Number of Players:

2 to 8 Players

Age Groups:

7+

Area to Play:

On Concrete (Skully Board)

Required Items:

Chalk and Bottle Caps

Description:

Skully (also called skelly, skellies, skelsy, skellzies, scully, skelzy, scummy top, tops, loadies or caps): Sketched on the street usually in chalk, a Skully board allows a game for two to eight players. 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. 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". (See the Picture Below)

In the center of the skull, a 13th box is drawn at the same size as the other boxes.

While this is currently a rainy day activity in Boys Bunk # 8 it can be drawn on the blacktop outside. Steve Liebman has a supply of caps. 

Players use caps—usually bottle caps, or similar items like checkers, or chair glides—to play. Many players use clay, wax, and most commonly crayons melted into the bottle cap (these having been referred to as "melties"), even a coin covered with tar or a bottle cap filled with tar that was dug from the streets [citation needed] to weigh down their caps for easier gliding. Caps were typically soft drink bottle caps. Some players took extreme pride in customizing their playing pieces. 

Rules:

• Each player begins by placing his cap on the start line, and flicks a cap using the middle or index finger launched from behind the thumb. The object is 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 and the next player is up. The cap remains where it lies. When all players have had their turns, 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. The player whose cap has been hit must play from where it now 

• After the player completes the circuit from "1" to "12" and successfully flicks into the square labeled "13" he is declared the winner. 

Supervision Tips:

• Counselors stand behind the players and supervise game play. A counselor should tell the players to move out of the way if a golf cart or another group needs to pass by.

• Make sure that campers are playing in an area where they are visible to people on golf carts and other groups walking by.