ALAN PERROTT finds that the PlayStation kids have taken an old game to their hearts.
Kids' games may be entering a flash new millennium, but traditional marbles are back and they're big.
Every lunchtime bell at Richmond Rd School in Grey Lynn has signalled a mad dash of marble-clutching kids looking
for a spot at the best playing holes.
The most fought-over in the school is solemnly called The Hole.
It may appear to be an innocuous divot in a slab of concrete, but in the hands of the highly skilled it becomes a pre-teen version of St Andrew's Golf Course.
Three players line up behind their marbles - if you're playing keepses, remember to keep your prize Jumbos and African Swirls out of sight - and take turns flicking glass balls at the hole.
Whoever sinks the last catseye wins the lot.
This rule means that if you're on the last marble and don't think you can make your shot, you can turn around and heave it over the jungle gyms.
But that isn't a worry for young Cameron Matthews, who pots the last marble through deft use of the slope to avoid a pebble and a tiny patch of grass.
With a muted, "Nice shot, Cam," from a defeated opponent, he collects his glass booty and it's back to the starting crack for another game.
This scene has been played out at schools throughout the country, which is music to the ears of Artco Holdings sales manager Vaughan Harvey.
Artco imports the top-of-the-line marbles from Mexico - everything from the most humble catseye to the mighty 50mm marble-crushing Godfather.
Mr Harvey says demand has steadily increased since June and his company has been selling about 5000 bags of 20 marbles every week.
The marble renaissance is also keeping the toy stores keen.
"As soon as we get them in, they fly straight out the door," said Emrryn, at Toy Magic in Henderson.
If there is a trend within the trend, she suggests, the keener under-12s are slowly stocking up on Godfathers.
But don't count on the craze lasting too much longer. There are already two challengers on the horizon: crazy bones and smellie bellies.
Crazy bones are a weird melding of marbles and knucklebones and smellie bellies are cuddly toys with a scented sachet. About 70,000 have been sold.
