Heard in a movie, The Fourth Protocol:

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:43 PM -0500 3/2/11, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 3/2/2011 08:53 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>>There's also Chinese handball, which was popular in upper Manhattan
>>in the 50's and may still be for all I know.  I can't remember the
>>details of how it differed from the other (usual?) kind, but the ball
>>was the same, just the rules were different.
>
>And, I think, at the same time also in the upper Bronx [note that
>even "upper B" requires the "the"].  I think, but am not sure any
>more, that the following was called "Chinese handball".  It was
>played on a ground (such as a sidewalk) with "boxes" defined by the
>lines usual to concrete (left by the forms), against a wall, with a
>line of several participants.  The one at the leftmost served, the
>player whose box it landed in had to return, and could to any other
>box (left or right).  IIRC, the ball had to hit the ground exactly
>once before hitting the wall, and then hit the ground at most once
>before it was returned.  Failure to return legally meant the player
>was "out".  (A ball could be returned after it had hit the wall but
>before it hit the ground.  If the ball hit a player after hitting the
>wall, that player was "out".  he out player had to go to the end of
>the line -- the rightmost box -- and players previously behind him
>moved left one box.
>
>If I have some of this wrong, I trust Larry will excuse me.  After
>all, I never saw a written book of rules.
>
>And the ball was the same as in all other playground or sidewalk
>games -- a Spaldeen.
>
>Joel
>
Right; it all comes back to me now--both the game itself (which was
the preferred form of handball in Washington Heights, with rules as
close to Joel's description as makes no difference) and our earlier
thread on the topic, including the discussion of the Spaldeen.  And
maybe we discussed Chinese checkers too, although I can't swear to
it.   (If you can't remember a thread, it's new to you!)

LH

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