What is an "alley" with a "snake" waved pattern?

There are many types of marbles, mostly made out of agate, glass, clay or steel. They can be used as toys for children, or even as collectables, selling at conventions or auctions.

While some are made out of real marble, "alley" is short for alabaster, which is more translucent and softer than marble itself. The term "snake" refers to the colored pattern on the marble, so an alley snake is a whiteish alabaster marble with a splash of color snaking through it. There are many possible combinations of streaks and waves and patterns of color with fancy names like corkscrew, ribbon, spirit, swirl, onyx, butterfly and bumblebee.

Former marble players often become collectors of these beautiful little spheres, both for their nostalgia and their amazing colors.

More Info: en.m.wikipedia.org

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31 Comments

Fred Keogh

Tom Fulton, Why American? In the North West of the UK, we played 'alleys' regularly, and we collected them. The World marbles championship used to be played in the UK too.

Gery Tillmanns

I remember them and steelies amoungbithrs.

Joseph A. Robitaille

Good question and answer.

Lisa G

My grandson has a marble run track, so we have marbles all over the place! I have found a few clay marbles over the years that I've kept.

earlepg

As a kid, I collected and played "with" many marbles but never the game of marbles. I ignored the picture of balls and used the quotation marks as my cue.

Char

Char, also I liked to put them in vases loved the colors..

Char

I have seen a lot of marbles has a few myself but I've never seen or heard of these Thanks.

james parrillo

Joseph A. Robitaille, I thought those were pool balls. The mention of waved patterns made me think of marbles. Thank you, Christine, James's wife

Laura Lunardini Wilson

Had absolutely no idea and guessed & got it correct! I never played marbles as a kid! We were too busy playing out in the hills & creeks of CA and swimming a lot!