Who played knife games as a kid?

H

Houlahound

Joined
Aug 2, 2017
Messages
3,121
Deleted the games because being the internet and not knowing who might read it and then try it and get hurt.

Basically every kid i knew growing up carried at least 1 friction folder on horizontal belt sheath. Dont know why but we didnt carry in our pockets. I think mainly because horizontal sheath carry worked better if you rode a horse. Mostly knives were small to medium two or three bladed friction folders.

You could tell what area a kid came from by how they varied the basic rules. Most of the games were simple and very stupid, others more skilled. The saying "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" comes to mind.

Didn't really think of it until I realised it's an entire culture that is largely undocumented and mostly forgotten.

Anyone else experience this as a kid?
 
Only " game " we ever played was who could get their knife out the fastest.
I usually could get my cheap linerlocks out as fast or faster than my brother or my friends could their cheap assisted openers.
I once even made a quickdraw sheath for a cheap lockback which was even faster , but I soon learned these aren't legal in California got rid of it.
 
I had a ... "not so bright" ... friend in school that played some of those games.
Everyone called him "7 Toes" ... after playing a "game" tossing his daddy's hunting knife (he snuck it out of the house) to stick it in the dirt ...
not even the teachers, his parents, sibling, nor even his closest friends ever accused him of being the brightest bulb on the halloween tree. (and if ever they did ... they lied ... Compared to him, Bullwinkle is a "Einstein".)
 
Well my dad always told us that knives and guns are not toys to be played with so I didn’t. He was strict even with toy guns telling me to never point at anything I didn’t want to kill because he didn’t want me to have bad habits or become complacent, same with knives. I guess I was raised around serious minded folks and round or oval shaped balls were what we played with and sometimes used sticks that were thick at one end to hit the smaller ball with. Lol. If I did play any games with a knife it was imaginary. Lol
 
No knives as a kid here. I still remember how nervous I was in my early 20s with my tiny 2 inch CRKT, the first pocket knife I ever touched.
 
I played a game were you draw a circle or some kind of area and throw the knife in the ground. It sticks a certain way based on which way the edge points you continue and make a line. I forgot, but somehow you gain areas away from your opponent and being accurate is rewarded. I also played this same game with screwdrivers.
Later as teenager I would carry bunch of knives and throw them around. I was better at it than my friends, this got me some kind of points from them. Cops would just take my knives away if they stopped our group somewhere and decided to check everyone. Mainly because someone did something stupid and we are easy to locate.
Remember knife my friend threw bounced into my other buddies leg. Good times good times.
I grew up in Ukraine in the capital and it was easy to find cool places to do some mischievous stuff. My friends were bad hehe. When I was 16 I came to Canada.
 
Last edited:
JPD1998 said:
We played a variation of mumbly peg too.
Pretty simple, throw your knife at the nearest person foot and try to get close without hitting him.
Click to expand...

I went to a summer camp and we played that except we had this stupid rule where you kept taking a step backwards further away. Eventually my friend got a SAK in the foot from over 10ft away lol
 
As kids, we were given knives and other tools with the explicite expectation that we wouldn't play stupid and dangerous games with them.
 
Knives....pffft. We played with swords! (...made from paper towel rolls)
 
[with the explicite expectation that we wouldn't play stupid and dangerous games]
Zactly, and that's why whe had of course to try all the stupid stuff. Throwing at trees or a barn door, mumbly peg, chopping contest on saplings, harpooning stuff with a knife on a string, and so on. There was always someone to come up with a new (stupid) thing to do. But we never trode over our shoes, nobody got injured (we also had very keen angels watching over us, you could say).
 
Last edited:
I usually just squared off with the Sharks in highly choreographed dance numbers for fun.

In all seriousness, my dad would have blistered my backside for doing something overtly dangerous with a knife. I did get into knife throwing for fun, but they were dedicated throwing knives at a dedicated throwing tree. Even then, I grew to prefer axes/hatchets over knives.
 
My friends and I would always just throw them into trees, barns, and the ground. I suppose you could count the ring toss game at the county fair as knife game, but that’s how we all ended up with a bunch of throwers, haha.
 
I played at knife throwing, and throwing knives at stuff on the ground to see who could get closest. Like mumblypeg but without foot stabbings.
 
I played at knife throwing, and throwing knives at stuff on the ground to see who could get closest. Like mumblypeg but without foot stabbings.
 
I carried a 3 inch jack knife from 1st grade on. Played a few games. By 6th grade, I carrfied a 6 inch switchblade, just like all or the other boys did.

We never pulled them on each other or even threatened anyone. The switchblade, very visible in your hip pocket was more of a fashion statement than a weapon.:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top