Joshua Johnston, age 14, from Ambler, won the 95th National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, NJ on Thursday, June 21st. He has been crowned the 2018 Marble King and in addition to the title, won a $2000 scholarship and has been asked to attend various events to represent marbles.

After the first three days and 54 games, Joshua finished in first place in the preliminaries, winning a total of 49 games. He then played an additional 12 games in the semifinals last Wednesday night, where he won 11 games to 1.  On Thursday morning, he competed in the best of 15 games in the finals,  and won 8 games to 1.  Josh competed against kids from all over the country, including Colorado and Washington State. He is the first National winner from the Ambler team.

It’s Josh’s seventh year playing marbles, and his fifth year in the National tournament.  He became interested in marbles while walking through Ambler during an event and noticed the First Presbyterian Church had a table out demonstrating the game and bringing attention to their marbles club. Josh decided to join the club and said that he loves the good sportsmanship the game teaches and the strategy and excitement that playing brings.

Photos courtesy of Joshua Johnston