Mumbley-peg knife game

We would stand 3 foot a part, hold the tip of the blade in our hand and flip it toward the other persons foot. Goal to get as close as you could with out cutting the shoe or foot. 3 party would use a ruler to measure the distance. All we won was bragging rights. The tough guys would do it barefooted.

I do, and did, and recommend you don't do it while wearing tennis shoes.

We would stand 3 foot a part, hold the tip of the blade in our hand and flip it toward the other persons foot. Goal to get as close as you could with out cutting the shoe or foot. 3 party would use a ruler to measure the distance. All we won was bragging rights. The tough guys would do it barefooted.

Click to expand...

we called that "Chicken" ..

stretch was where you planted one foot and moved the other out to the furtherest stick..

Mumbley Peg that we played was like horse with a basketball .. each person tries a harder trick stick than there opponent. ..

this web site shows some, but I sure don't remember doing some of those sticks.. LOL

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/06/07/mumbley-peg/

My favorite Mumblety-peg knife was a Imperial imitation pearl handle, " guess would be called" a Stiletto.

Mom-Pop clothing store had these in a cardboard counter top display and all the other "patterns" were sold but these three Stiletto's. So I bought these so the old boy could put out the new Imperial knives and cardboard display.

Now I was and am not into "pearl" handles, but what impressed me, was the fit, finish, "walk-n-talk, stout backspring and SHARPness of these.

Anywho, horsing around with some Mentors and Mumblety-peg came to be, and this/these knives had a uncanny balance for me. Meaning the knife "stuck" where I looked and tossed.

Now you know why this knife, was one I had to have more of. In fact the "Mom-Pop" clothing store got in three dozen just for me and mentors.

We found some other "good uses" for these too...

I had great luck out of a Granddaddy Barlow.

All I remember about Mumbley Peg was it was a great way to dull your sharp knife, loosen the joints, and break off blade points.

I didn't play it with my one and only good Case pocket knife back then.

rc

It's probably a good thing I didn't know about this game when I was a kid. Me and my brother grew up out in the sticks, with nothing but cotton fields all around. Boredom induced lots of sling shot cotton boll wars, stick "sword fights", as well as all-out fisticuffs in the back yard. There were a many a times we should've gone to get stitches for dumb stuff, so it's likely best we never thought about dropping sharp objects near our feet

Jason

My boyhood troop was nearly were banned from a scout camp for life because a few kids were caught playing.

Wolfbyte, you beat me to it with the Art Of Manliness link!

I never really played mumbly-peg, but I played a slightly less responsible game when I was at work/school. I'd take a phonebook and put it on the desk (to keep the desk in good shape, and dampen noise) spread my hand out on it, and "Stab" the phonebook between my fingers, I'd usually use scissors, but if I had a knife, I'd use that..... Ya, I know it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do, but I was 17......

Chris "the Kayak-Man" Johnson

We used to draw a little circle in the dirt with a line where to stand whoever got closest to the center won if there was a tie we would go to the hard line which was about a foot back from the original.All those good kitchen knives not sharp enough to cut butter anymore with broken tips. we never used our pocket knives they had to be sharpened by dad so dulling it was a huge no no unless you were using it for what it was meant for.

I'm sure the rules for mumbly peg were highly localized. When I was a kid, we're talking seventy years ago, the game was played with a jack knife. There had to be two blades that opened from the same end. The longer blade was fully opened, the other shorter blade was half opened so that the two blades formed a ninty degree angle. The short blade was held by the thumb and forefinger of one hand. The other hand flipped the back of the knife into the air. The object was to stick the longer blade of the knife in the ground without the shorter blade touching the ground. You would take turns with your opponent until one of you failed to stick the blade in the ground. The winner would then sharpen a small peg from any handy twig and drive it into the ground. The loser had to pull the peg out of the ground using only his teeth.

It's moments like this that I'm proud I grew up in suburban CT in the 1980s.

As has bene said before, had I thought of this game when i was a kid, I'd probably have a nickname like Nine-Toe-Ben.

'Mumley-peg' was explained by my dad, to me and three of my friends one evening when I was about 7, maybe 8 years old. He showed us several different ways to try to stick the knife blade into the ground. Then each of us had to stick ours by the same method. We all had some old knives that were used just for such as this and throwing at trees, stumps, etc. IF, we were lucky enough to have a decent knife, we kept it in a drawer, under the mattress, or some other hidey hole. I had not thought of this little game in ?? many years? I'm 69, so I started playing over 60 years ago. I don't remember how long we played; but for several years we played quite often.

Don't play drunk and always stick to pocket knives.

I did neither back in the day. Had a friend 'throw' a bayonet right through my hand. Went clean through between the bones supporting my right index finger and the 'bird finger'; entered in the palm. It was 'aimed' somewhere else.

To this day I don't remember much pain just a ghoulish fascination with the low blood flow. Still have some B&W's the field hospital took for reference. Over the years the scar in the palm has faded to almost invisible; the back of the hand has the neatest little line. It get stiff sometimes but there was no real long term damage.

I didn't play again.

I used to play with my granddad. I'm sure that would be child abuse today. His rules threw in a bit of Twister. Two players stood about 3' apart. Player 1 throws his knife. If it sticks in the dirt, Player 2 must cover that spot with one of his feet. Player 2 then throws ... repeat until one player cannot cover the other player's most recent throw/stick.

I would never have let anyone flick a knife at my foot or any other part of my anatomy. And no was was not/am not a thithy.