Mumbledepeg or Jack-Knife

We called the game Jackknife. The best jackknife for this game has two blades, a big one and a small one. The first requirement was to find a spot of lawn or ground where the grass was not too high and the terrain fairly level. You and your opponent have to decide who will go first. You do this by taking turns tossing the open-bladed knife over your shoulder and hoping it will stick into the ground. Each player does this until someone succeeds and the other player misses. The object of the game is to toss the knife from various body points and hope it will stick into the ground with at least two fingers easily placed under the knife, i.e. , an angle of penetration of at least 30 degrees. When you miss, your opponent has a try, until he misses. The game can be played sitting or standing, depending on the rule for the day.

The first toss is from your upward palm. Give the knife a flip and hope it makes one revolution and pierces the ground at a legal angle. Go on to the next toss, which is from the back of your hand with palm down. The first two sites were the most dangerous in the game, because these are the only times the knife is flipped in a direction towards your body. Got to the top of the head. Place the knife point down , hold the top of the knife with the tip of your index finger and flip it to the ground. Forehead next. Hold the tip of the blade next to your forehead on top of an upward thumb and with the other hand give it a flip. The same with the nose, eyebrows, lips, chin, chest, shoulders, elbows,wrists,and all the fingertips. Go on to hips, knees and all the toes. At this point, you are half-way through the game. Start the game over with the little blade open.

Since it was a rare day when the game could finish before someone was called into the house, everyone would agree to remember where they were at the time and meet later to continue. Little brothers and sisters always wanted to play but they were wisely kept out of the game. On the rare occasion when a toddler would get a jack-knife, he would usually throw it instead of flipping it and everyone within reach was in jeopardy. More than one little kid who wasn't able to play, would sneak into the kitchen and get a knife of some sort ,bring it outdoors and start his own game. Why mothers in those days grayed young.