Two new teams took first and second place at Australia’s one and only indoor marbles championships held in Parkes last Friday. Balls Deep surprised everyone by taking the honours in the 32nd year of the competition, with the Gootons coming second.
Eight teams entered for the Australian Indoor Marbles Championships at the Parkes Golf Club and competed in round matches and final eliminations. The aim of the night is to not only carry on a tradition that started with the celebration of the Parkes centenary, but for the team members and spectators to have fun too. In addition, Can Assist benefits from this quirky tradition, with almost $1000 raised from team entries and raffle ticket sales. Organiser
of the event Paul Thomas said the idea of playing indoor marbles was first tried out with the centenary celebrations. “It has now become a time honoured event and a fixed item on the Parkes yearly calendar, and forms part of the NSW Government tourism attractions.”
Teams have travelled from as far as Sydney to compete in previous competitions. Paul explained that the game
had to be altered slightly from the oncepopular childhood game when the aim was to knock marbles into a hole. “Playing it indoors meant we changed it to knocking the marbles out of a ring.” Each player uses a ‘Tom’ and the idea is to knock the smaller marbles out of the centre of the ring. The four players in each team take a turn and they keep on playing until all the marbles are knocked out of the middle. The one with the most marbles at the end is the winner.
Peter Magill of Griffins Leading Edge, the major sponsor, said it was a good night with a new team winning the title.