Indian Games

LACROSSE.
In 1667, Nicolas Perrot, then acting as agent of the French government, was received near Saut Sainte Marie with stately courtesy and formal ceremony by the Miamis, to whom he was deputed. A few days after his ar...

PLATTER OR DICE.
The second in the list of games given by Father Brebeuf is that which he calls "platter." Writers who describe the habits of the Indians at the north have much to say concerning this game. According to Lescarbot,...

STRAW OR INDIAN CARDS.
The third game mentioned by Father Brebeuf was that which was called straw. We have seen that the first of these games called for strength, agility and endurance. It was as free from elements of chance as any hum...

CHUNKEE OR HOOP AND POLE.
Among the Indians at the south, observers noted and described a game of great antiquity, of which we have no record during historical times among those of the north, unless we should classify the game of javelin ...

OTHER ATHLETIC GAMES.
In addition to the games of lacrosse, platter or dice, straws and chunkee, there were other games, some of an athletic nature, some purely of chance, which observers have described, some of which are mentioned on...

OTHER GAMES OF CHANCE.
There was diversity in the forms of the games of simple chance as well as in the athletic games, and besides those which have been already described, the Indians on the Pacific Coast had a great variety of games,...

CONTESTS OF SKILL.
Lewis and Clarke [Footnote: Vol. II, p. 140.] describe a game among the Oregon Indians which can neither be called an athletic game nor a game of chance, but which seems to have been a simple contest of skill. "Tw...

INDIAN GAMES
INTRODUCTION.--All the games here presented have been played in our land for untold generations, while traces of the articles used for them have been found in the oldest remains on this continent. According to Dr. ...

INTRODUCTORY
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--The objects which are thrown or tossed in games of hazard Dr. Culin for convenience has designated as "dice" and he calls the games "dice games." (Ibid., pp. 44, 45.) He found these games among o...

PATOL STICK GAME
_Properties_.--Three wooden billets; a flat stone about six inches in diameter or square; forty stones about as "big as a fist" or like pieces of wood; as many sticks for markers as there are players; counters to sc...

PLUM STONE GAME
This game belongs to the second and non-ceremonial class of the games of hazard and is generally played by women. The Omaha type is here given, but it is similar to the game as played by kindred tribes. _Proper...

Introductory
Introductory Note.--Games of the "subjective" class, designated as guessing games by Dr. Culin, were generally accompanied by singing. There is a great variety in the games of this class, and five examples drawn fro...

Puin
Introductory Note.--This was a favorite game among the natives of the Northeastern States; its "strange whimsies" were first mentioned by William Wood in his book, "New England Prospect," published in London, 1634...

Ataakut
Introductory Note.--This game is played among one of the basket making tribes of California. As not infrequently occurs in Indian games, there is in this pastime a reflection both of the environment and of the voc...

INTRODUCTORY
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This game, Dr. Culin states, is played among eighty-one Indian tribes of the United States. The game bears different names in the various languages of these tribes. Hand Game is a descriptive ter...

HIDING THE DISKS
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This game, known under a variety of names, is a favorite among the Indian tribes living on the North Pacific Coast. The disks, always of an uneven number, are made of wood and ornamented with ...

IOU'TIN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This game belongs to the class of guessing games. The form here presented is adapted from the game as played by the Omaha, Otoe, Ponca and Pawnee tribes, among whom it is a favorite. _Proper...

THE OPENING CEREMONY
The two Judges rise in their places. The north side Judge holds the four tally-rods in his right hand, the south side Judge holds the four tally-rods in his left hand; the two then walk abreast to the standard. The...

INTRODUCTION
Indian ball games have one feature not found in the ball games as played by us; that is, with the Indian the ball is never pitched and tossed by hand during the play. At the opening of an Indian game the ball must b...

BALL AND RACKET
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--The game in which the ball is struck with a racket is almost exclusively played by men, but there are tribes where it is played by women, and one tribe, cited by Dr. Culin, where it is played b...

TABE
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This ball game was known to a number of tribes that formerly lived on the prairies, and called by different names. The game as here given is as it was played among the Omaha. The opening of the...

DOUBLEBALL GAME
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--Some stories credit the Moon as the giver of this game to the women, by whom it is exclusively played throughout the United States except among the tribes in Northern California, where the men ...

HOOP AND JAVELIN
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This game was widely known and played among the various tribes dwelling within the territory now occupied by the United States. In its passage from one tribe to another the game became modified i...