http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacks
I don't think children play with them much any more. Even when I was little they were quite old-fashioned. You got them from an older relative and were disappointed at the rubbish present. You had to put them on the back of your hand, then throw them in the air, turn your hand round and try to catch as many as possible. Wikipedia describes it differently; I'm not sure that we actually knew how to play the game properly.

die sind klein, ca 1,5 cm "Durchmesser", aus Metall, und man bekommt ein Säckchen mit 10 davon, plus einem kleinen Gummiball. Der Reihe nach wirft man erst alle zehn leicht in die Luft, dass sie durcheinander auf dem Tisch landen. Dann lässt man den Gummiball einmal auf den Tisch dotzen, in dieser Zeit nimmt man einen Jack in die Hand und fängt dann den Ball (mit der anderen Hand), bevor ein zweites Mal aufdotzt. Wenn man das geschafft hat, dann dasselbe von vorn, aber zwei Jacks auflesen. Usw., bis man es bis 10 geschafft hat. Wenn es schiefgeht, ist der nächste dran.

oh, just seen #1. My partner obviously played different rules...We found it in a shop in Britain 2 years ago, and we still play it.

Oh yes, we did it with a ball, too; I'd forgotten about that. We didn't really know the rules; it was something children played with more until the 50s or 60s.

Herzlichen Dank schon mal! Auf Wikipedia hätte ich ja auch selbst kommen können, knirsch :-)

Ich frage mich nur noch, ob die Form tatsächlich, wie im Wiki-Artikel angedeutet, aus Tierknochen abzuleiten ist, oder ob sich irgendwer etwas dabei gedacht hat - ein früher Spielzeugdesigner sozusagen - denn so rein zufällig kommt sie mir nicht vor.

Vielleicht fällt noch jemandem etwas dazu ein?

Well, the modern form is meant to look like bones, wouldn't you say? Bones aren't randomly shaped either. http://images.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&rlz=1...

Knucklebones also known as hucklebones, dibs, dibstones, jackstones, chuckstones or five-stones, is a game of very ancient origin, played with five small objects, originally the knucklebones of a sheep, which are thrown up and caught in various ways. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knucklebones

In the US we played it like Spinatwachtel and I remember us being quite fond of the game, often given out as a party favor.

There was a very specific way of talking about how far along you were as well.

What are you on?
I'm on onesies, twosies, threesies etc.

Were there rhymes involved too, or am I conflating childhood games?

Ich kenne das Spiel unter dem deutschen Namen "Knöcheln", obwohl wir es als Kinder mit Kieselsteinen gespielt haben.

For years, I had looked for a set of jacks - couldn't find my own set. When I moved about 18 months ago, I was utterly elated to find them - I had stuck them in an old tin cookie box 10 years previously (prior to moving), forgotten all about them - now it's a favorite with my granddaughter :-) Only thing missing, is a real "jack ball" - the German "Flummis" take a bit of practicing with, as they are much more "bounceable". We play it as Spinatwachtel described, but have to catch the ball and jacks using the same hand - have made an exception for my granddaughter :-)

Vor eineigen Jahren gab es in Deutschland "Pro Jacks" in manchen Spielzeugläden - vielleicht hat ja jemand auf ebay o.ä. noch Restposten? Der mitgelieferte Ball war auch weniger bounceable als ein Flummy; kann aber als in D aufgewachsene PErson nicht beurteilen, ob das the real McCoy ist.

I played with jacks as a kid in the USA. I never thought of them as being old-fashioned. Please, CM2DD, don't make me feel any older than I already am! ;-) Then again, we didn't have the Internet or cell phones back then either...

Like playing with marbles, but you usually play jacks by yourself. It takes skill to play well and playing it a lot can improve your co-ordination I guess.

I'm like CM2DD; I was given jacks as a kid, but I never could figure out what was supposed to be so fun about them. (Maybe because I was so uncoordinated.) I associate them and marbles both mainly with past generations, like my parents (my mom had a set of jacks) or grandparents.

But some kids my age must have still played them, because Spinatwachtel's description sounds right (though not on the table! on a hard floor or on the sidewalk), and 'onesies, twosies, threesies' and so on sounds familiar. And I think there may have even been some people who could do it first right-handed, then (ulp) left-handed.

wupper, I never thought of them as being old-fashioned, either. We seldom had a TV while I was growing up, and the whole family played games before it was our bed-time - Jacks was one of them - and right, on the floor, not the table :-))

Same thing with marbles, never thought of them as being old-fashioned, was a great marble player!! Might have something to do with being a tomboy :-)

See, I thought of jacks as being a girly thing. Little girls in skirts, ankle socks, and saddle oxfords, like my mom, sitting nicely, not out climbing trees or playing tag ... (-;

More than slightly OT, but speaking of " Little girls in skirts, ankle socks, and saddle oxfords..." - we had to wear skirts/dresses to school on up to senior high, even when we lived in Alaska! Is it safe to assume that that is no longer the case in the USA? :-)

Not the case in public schools, where anything goes, but apparently still the case in many private schools (incl. Catholic schools) that require school uniforms.

I was a tomboy, too, which probably explains why I never played jacks. I thought it was a girly game. (Sorry wupper.) Or maybe it was just that none of my older siblings played jacks; I always wanted to do whatever they were doing. According to my recollection, you had to catch the ball and the jacks in the same hand, but I'm clearly not an expert.

As for dresses, many private schools, even Catholic schools don't require girls to wear skirts or dresses anymore. When the Catholic school I taught at went to uniforms, the girls had the option of skirts (solid blue or khaki), but the slacks were more popular.
I recently was in a restaurant, however, and saw some high school girls dressed in stereotypical plaid Catholic school uniform skirts. The guys who were with them were dressed in fairly typical teen clothing. I stood behind them in line and tried to figure out whether the guys were from the same school, didn't have a uniform, had changed, maybe were from a public school but dating girls who attended a Catholic school...

Marbles old fashioned? Our whole school (and the surrounding areas) was regularly obsessed with marbles. It came somewhere in between waves of obsession with pogs, yo-yos, French elastic and card throwing, as well as something called five stones, which was similar to jacks. This was in the 1990s.

Kids are pretty imaginative when it comes to making up games, if they're not near a TV or games console at the time.

We played jacks in the school playground or on the living room floor at home. I remember having to pick up the jacks and catch the ball with the same hand, and also starting with one, then two etc., increasing until you made a mistake. Then the next person had a turn.