Mumble Peg Championship

History
Mumble Peg has gone by many names over time. Commonly called Mumbley Peg, Mumblety Peg or Mumbly Peg. It was an extremely popular game of skill played with pocket knives in the 19th century that is still enjoyed today. It is reminiscent of a simpler time when all men and boys carried knives. It’s earliest reference is back in the 17th century. More recently in Mark Twain’s book Tom Sawyer, Detective published in 1896 the game mumblety peg is mentioned in the first chapter. Historically, It was commonly played by cowboys, soldiers, kids in summer camps and in school yards, back when it was ok to carry a knife in school. It is also seen being played in the popular western series Lonesome Dove. The term Mumble or some variation of mumble is used in the name because the loser mumbles under his breath at the winners as he “roots the peg”. Which means pulling a wooden peg driven into the dirt by the winner(s) with his teeth. Although there are as many variations of playing the game as there are names for it, here are the rules we have compiled that include the most common challenges while excluding a few of the more dangerous ones. Our goal is preserving this piece of our past so it can be enjoyed by future generations of boys, girls, men and women.

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If you are not sure that you or the people you are playing with can play this game without injuring yourself or others, than don’t play. It involves a knife and knives by design cut and can cause serious injury or death.

•For a playing field you just need a 6 foot circle in the dirt. Players up to 5 evenly space themselves around the outer edge of the circle.

•Each type of knife toss will be considered a stage.

•The goal of the game is to be the first one to complete all the stages of the game.

•As there is no advantage who goes first, order is decided by alphabetical order on first letter of first name , if tied, then by second letter etc . In the rare circumstance where the first player completes all the stages on the first try. All competitors have one opportunity to do the same.

•Only one competitor attempts a stage at a time.

•To be considered a legal throw completion and to move to the next stage, no part of the knife handle can be touching the dirt. If you can’t see under handle than it’s not considered a completed stage and unless you take your option to chance it, your turn is up.

•Once the stage is completed successfully a competitor than advances to the next stage, if you miss, the other competitors all take their turn and you will start back on the stage you have not completed yet.

•The Chance Rule  allows you to attempt the throw you missed one more time during your turn. If you complete the throw on your Chance  you may continue on to the next stage. If you miss the Chance throw your turn is over and when it’s your turn again you have tostart at the FIRST stage again.

•All players compete until there is only one player left, the last player is the loser. All the winners take turns hitting a wooden golf tee or small sharpened carved stick (peg) into the dirt with their knife handle. This is done by holding the blade of knife between thumb and index finger and striking the golf tee one time with knife handle. Starting with the first person to complete all the stages. The loser must than pull the peg out of the ground with their teeth called “Rooting the Peg”