Going to the airport — let alone flying — is usually enough to drive a traveler crazy.

But it was during one such trip — a flight to someplace he doesn't' even remember — that Don Pepe managed to not lose his marbles. Rather, he found them.

Pepe, who played the schoolyard game as a child, had never looked at the toys as a collector's item until a fateful flight when a passenger started giving them away.

"He just had the plane going," Pepe said of the man giving marbles to other airline passengers.

In fact, Pepe said he's never seen anyone energize a flight in the way that man did "years and years" ago.

And since that flight, Zelienople's borough manager has collected the small game pieces, stockpiling a collection ranging from Civil War relics to handmade works of art.

With a small case displaying his favorites on his office wall, Pepe admires the marbles for their unique qualities, ones he never noticed as a child and weren't revealed until after the flight.

Pepe said the emergence of the Internet and online auction sites has made collecting easier, eliminating the need to scour toy stores, antique shops and junk stores for the small collectables.

"You can literally waste hours doing this stuff," he said.

Although marbles can come in different shapes, sizes and materials, the handmade variety are as unique as a snowflake.

Pepe said handmade marbles are created using either a cane or rod of glass that contains smaller rods of glass, called swirls, as well as flecks of color, mica or nothing.

Because no two marbles are born from the exact same spot of the cane, no marble can ever be replicated. An artist may create two that appear similar, but a closer look reveals the truth.

"There's never two that are exactly the same ever,"he said.

Depending on the marble, the cost for one can range from a few pennies for a machine-made cat's-eye to thousands of dollars for a large, mint-condition piece.

But, if the piece is rare enough, size doesn't matter.

Although Pepe played marbles as a child and even as a volunteer with the Cub Scouts, collecting marbles beyond the standard, store-bought types wasn't something he had considered.

"I'd never really thought about it, to tell you the truth,"he said.

But now, his marbles aren't toys —- they're displayed in small, plastic collectors cases and a larger case on his office wall.

For many across the country, like Pepe, marble collecting is a widely enjoyed hobby.

At the Glass Blowing Center in Hilliards, collectors like Pepe occasionally come in looking for the one-of-a-kind handmade works.

Elaine Donor, co-owner of the blown glassware shop and education complex, said demand for marbles typically picks up around Christmas, though collectors roll in sporadically.

And she understands why.

"Some of these marbles are just jaw-droppingly beautiful," she said.

Donor said two artists make marbles there, although the store carries pieces made by artists from as far away as New York.

For Pepe, though, marble collecting is not much more than a private pleasure.

"It's one of those things Ijust enjoy,"he said.

For those who want to play marbles instead of collect them, here are rules of the game:• Draw a circle 2 to 3 feet wide. Use chalk on asphalt or concrete, a stick in dirt, or a string on carpet or tile.• Select your shooter and place any marbles you wish to play with as targets inside the circle; the other players do the same. Shooters are designated marbles used to knock targets out of the ring. Your shooter should be larger than the other marbles so it's powerful enough to do its job. It should also look different from other marbles so you can distinguish it easily.• Take your turn by shooting your marble from outside the ring at any marble or marbles inside the ring. Shoot by kneeling on the ground and flicking your marble out of your fist with your thumb.• Gather any marbles you've knocked out of the ring.• Shoot again if you knocked any marbles out of the ring. Let the next player shoot if you haven't knocked any marbles out and/or your shooter remains in the ring.• Continue shooting in turn until the ring is empty.• Count your marbles at the end of the game. The winner is the player with the most marbles.• Return the marbles to their original owners unless you're playing "keepsies." In that case, each player keeps the marbles he or she won during the game.From www.eHow.com