Full Metal Jacks

My son asked for jacks for his birthday. And not those namby-pamby super-sized rubber jacks that will neither lodge themselves in a younger sibling's airway nor send mother into apoplectic fits when she steps on them after telling you to make sure that you pick up every last one of them. No, he wanted the good, old-fashioned metal ones that will likely cause some serious pain to at least one person in the house.

I don't blame him for asking because those giant rubber ones they sell most places nowadays really don't work very well. I tried them at my mother's house where he was first exposed to the game of jacks.

As you can see in the picture, he now has new jacks. I had to take a picture a couple of weeks ago when the children and my mother were on the kitchen floor playing. I loved jacks as a kid, probably because my mom played them with me on our kitchen floor. She still likes playing them; I'll bet she's one of very few in the 65+ age group who still is able to enjoys getting down on the floor and playing jacks. It really brought back the memories when I saw them playing together.

If you don't mind a bouncy ball knocking around your kitchen (or other room with hard floors), do your children a favor and buy some jacks for them. If you don't know how to play, learn. You've got the internet. I'm sure there's some video on YouTube or something. My son's came with instructions and variations. Have fun!