KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — Marble players are rolling into Tennessee for the 40th annual National Rolley Hole Marbles Championship and Festival.

The championship will be on Sept. 16 at Standing Stone State Park. Park officials say the event is considered the “Super Bowl of Marbles.” The festival will run from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. and feature food, music, and marble games for all ages.

Activities planned for the festival include a kids’ marbles festival, glass and flint marble-making demonstrations, building a marbles roller coaster, a swap meet and a booth for the support group the Friends of Standing Stone. Bluegrass and old-time music are also going to be played.

Players competing will be playing Rolley Hole, a folk game, similar to croquet. According to a release from the park, the strategy of the game comes from “determining the best way to keep opponents from making the hole, which often requires skillful hard shots against other marbles, sending them ricocheting across the yard.” It is played on a dirt yard that measures 40×25 feet.

Standing Stone is the only state park in the nation with a marble yard. Park officials say this is because some of the best players hail from Clay County.

This event is regarded as one of the most effective public-sector folklife projects in Tennessee. In fact, the event was chosen as one of the four winners in the folklife heritage category of the 2022 Tennessee Governor’s Arts Awards.

Standing Stone State Park is 10 miles north of Livingston, just off Highway 52 near Celina. It covers nearly 1,000 acres on the Highland Rim of north-central Tennessee. For more information about the festival and Standing Stone State Park, visit Standing Stone State Park online. The full schedule of events can be seen here.