and creative childhood ritual. Usually, great care is taken to load up a skully cap with wax, tar, or some other weight to give it added creedence in game play. The discussion area of this article has some great memoirs about this practice.
Terminology
- Baby stuff
This is a collective term used to describe game options that are commonly seen to detract from the game of skully, such as rollsies, spinsies, holdsies, and switchsies. The exact collection of game options can vary wildly; however, such a predefined collection of options can be useful if when the game is played frequently among the same participants, using the same board and equipment. Baby stuff is often referred to with a more profane term which is not mentioned here.
- Backwards
When a player has reached the "13" box, s/he then reverses direction and shoots for boxes in reverse sequence. For example, if a player is in the "9" box and is going for "8", that person is said to be "going for 8 backwards".
- Blasting
When one cap is shot at another with the intent of hitting it a large distance (typically further than the width of the board), this is known as blasting. This technique is used mainly to slow another player's progression through the board. Blasting refers to the gratuitous nature of the hit, and is typified by the extreme proximity of the hitter's cap to the victim's, and the extreme distance that the victim's cap travels.
- Blastsies (f.k.a. Blasties)
This is a game option that allows blasting to be used in a game. If "no blastsies" is agreed on, then a hit judged by game players to have been a deliberate and gratuitous blast can be judged to be a do-over. Any hit that results blasting victim's cap remaining on the skully board is exempt from the "no blastsies" game option (if chosen).
- Dead
When a killer A eliminates player B from the game, player B is considered dead and out of the game (player B removes his/her cap from the playing board). If a player (a non-killer) lands in the skull, that player is dead, i.e., loses his/her turn, but the cap remains on the board until s/he is removed from the skull by being hit by another player.
- Do-over
Upon mutual agreement of players, a do-over may be called on a particular shot. Do-overs should be fairly rare in skully, and are typically called due to a transgression of rules, or someone shooting out-of-turn.
- Forwards
When a player has yet to reach the "13" box, s/he is shooting for boxes in ascending numerical sequence. For example, if a player is in the "4" box and is going for "5", that person is said to be "going for 5 forwards".
- Hit a killer, be a killer
This game option describes the bonus for a non-killer hitting a killer during game play.
- Hit a killer and you're dead
This game option describes the penalty for a non-killer hitting a killer during game play.
- Hit
This describes the contact of one cap with another. Hitting a cap determines much of the bonuses in the game of skully, most typically the "advance a box" bonus. Physical contact must be involved with the caps in question; if a cap flies over another cap, there is no hit and thus no bonus. Hits do not need to be called, and all hits, even unintentional ones, are judged by the rules of the game.
- Holdsies
This game option describes the practice of holding one's cap firmly against the board with a finger to prevent being blasted. Holdsies is often categorized as baby stuff. This game option is often a point of contention before game play.
- Killer
When a player has completed the board and goes out of town, s/he is a killer. A killer eliminates other players from the game by hitting them.
- Linesies
This game option allows a player to use whatever connected line of a box, box pair, or the skull, when s/he has gotten into the box they are in. For example, if a player just achieved "sixies," s/he could move to the lines describing the "8" box to ease hitting another player's cap. This game option is used universally. Using linesies makes the shot from "13" to "12" the shortest one in the game of skully.
- Marksies
This describes the game option of marking where a cap's position on the board so it can be removed temporarily when play is suspended (such as when an automobile drives by). Marksies cannot be used to gain an advantage in the game situation; it is invoked to prevent damage to caps.
- Out of Town
This describes the distance a player removes him/herself from the skully board when s/he becomes a killer. This is typically further than the furthest distance a practiced skully player can shoot a cap. The exact distance is a game option.
- Pipsies
If a player shoots into a box from his/her current box in one shot, this is called pipsies. A two box bonus is rewarded for pipsies (although the exact bonus may be a game option). Pipsies is not awarded for shots from the start line to the "1" box, nor from "1 backwards" to "13" (i.e., the process of becoming a killer). Origin of this term is unknown.
- Pop-shot
Another term for pipsies. Origin unknown, perhaps phonetically imitative of pipsies.
- Rollsies
This game option allows any player to use their hands to manually strike a cap should it begin to roll on its side. This usually happens when a light cap hits an obstruction on the board, such as a pebble. The cap can then be hit as far as desired away or toward the board, until it stops rolling. Rollsies can be used in a cruel manner to a player whose cap is prone to rolling. It is often used in combination with spinsies (q.v.)
- Spinsies
This game option allows any player to use their hands to manually strike a cap should it begin to spin on its side. This usually happens when a light cap hits an obstruction on the board, such as a pebble. The cap can then be hit as far as desired away or toward the board, until it stops spinning. Spinsies can be used in a cruel manner to a player whose cap is prone to spinning. It is often used in combination with rollsies (q.v.)
N.B.: The spinning referred to by spinsies must be on the cap's side, and is not used to describe the normal rotational spin that any cap makes when it is flicked off a player's finger. A cap must be spinning on its edge, not on its center, for spinsies to apply.
- Switchsies (f.k.a. switchies)
This describes the odious game option of unlimited cap-switching during a game to suit the game situation. For example, if a player switches to an extremely heavy cap for purposes of blasting, this is switchsies. The same can be said for switching to an extremely small or flat cap to avoid being hit. A modified version of switchsies may be allowed where a player is permitted to switch caps only when his/her turn begins, and leave that same cap on the board until the player's next turn begins. Switching caps is allowed at any time if a player's cap becomes damaged due to game play (a glass cap is broken by a metal one), or if it becomes unplayable because it was run over by a car.
- Skull
The area in the middle of the skully board surrounding the "13" box. Technically, "13" is not in part of the skull, especially in regards to getting "stuck in the skull," a situation when a player's cap is shot (or hit) into any of the four trapezoidal regions surrounding "13". When a player is within the skull, s/he loses his/her turn until they are hit out of that region. If a player's cap lands in "13", even if they aren't going for "13", that player is not stuck in the skull.
Variations
Skully is a fairly complicated game and its rules vary widely from place to place, as do its names (as mentioned above). Probably the most significant substantive variation to be found is the number of boxes on the skully board itself; though presented here as canonically being 13 boxes, early game players report only 9 boxes. Photos of deadbox game boards in Philadelphia show upwards of 15 numbered boxes.
Related Streetplay links
- Skully Central
- Skully Rulesheet (one page distributable PDF)
- Needlessly detailed skully rules
- Skully goes to grad school
External links
- Deadbox rules on GamesKidsPlay.net
- The way we played memories of deadbox and other games by Sidney B. Kurtz
- History of the term "skelly" from the blog of Barry Popik, noted linguist
