Mumbleypeg

zzyzzogeton

zzyzzogeton

Joined
Feb 17, 2013
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I know that with the advent of zero tolerance towards knives on school grounds that Mumblypeg has probably gone extinct as a recess game, but does anyone else remember playing it?

I know the spelling variations are as numerous as the options of the game play.

The way we played was the split or spread version where you threw a knife into the ground and the other player had to move their foot to it. And so on until one of the players couldn't move or fell.

We were never quite crazy enough to play the variation of who could stick the knife into the ground closest to their own foot. (Auto winner if you stuck your own foot.)
 
Tongue depressor with ink on the edges. Sometimes with a handle, sometimes not.

No joke....does the same thing, minus the risk (although, you hit hard enough, and you'll feel it).
 
zzyzzogeton said:
I know that with the advent of zero tolerance towards knives on school grounds that Mumblypeg has probably gone extinct as a recess game, but does anyone else remember playing it?

I know the spelling variations are as numerous as the options of the game play.

The way we played was the split or spread version where you threw a knife into the ground and the other player had to move their foot to it. And so on until one of the players couldn't move or fell.

We were never quite crazy enough to play the variation of who could stick the knife into the ground closest to their own foot. (Auto winner if you stuck your own foot.)
Click to expand...

Yep, we played both versions. There was even a third where you tried to see how close you could come to the opponents foot. Closest won. Flinch - automatic loss. Hit the opponents foot - automatic loss, disgrace, and good luck finding anyone to play with you next time. ;) Most of us wore leather shoes or boots. "Tennis shoes" were for sports or PE (almost never worn as everyday shoes) so not quite as hazardous as it would be today. You could always find several games in progress at recess or lunch break. Teachers would even watch.

That was in the '60s [Edit: in Southern La.]. My, how times have changed.
 
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Forgot to mention that it was in central Texas in the 60s as well. Maybe it was a "southern thing".
 
Did it up in Northern Ut (also in the 60s). It was really popular at Scout camp 'cause everyone had a knife on them. We played two versions, stretch and chicken. The blade was always thrown to the opponents side. The worst damage I ever saw was a broken tip.
 
We played in central Indiana in the late 80s... albeit, we never did the "closest to the foot" variations.
 
I remember playing the stretch and chicken version, but never at school since knives were not allowed. We played a third version we called mumblypeg where you had to hold the knife between your fingers and stick it in the ground, then hold it in an open palm and drop it so that it stuck into the ground, then with the knife resting on the back of your hand and so on. We always played at scout camp, although I believe it was forbidden there too. I know scouts who still play it today so I'm sure it's not forgotten, although it is on the endangered species list.
 
WOW! does that bring back memories, going to the local park and playing stretch and chicken... and that was in tennis shoes!
 
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We used to play that in scouts. unfortunately I was raised in a time where knives are considered only a weapon... I was born in the wrong decade :(
 
Sounds like a terrible game. What would you do if you hit a rock or something? Not to mention all the abrasives that can be found in dirt and dirt getting in your pivots. Seems like a good way to ruin a perfectly good pocket knife.
 
England in the Boy Scouts in the 60s
Only the closest to the foot variation
We all wore leather shoes......

If the Scout Master saw you, it was an immediate loss of your Knife and Axe badge, so you could not carry a knife
 
My friends and I play a derivative we came up with that's a bit safer. You put a playing card in the center of the players, usually three, at two of the "judge" for that round's long paces from each. Each player has a cheapo throwing knife and you all throw and whichever knife sticks with the point closest to the card gets the point for that round. If you stick in the card, you get three points. If someone else sticks in the card and then you stick in the card, you cancel each others points. You play this until someone has 21 points. It's good fun.
 
XiaolongJackson said:
Sounds like a terrible game. What would you do if you hit a rock or something? Not to mention all the abrasives that can be found in dirt and dirt getting in your pivots. Seems like a good way to ruin a perfectly good pocket knife.
Click to expand...

We used cheap, crappy knives. And who ever said kids were smart?
 
As I recall, Camillus even made a knife specifically for the game... it even came with instructions, back in the day. My, how times have changed.
 
We played stretch and a different variation of chicken. In that version you threw between the opponent's feet and he had to move one foot to the knife. (Louisiana in 1950s). Winner was the one who could get the opponent's feet closest together without hitting his foot. A player could quit and lose the game. We played at school, with a careful eye to the nuns who supervised recess. We also played in scouts, it was not banned there.

OT
 
About 6 years ago, I got my brother the Ka-bar heavy bowie for Christmas. He would have been about 27 at the time. One thing he could always do well was sharpen knives. One night, he and his roommate got into a bottle of whiskey, and my brother talked him into playing. Long story short, my brother stuck his roomate's foot to the floor with the bowie. After a night at the ER, I don't think the roommate ever played again....
 
I was raised in rural Argentina, with gauchos all around. Knife play was pretty common.

Simulated duels using sheaths, "dedo tiznado" (run your finger over a blackened kettle and then try to "stab" your opponent). And also a game in which you had to stand inside a door frame and dodge attacks, without flinching or moving backwards (remember this was all very ritualized combat, moving away from your opponent was viewed as a cowardly move), at first you did it with a stick or something loke that, and finally a real knife was used. The door frame at the back of my grandfather's kitchen is filled with scars from three generations of boys playing that game.
 
Maybe we were crazy, but the version I remember playing as a kid was we stood 10 paces apart and threw sharpened sticks (not knives) at each other's feet. You lost if you moved your feet or if you hit the other person, and the winner after three rounds of three sticks a piece was whoever won the most rounds by having the stick closest to the other person's foot.
 
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