The late 1980’s and early 90’s saw the return of the marble. This era of hope gave children from the ages of six to sixteen, hours of magical fun. Every marble had a name and a level of desirability. If you had a unique collection  in your Nanny’s old quality street tin. Then the power of fame was yours to hold in the palm of your hand.

Many of the marble names were ringed with the term “Zies”. This would include the famous Normalzies. Everyone had this type of marble as it was the cheapest and easiest to collect. Your Mum and Dad would always buy you a netted sack of the dreaded things. But all wasn’t lost when your Granddad walked in and handed you a sack of Black Panthers. Yeah! He ruled. You would be talk of the playground tomorrow.

The NormalZie

Every kid had plenty of these in their collection.

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If you had a “KingZie” or a “QueenZie” in your noisy tin then you were packing some serious sized marbles. These things where huge. To get one of these beauties, Your parents were simply loaded or you would go about the playground looking for someone dumb enough to play one of these things for your entire collection. 

A Collection of Wizards and Cats Eyes

A very collectable marble.

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The Games involved one drain and two players. Some times three or four players at the corner of each drain. It all depended what was at stake. The aim was either to get your marble in the middle 1st or try and hit the other player’s marble to win the game. Some would play safe, others would be outrageously dangerous. If the stakes where high the crowds would pour around the tiny drain.

A Classic Marble Drain Cover

Let the games begin.

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The Ball-Bearing

A must for any serious player.

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Another game involved a flat patch of ground. Two players would normally stand around ten-foot away from the other. The marbles would drop and it would be the 1st person to hit the others would win. Obviously, you would have to take it in turns to go for the hit.

The Crystal Ball

A unique and hard to find marble.

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As with all amazing playground trends. Problems soon arose. Screaming parents would pour in to the head teacher’s office. Sobbing children would cry for hours after being destroyed in the war zones. Then some children would start using them as weapons against other children. And of course there was the broken school windows. Caused by a deviant few.

MistZies

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This enviably caused a ban on all marbles at school. The reason: “It’s against our heath and safety policy”. This of course ended the battle of the crystal sphere over night.

A Collection of KingZies and Solids

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Other marble names included:

• The wizards
• Beach balls
• SpotZies
• OilZies
• Ozzies