 Play based around physical objects has always been an important aspect of the life of the playground. Adults may fondly remember objects they used for play, such as tops and hoops, in pre-war Britain, or marbles, five stones, jacks and conkers in the post-war decades. As the opies put it, the youthful pleasure of prizing a mahogany smooth chestnut from its prickly casing is not easily forgotten. Marbles, rather differently, is one of the playground games with the most ancient history. Traceable back to 2nd century Greece, the opies record the rich variety of names for different kinds of marbles. Pop-allies, glasses, ballers, dummocks, jaries, moral leggers, bullies, bumpers, cannons, dobbers, gobbies, fighters, phoblers, kings, slammers, smashes, tatty-mashes, yogis, babies, peas, pee-wees, peedies, titches, or tiddlers, blood-allies, cats-eyes, coca-colas, purlies, rainbows, Frenchies, and spiders. Other games involved designed structures such as the hopscotch grid chalked by girls on pavements and playground tarmac. Many of these are not to be found in today's playgrounds, though it's quite possible that they may unpredictably revive as crazies. If the actual objects of play go in and out of fashion, the deeper motives for playing with objects continue undiminished. Games involving throwing, catching, flicking, bouncing, and knocking down various objects can still be seen, even if the materials involved are different. Collecting is still a passion of children, and some of the objects of collection closely resemble those of the mid-20th century, such as trading cards based on football like the match attacks cards we observed on our playgrounds. However, it's also clear that many schools exclude some of the things that children play with at home. These may be such things as game consoles, large and expensive toys, dressing up clothes, and toy weapons. Combat-based games are often seen as representations of dangerous, anti-social behavior to be discouraged. In fact, it's just as likely that they are a timeless and ineradicable part of childhood play as they certainly are for adults. Another frequent cause for concern is that many toys appear to represent a commercial culture. Yet commercial toys have a long history, and the football cards, marbles, jacks, spud guns, and dolls fondly remembered by many adults were, of course, mass-produced and sold in corner shops. Commercial toys can be traced back at least to 1744 and the children's books of John Newbury. These were not only a considerable commercial success, but advertised Newbury's patent medicines, perhaps the first example of product placement. While children may be seen as vulnerable to the commercial world in certain ways, there is, however, plenty of evidence that they use commercial toys and other products inventively, sometimes subversively, to spin their own games, stories and dramas. But if adults exclude certain objects of play, they also actively provide others. Hula hoops, skipping ropes, pogo sticks, pom-poms, balls, wooden blocks, boxes, and planks can be found on many playgrounds. All of these are used extensively and enthusiastically and often creatively. Children display an extraordinary variety of ways to play with hula hoops, for example.