Posted on 01/07/2014 3:41:39 AM PST by Maceman
Every man should carry a pocketknife. It’s handy for cutting open packages, severing twine, and, of course, eating an apple like a bad ass.
But it can also be a source of instant, anywhere entertainment. Because it’s all you need to play the game of mumbley peg.
Never heard of the game? Don’t worry. Today we’ll give you the scoop on how to play this knife throwing pastime that was once popular among 19th century schoolboys, Wild West cowboys, and World War II soldiers. All you need to play mumbley peg is a friend, a couple of pocket knives, and a bit of skill. It’s the perfect way to pass the time when hanging outside with your friends, relaxing around the fire on a camping trip, and bonding with your son. The History of Mumbley Peg
Versions of mumbley peg (also known as mumblety-peg, mumblepeg, mumble-the-peg, mumbledepeg or mumble-de-peg) have been around as long as jackknives have been in the pockets of boys and men who had time to kill. The game gets its name from a stick driven into the ground by the winner of the game, which the loser must pull out of the ground with his teeth. Mumbley peg was an insanely popular schoolyard game in the 19th century among boys. It was right up there with marbles and jacks. In fact, Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer, Detective, mentions “mumbletypeg” as being a favorite game with the children at old Tom’s school.
The game continued in popularity well into the first half of the 20th century.
. . .
The game waned in popularity starting in the 1970s as over-protective adults put a kibosh on the game at summer camps and as pocket knife-carrying became less prevalent among the male population.
(Excerpt) Read more at artofmanliness.com ...
Its been several years since I played that game and I carry a pocket knife every day. Brings back some memories.
Lovingly that was taught to my brother and me by our uncle and aunts. Back then.....it....was....meant to be a ....game.
Same here. Played it a lot as a kid. Don’t recall any serious injuries. Hey, I still eat my apple with my pocket knife.
We used to play it a lot during recess, a very long time ago.
Back when boys were all boys.
That reminds me of another game we played, we called it “chicken”. Two people would stand facing each other, legs spread wide. You’d throw your knife and stick it in the ground between your opponent’s feet. You’d move a foot beside the knife. It took only a few throws before your feet were only a few inches apart. The first one to quit was chicken.
Used to play it in the schoolyard. ALWAYS had my blue handled Cub Scout knife on my person.No one batted an eyelash if you had a pen knife at 8 years old in the 50’s.
Back in a past century we wharf rats played a game something like this. We started facing each other 8-10 feet apart with our feet spread apart shoulder width or so. Then one would toss his fish knife, which wasn't a pocket knife but rather a 10 inch Old Hickory or a 9 inch Dexter, and toss it to stick in the ground between the other's feet. The other guy would then draw one foot up to the knife and return the favor. Mostly we got so both parties' feet were together before one or the other quit. We played for a quarter or a dollar, depending how much we had made off the tourists on the head boats that day. I caught one right in the top of my right foot and before it registered that it was, indeed, in my foot, I reached down and pulled it up to make my own next toss when Robert yelled,"Okay, you win!" and held out a dollar. Only then did it occur to me that the thing had been standing up in my foot. It passed between the laces of my shoe and left only a wee slit in the tongue. There was a bit of blood on the underside of the tongue and only a trace on my foot. It never did actually hurt.
is that the new Leatherworking/Woodworking merit badge?
In grade school in the late 1950’s we played mumbley peg at recess. Most of the boys had a knife in their pocket at school.
I'm about the same age. I used to drive myself to high school, take my .22 Cal target rifle out of the back seat, walk through the halls and put it in the Rifle Team coach's closet, then get it at the end of the day for practice. No one ever raised an eye and certainly no one ever got hurt.
I was just talking about mumbley-peg with some guys at work the other day, and they had no idea what I was talking about. Funny, because both of them carried pocket knives.
Mumbly peg isn’t mumbly peg until play it barefooted!
We called this game "DARE." The game was more about losing than winning: The person throwing the knife lost if he tossed the knife so that it stuck outside the other person's feet or if it hit the other person. The other person lost if he bailed out of position before the knife stuck. Thus, the goal was to toss the knife so that it stuck in the ground as close as possible to the inside of the opponent's foot without hitting him in the hopes that the opponent would bail out of position to avoid getting hit with the knife.
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