jacks

11 6.4

A children's game where you throw small objects, bounce a rubber ball, and pick them up

noun
/dʒæks/

: juego de las tabas

Examples

Now, she would hide her Jacks... All throughout the kingdom.

Silent Fall (1994)
We mostly played Jacks, Four Square, Cat's Cradle, and Chinese jump rope.

Blog text (34)
How many times as a kid did you open a box of Cracker Jacks to find a small toy tucked inside?

Blog text (28)
After school, the children played jacks in the park, trying to bounce the ball while picking up the small pieces.
She taught her younger brother how to play jacks, explaining the rules and showing him how to toss the ball.
At recess, they gathered on the playground to play jacks and see who could collect the most pieces.

Synonyms

jackstones

vsjacks

9.3

A children's game of throwing and picking up small objects between ball bounces

has identical rules but is called by a different name

knucklebones

vsjacks

8.9

A children's game of throwing and picking up small objects between bounces of a small ball

is the same basic game but emphasizes original materials rather than modern pieces

knucklebone

vsjacks

8.4

A children's game of tossing and catching small stones similar to jacks

focuses on picking up objects in groups while bouncing a ball instead of catching

Surface Forms

jack singular

jacks plural

Morphology

jacks = jack (transparent) = jack + s

Regular plural formation from 'jack' and the game meaning is directly named after the playing pieces.

Etymology

Jacks takes its name from the small pieces once called jackstones; long ago people used little bones or stones as the 'jacks' that you threw and picked up. So the name now means the children's game where you bounce a ball and grab the small 'jacks'.