Boy Scouts playing "mumble the peg", circa 1915
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Mumblety-peg (also known as mumbley-peg, mumbly-peg,[1] mumblepeg, mumble-the-peg, mumbledepeg or mumble-de-peg) is an old outdoor game played using pocketknives.[2] The term "mumblety-peg" came from the practice of putting a peg of about 2 to 3 in (5 to 8 cm) into the ground. The loser of the game had to take it out with his teeth.[3][4]

Detail of George Caleb Bingham's 1852 work The County Election, showing two boys playing a game described as mumblety-peg[5]

Overview

Mumblety-peg is generally played between two people, with a pocketknife.

In one common version of the game, two opponents stand opposite one another with their feet shoulder-width apart. The first player then takes the knife and throws it to "stick" in the ground as near his own foot as possible. The second player then repeats the process. Whichever player "sticks" the knife closest to his own foot wins the game.

If a player "sticks" the knife in his own foot, he wins the game by default, although few players find this option appealing because of the possibility of bodily harm. The game combines not only precision in the knife-throwing, but also a good deal of bravado and proper assessment of one's own skills.

Variants

In one basic version of the game, a knife is embedded in the ground and players attempt to extract it using only their teeth. In other versions this is a forfeit for the loser of the game.

In the most basic version of the game, one contestant throws a knife end over end as deeply as possible into the ground, after which another player tries to extract it with his or her teeth.[6]

There are many variants of the basic game. One relatively safe version is very similar to H-O-R-S-E basketball. Here, the first player attempts to stick his knife in the ground using some unusual technique, such as behind the back or off his knee. If he is successful, the second player must duplicate the feat. The other player is sometimes given more than one try. The game repeats until one player cannot duplicate the "trick". If there are multiple players then play continues to "knock out" a player until only one player remains. In some cases, just getting the knife to stick at all can be the objective but in others, the players attempt to stick their knives into the peg or as close to it as possible.

In the variant known as "Stretch," the object of the game is to make the other player fall over from having to spread his legs too far apart. The players begin facing each other some distance apart with their own heels and toes touching, and take turns attempting to stick their knives in the ground outboard of the other player's feet. If the knife sticks, the other player must move his foot out to where the knife stuck while keeping the other foot in place, provided the distance between foot and knife is about twelve inches or less. Play continues until one player falls or is unable to make the required stretch.

The highly dangerous "Chicken" variant is the opposite of "Stretch". Here, one player bets the other how many sticks he will allow the other to make between his feet. The betting player then stands with his feet as far apart as possible and the other player throws his knife into the gap between them. If the knife sticks, the betting player moves whichever foot is closer to the knife to where the knife stuck. Therefore, hitting as close to the center as possible is desirable to make the opponent's feet come close to each other with the fewest throws. The process repeats until either the agreed-upon number of sticks has been accomplished (betting player wins), either player refuses to go any further (whichever player did not "chicken out" wins), or the knife hits the betting player (betting player wins). Approximately halving the distance between the feet at each stick, five sticks is essentially the upper limit that still leaves the feet very slightly apart, so such bets are rarely made or taken.

  • Mark Twain's 1896 book Tom Sawyer, Detective recounts "mumbletypeg" as one of boys' favorite outdoor games.[7]
  • In the opening of Robert A. Heinlein's 1948 short story The Black Pits of Luna, the protagonist Dick Logan plays mumblety-peg with his younger brother in a hotel suite in Luna City. While he feels he's normally too old for the game, he allows that "[...] on the Moon, it's a right good game. The knife practically floats and you can do all kinds of things with it. We made up a lot of new rules."
  • The H-O-R-S-E version of the game is shown in part one of the television miniseries "Lonesome Dove" between the characters Deets, Newt and Pea Eye approximately 30 minutes into the program.
  • In the episode "The Little People" of The Twilight Zone, Joe Maross's character Peter Craig sarcastically mentions mumblety-peg as a game he'd like to play.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Poteet, Jim (1997). "I'd Play Mumbly-Peg All Day Long". In Clegg, Luther Bryan (ed.). The Empty Schoolhouse: Memories of One-Room Texas Schools. Centennial series of the Association of Former Students, Texas A & M University - Issue 68 (reprint ed.). College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 92. ISBN 9781585442645. Retrieved 16 September 2023. Mumbly-peg was a version of mumblety-peg, a game in which a jack-knife is tossed in various ways to make it land with the blade in the ground. The loser must draw a peg from the ground with his teeth. The name is derived from the word 'mumble' meaning 'to bite.' The original name was 'mumble-the-peg.'
  2. ↑ Newell, W. W. (2010). Games and Songs of American Children. Nabu Press. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-145-39322-6.
  3. ↑ "Old Schoolyard Games". Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois). Newton/ANL. Retrieved 23 August 2010.
  4. ↑ Page, Linda Garland; Smith, Hilton, eds. (1993) [1985]. "Mumble Peg". The Foxfire Book of Appalachian Toys & Games. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press. p. 55. ISBN 9780807844250. Retrieved 16 September 2023. 'The reason they called it Mumbly Peg was that guy was a-fussin' and a-cussin' and all at havin' to dig it [the peg] out of the dirt with his mouth and he's a-mumblin'.'
  5. ↑ "The County Election". Saint Louis Art Museum. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  6. ↑ Calvert, Karin (1992). Children in the House: The material culture of Early Childhood, 1600-1900. USA: Northeastern University Press. p. 116. ISBN 1-55553-138-5.
  7. ↑ "Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, Detective Pg. 1". Archived from the original on 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
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