The first step to pitching pennies would be to find a nice open wall with a smooth pavement.  The game was played by pitching (or throwing underhand) your penny towards a wall one player per round.  The person with their penny closest to the wall got to keep all the pennies that were pitched.  A leaner was almost a guarenteed win, unless some smart ass knocked your penny down or got a leaner which was higher up the wall.  A leaner was a penny that leaned against the wall while standing on the pavement.

As I was growing up we played with nickels and even quarters.  By the time the 80′s rolled around,  you could not get anything for a penny anymore!

The game was played similar to hide and seek, but with a twist.  A strap or belt was hidden somewhere in a predetermined  neighborhood (ex. from 8th to 9th, Jackson to Wolf).  One of the kids was chosen to be it.  How they were chosen can be anywhere from a shootout, rock paper scissors or even age.  Whoever was it had to find the strap.  Once they found the strap then they had to find the other players.  When they found a player they can hit or swat them until they reached and tagged home base.  Home base could be a persons step, a telephone pole or whatever else a young childs imagination could come up with.

Then the fun was to begin…

A person from the other team would come running full speed and yell out “Buck-Buck number one is coming”, then leapfrog onto the backs of the other team.  He then slid up as close as he could to the anchor so there was plenty of room for Buck-Buck numbers 2-5.  This went on until either all members were on the backs of the human chain or the chain collapsed.

If the chain did not collapse,  the captain of the chain gang (team bent over on the bottom) had to guess how many fingers were held up by the other teams captain.  He had three tries, and if he guessed correctly the teams would reverse sides and then the chain was formed by the team now on top.  If the answers were incorrect or if the chain collapsed the same team created another chain and the game started over from the beginning.

This game has been played in inner cities for years, at least since the 20′s or 30′s. My father passed it on to me somewhere along the line and I decided I have to pass it on as well. The basics of dead box is to get your beerie (basically a beer or soda cap) from one base or pocket to the next without landing in the dead box. Variations of the game have been played as well, but thats the beauty of being a kid. Some people can just make new rules. Here we will outline the making of a dead box court, beeries, and the rules of the game. I hope someone out there will make it for their kids and invite me over to play.

Making the Dead Box:
When making a dead box you may have to improvise. Use materials that work for the location and keep other peoples property in mind (not that we did when we were kids). In our case we usually played in the middle of a side street that did not have much traffic. We used white or silver spray paint and used the dead box for a whole summer. Other people used chalk and used the dead box for one day. All that is a non-issue, as long as the dead box gets made.

First you will start by making a large square or rectangle (your choice), if square, it should be approx 5-6 feet on each side. Next you will need to make a box in the center which is called the dead box. It is traditionally decorated with a skull and crossbones in the middle. Start in one corner and make a box and number it with the number 1. The object in numbering the boxes is to make the player shoot across the dead box and much as possible. So after creating the first box the second should be the exact opposite side or close to it. Look at the drawing to see how your finished dead box should look.

Preparing the Beeries:
Each person had their own tricks to make a good beery or cap. My favorite way was to get an old crayon and a penny. Place the penny in the beer cap and melt your crayon into the cap filling it to the top with melted wax. You can use different color crayons to make designs and swirls. This gave you your own personalized beery. Some people carved their names in the wax afterwards and other put old toy parts in the wax. Whatever your mind could think of was ok with the kids. If you won with a beery it was traditionally thought of as a lucky beery, so you would guard it with your life or barter it for another beery, money or candy.

Play:
Play was started when the person chosen to be first (a shoot-out, age, or threat of an ass kicking can determine who goes first) knelt or laid on the ground at the base or pocket labeled 1. He took his turn trying to shoot the beery by flicking it with his middle finger to the number 2 position. If he made it there he went again and tried for the next number, if he did not make it, the beery stayed put and the next player went. If you land in the dead box at any time you pick your beery up and start from 1 again. This went on until someone made it to the last base or number, then from there hit it into the dead box in the center. It was also legal to knock someone elses beery out of the box, causing them to pick their piece and pride up and go to the beginning to start all over.

