Games - Skully

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	Games - Skully

Skully is a children's game played on the streets of New York City. On the street in chalk a skully field is sketched for an impromptu match of 2-6 players. (Sidewalk is sometimes used as this is safer with heavy traffic but the asphalt on a typical street makes for a a much smoother pitch than pockmarked sidewalk.)

The skully board

The skully board consists of a large square approximately 6 feet a side. Inscribed within this square are four small squares of about 6 inches a side within each of the corners of the larger square.

Then at the midpoint of each side of the larger square 2 small squares are drawn of the same size as the small corner squares. This makes for a total of 12 squares. These squares are then labeled 1 to 12 with a pattern so that the distance from 1 square is a kitty corner that requires crossing through the center of the larger square.

In the center of the larger square, a 13th square is drawn of the same size as the small corner squares. A square of about 12 inches a side is drawn around the 13th square and lines are drawn from the corners of the 13th square to the corners of the 12 inch square surrounding it.

Six feet from the small square labeled 1, which is always a corner square, a starting line is drawn typically about 6 inches long.

Example of a skully board (with optional bonus awards for freeing a competitor stuck in the trapezoids surrounding the 13th square):

Gameplay

The contestants take bottlecaps and engage in a game which is the poor man's golf. On hands and knees the first contestant flicks a bottlecap poised between his thumb and middle finger. From the starting line with a single flick he attempts to get into the first square. If he does not get cleanly into that square (his bottlecap cannot touch a single line) then the next contestant goes in turn. When it is his turn again, a player resumes the attempt to get into the first square with a single flick of his middle finger. If he gets cleanly into the first square without touching any line, he gets to go again and shoot for the second square. Again every time he gets into a targeted square in a single flick, he gets to shoot again at the next square - and if lucky can actually get into several squares in succession until he misses a shot. Missing a shot at any point forfeits this turn to the next player in sequence.

One complication is the space around the 13th square. If in going for any square, including the 13th, a player accidentally lands on the web surrounding the 13th square - he gets stuck there unless another player's shot sets him free. (In one variations of the rules such good behavior is motivated by setting each trapezoid a number of bonus squares which advance the player who frees a stuck player).

After the player gets into the 13th square cleanly, he must then make a successful circuit of the 4 small shapes called "trapezoids" which surround the 13th square. He must get through all 4 trapezoids in succession in a single turn, saying as he does so "I" in the first trapezoid, "Am" in the second trapezoid. "A" in the third trapezoid and then "Killer-diller" in the fourth trapezoid. If he does not get though all 4 trapezoids in succession in a single turn, he forfeits his turn and has to on his next turn again try for the 13th square and then again try to become a killer diller.

Once a player becomes a killer diller, he then uses his turn to attempt to hit and knock each competitor's bottlecap outside the 6 foot square. If he does that, the player knocked outside the square is now out of the game and the killer diller's turn ends.

A killer diller can only "kill" one player per turn. In the meantime the rest of the field are busy trying to avoid being "killed" while trying to become killer-dillers themselves. One killer-diller can "kill" another killer-diller. The last player on the field is the champion.

Game time varies but usually matches of 2-3 player are completed in 20 minutes.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Skully (game) ]

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Games - Skully

The skully board

Gameplay

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