Marble - Debre Zeit/Bishoftu Magic

A marble is a small spherical object often made from glass, clay, steel, plastic, or agate. The one the kids in Ethiopia played with are made of glass. The marbles vary in size, with the smaller ones being the most desirable and worth more. Most commonly, they are about 13 mm (1⁄2 in) in diameter, but they may range from less than 1 mm (1⁄30 in) to over 8 cm (3 in), while some art glass marbles for display purposes are over 30 cm (12 in) wide. Marbles can be used for a variety of games called marbles. Source: Wikipedia

How the game is played:

Generally there are two types of Marble games: The first one is a knock out of a circle and capture and the second one is Throw and knock out of an arrow. (Keste or Arrow game)
The rules vary slightly from place to place. However, generally the purpose of the game is to capture as money marbles as possible. In knock marble out of a circle game, players will make a circle and place marble lined up around the circle.
Players take turns and roll their marble to be as close to circle as possible from an agreed upon distance. The player who is the closest to the circle without getting in the circle will go first and the other players follow based on their closeness to the circle. However, players can not land in the circle where the marbles are lined up.
Since the marbles are arranged a circle, the chance of knocking more than one marble is small. The game will continue until all the marble in the circle are captured. There is a special way to hold and play the game. Players have to place the marble on top of their thumbs and with the assistance of their index finger flicker the marble to knock the marble out of the circle.
There is an interesting twist to the game. in order to improve the players chance of capturing more marbles, instead of aiming at the marble in the circle, they may eliminate other players. Hence, players have to work hard not only to capture from the circle, but also protect themselves from other players. The game is over when there are no more marbles in the circle or only one player is left to claim all the marbles. In the end the winner is whoever collected the most marbles.
The game requires a high level of hand skill, vision and accurate aiming to be successful. Like in any other competitive game, few are very good at it. However, most play it for fun.
The game is very competitive and the rewards at the end of the day is more marbles which the winner can use either sell, trade for a better one, or use it to get favour.

How the game is played:

Generally there are two types of Marble games: The first one is a knock out of a circle and capture and the second one is Throw and knock out of an arrow. (Keste or Arrow game)

The rules vary slightly from place to place. However, generally the purpose of the game is to capture as money marbles as possible. In knock marble out of a circle game, players will make a circle and place marble lined up around the circle.

The game requires a high level of hand skill, vision and accurate aiming to be successful. Like in any other competitive game, few are very good at it. However, most play it for fun.

The game is very competitive and the rewards at the end of the day is more marbles which the winner can use either sell, trade for a better one, or use it to get favour.

The Marble game is also played in other parts of the world. Here is a recent video clip of a marble game played by children in Parachinar, a small place in Pakistan near the boarder of Afghanistan. This game is similar to one (marble in a circle) of the two types of marble games played in Ethiopia.