Here is a picture to help you in making your dead box. Remember the beauty of these street games was that it can be changed on a whim. Dont be afraid to change it to your liking.

About five years or so ago (I was 27) me and one of my cousins (Scott Ladooooo) decided to make a dead box and show the neighborhood kids the game. They loved it, I was surprised at how they took to it. If nothing else came out of it at least we had a blast for a day. Here is a picture of one of the neighborhood kids playing dead box that day.

Playing Dead box on Cantrell Street

OBJECT:
The object of the game is simple, hit the ball and try to make the other person miss it.

RULES:
There are a basic set of rules that you follow. First off there has to be boundaries, a left and a right boundary must be marked (or you can use chalk, cement cracks, doors, windows, drainpipes, etc). If the ball hits the wall outside these boundaries it is a point for the other person, some folks (novices) used to also create a rear boundary so you could not SLAM on them. When hit, the ball must hit the ground before hitting the wall, it can NOT hit the ground twice or the play is dead and the other person is awarded a point. When returning from the wall the ball may hit the ground ONLY once, more than once and a point is awarded to the other player. If the ball hits directly in the crack where the wall meets the ground you can call CHINK, which is basically a do-over, the play stops and the last person to serve gets the ball to start play again. This is because there is no clear cut way to determine if the ball hit the ground once before hitting the wall.

PLAY:
Play begins with a serve from one of the players. This person is determined in the usual way (shoot out, loser from last game, age, or just can get their ass kicked by the other player) before the game begins. The server has a duty to give a decent serve, the person getting the ball served to them also has the right to not play the ball and ask for a new serve. When served the ball must observe the rules, but ball must hit the ground first then the wall, just like normal play. Just like racquetball the ball is hit back and forth by each player until someone misses. When someone misses the other person gets a point and so on until the game point is reached. We used to play to 11 or 21 but you can use whatever number you want. There are many trick or speciality shots used in this game. Some for actual purpose and some just to brag about. Read on and we will outline just a few of the speciality shots…

* THE SLAM:
The slam can be a very affective way to get yourself a back in the game, it can also kill you if not used right. The slam is when a weak ball is close to the wall and you SLAM it as hard as you can on a certain angle to make the ball go 50-100 feet behind you. This sends the other player far back into the court to hit the ball. BUT it also gives him the option to hit the ball to either side of the court if he gets to it, which will then leave you running! The SLAM is used most effectively when both players are in a heated battle close to the wall.

* THE SLICE
Master this shot and you will be feared in every school yard in the neighborhood. The SLICE is when a player gets low to the ground, swinging VERY hard with their hand inches above the concrete. When you make contact with the ball it zooms quickly just above the ground, slices the concrete and hits the wall just inches above the bottom. The trick is to put a backspin on the ball so when it returns from the wall it hits the ground and stops or does not travel to far. If this shot is done correctly it is very hard to defend. Only the most senior of player can make the necessary adjustments to play the ball. Even if he does he is usually in a position to get beat with the next shot, which is usually a SLAM. Because the player has to run very close to the wall to play the slice the slam is the best shot to send him deep into the court to try to play the ball. Perfect the slice and some player will ever get a chance to defend it off the serve.

* THE TAP
The tap is used when your opponent is playing far back. You fake a SLAM or hard shot but just tap the ball. It makes the defender run full speed directly at a brick wall. This is a good tactic when a weak ball reaches the wall after a SLAM.

* THE SKINNER
The skinner is a play when you find yourself stuck on one side of the court. The object is to skim the wall from the side and make it travel parallel with the wall. Remember the rules, it must hit the ground once before hitting the wall, after that your opponent is usually running into the street or across the schoolyard to get the ball!

No get your kid off that friggin’ playstation and get him outside
playing. If your playing in Philly drop me a line and I will meet
you there!