Skully (game)

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Skully is a children's game played on the streets of New York City and other urban areas. Sketched on the street usually in chalk, a skully board allows a game for two to six players. A sidewalk is sometimes used, offering greater protection from vehicular traffic; however, the asphalt on a typical city street is smoother and provides better game play than a bumpy cement sidewalk.

Game time varies, but a match of two to three players is usually completed in 20 minutes. Local variations in rules are common and make it hard to document the game. Rule variations are agreed upon by players before starting a game, especially when players from different neighborhoods play against each other.

1 The skully board
2 Game play
- 2.1 End of game sequence
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] The skully board

Typical skully board as found in New York City

The skully field of play, or board, is a large square approximately six feet (2 m) a side. This board is drawn on a flat surface, such as the pavement of a street or playground.

At each corner and along the edges of the board are drawn 12 smaller squares, called boxes, of about six inches (15 cm) a side each (see diagram). These boxes are labeled "1" to "12" in a pattern so that the path from one square to the next requires--as much as possible--crossing through a large center square called the skull or skully (hence the name of the game). Boxes "1" and "2" are in opposite corners of the board, as are "3" and "4".

In the center of the skull, a 13th box is drawn at the same size as the other boxes and is labeled "13". The areas around the 13 box are marked with skulls or numbers, and describe a penalty area where players are not meant to shoot their game pieces, called caps.

A short distance from the "1" box is found a start line approximately six inches long.

The dimensions of the skully board can vary depending upon physical restrictions and neighborhood game play practices. Earlier versions of the board had only 9 boxes, and boards used in the similar games like deadbox (played mainly in Philadelphia) have upwards of 15 boxes.

[edit] Game play

Players use caps--usually bottle caps, or similar items like checkers, or chair glides--to play. Some players use clay or wax to weigh down their caps for easier gliding. On hands and knees at the starting line, the first player flicks a cap poised between thumb and middle finger, and attempts to land it in the box labeled "1". If successful (the cap cannot touch a line), the player continues by flicking for the next number - and so on, in the sequence: "2", "3", "4" etc., up to "12". If any flick is unsuccessful, the player's turn is forfeit in favor of the next agreed player. When all players have had their turn, the first player resumes by flicking for the square previously missed.

Flicking a piece into a square without touching a line allows the player to immediately take another turn. In addition, if a player strikes another player's cap, he is immediately rewarded with the next box he is going for, allowing him to pick up his cap, walk over to that number, and immediately take an additional turn from there.

A complication in the game involves the space surrounding the square box "13". If, in flicking for any square (including "13"), a player accidentally lands on the area surrounding "13" (the skull), the player remains stuck there until freed by another player's shot. In one variation of the rules, such good behavior is motivated by assigning each area a number of bonus squares which advance the player who frees a stuck player. In other variations, the freeing player gets a number of bonus turns equal to the last number in the number the stuck player had reached before getting stuck.

After the player completes the circuit from "1" to "12" and successfully flicks into the square labeled "13", a circuit of the four trapezoids surrounding the "13" square must be made. The circuit of these must be performed in succession in a single turn, with the player saying "I" in the first, "Am" in the second, "A" in the third, and finally "killer-diller" in the fourth. If all trapezoids are not negotiated in succession in a single turn, the turn is forfeit and the process must start again on the player's next turn by first flicking for the "13" square. If the trapezoids are successfully negotiated, the player is deemed to be a killer.

In another variation of the game, players must complete the circuit of numbers from "1" to "13", then backwards back to "1", before making the attempt to become a killer. This version consequently takes more time to play.

[edit] End of game sequence

Once a player becomes a killer, further flicks of the bottle cap can be used to knock another competitor's bottle cap outside the six-foot square. If successful in this, the player knocked outside the square is "killed," i.e., removed from the game. In other common variations of the game, the killer needs to strike a non-killer's cap three times in succession in order to "kill" that player, or another killer's cap only once. In some variations, a non-killer can become a killer by striking the killer's cap; additionally, a killer's turn may either end or continue when he "kills" another player, based upon local convention.

The last player on the field wins.