ESL and American Indians

Native American Handgame

Today and Yesterday

Written By:

Karlie Mathias

This happened a long time ago, when the animals and the birds, were the people of the land.  They were created to make way for the humans who would come later, and so the story goes….

There once was this coyote, every time the coyote would get killed his wife would come jump over him and he’d become alive again.  And then there’s this owl who says, “How come Coyote gets to have that special privilege?” And so one day, Owl went to talk to Coyote.  “It’s not fair!  Every time you die you get tot come back.  Every time one of us dies, we stay dead!” And so they talked and talked and they couldn’t come up with a fair answer.  So then Coyote thought and says, “Well, lets play a game, the winner gets to decide if everyone lives or if some people get to die.” And then Owl says, “Well, what kind of game you talking about?” Coyote says, “Well, we’ll make one up.”

The history of the handgames, stickgames or bonegames, varies from tribe to tribe.  Each different tribe that plays has their own tale of how the game came to be, games were once played by over eighty different tribes across the U.S. and yet the origin is unknown.  Willy Running Crane, an elder of the Blackfeet Tribe of Indians in Montana, shared a little bit of history of the game through translation, as he still only speaks his native language. “People liked to play these kinds of games, it was entertainment and it brought them together. When they played the game, it was the men who played; there were no women that were involved at that time.” (Kenneth Old Person translating) “The B.C. Indians were the only ones who used the drum, now everyone uses the drum.”  The one legend to be believed amongst most tribes is that hand games pre-date history, the oral tradition tells us that people originally learned handgame from the animals.

“What kind of game should we have to decide life and death?” Coyote says, “Lets just play a guessing game, I have this stick right here, who ever gets this stick, gets to decide.” The owl says, “Well how do we guess, what do we guess for?” Then Coyote looked around and right next to the camp fire is a couple of bones, “Oh, these will be

good. Ok, who ever guesses the good bone, wins.” Again, Coyote sees the camp fire, takes one bone in his hand, with his paw he gets into the ashes; he rubs it into the middle of the bone. “That’s the bad bone, that’s the one you don’t want. If you point this way and you get the white bone, you win!”

It is said that there are many different ways to play this game, a lot of families have different rules and beliefs that they follow. The standard run down of the game can be complicated to understand in the beginning, even though it seems so easy. You play with two sets of two bones, totaling four. One set includes one solid white bone, the other with a black stripe around it.  The basic way to play stickgame is played with eleven counter sticks; these are used to keep track of which team is winning. To begin playing, you have two teams, the teams sit facing each other, and usually a team captain, or a guesser, is appointed before the teams are established.  Generally, people play with other family members; some will never play against their family according to beliefs. The two guessers will play only each other (one-on-one) to determine who wins the “kick,” (the eleventh stick, or the extra stick) this also indicates who will start off hiding the bones and who’s stickgame set (bones and sticks) will be used. Which ever side wins the kick, the guesser, or captain, opens their set, (usually wrapped in a kerchief) the members of his or her team will begin singing and drumming, the guesser will hold up the kick stick symbolizing that they now have the advantage of the game.

“We sing songs and dance to try and confuse those on the other side, to take their mind off what they are doing.” Jacquelin Joe, a woman from Vancouver Island has been playing since she was a young girl and still has the passion for the game as if it was her first time playing. The guesser would then walk over to the guesser of the other side and hand them their five sticks, shake hands and with each other luck. As the game is about to begin, people sitting on each side wave their money in the air hoping to get a player of the other side to bet that the side they’re sitting on will win. The guesser, who wins the kick, will then take the two sets of bones and select two people from his or her team to hide them. Once he\she selects the two people, the hiders hide the bones one in each hand, (remember, one solid and one striped) while the rest of the team drums, sings, and makes gestures to try and distract the guesser on the guessing team. After both hiders come out (show the guesser their hands indicating they’re ready without exposing the bones) the guess will then take his first shot at the pattern of the hidden bones. There are four possibilities for the hiding pattern, also, keep in mind that the object of the game is to guess which hand they are hiding the solid bone in. The adrenaline is intense not only for pride; the hundreds of people sitting with you depend, and bet, that you are the winning guesser.

Owl points, he gets the white bone, there is Owl cheering and yelling, “I get to decide, I get to decide!” Coyote says, “Wait, wait! There is a mistake!” Owl says, “What do you mean there’s a mistake” You told me if I pointed for the white bone, I win.” Coyote says, “Look, I found another stick!” Coyote starts humming, he was rubbing the bones. Owl says,”What are you doing Coyote? Are you making medicine again?” Coyote is known for making medicine. “I’m just wiping the dirt off the bones.”

And then the next day, Owl pointed again, there was the white bone again, and Owl just gave up and said, “Well, did you find another stick?” Coyote replied, “Yeah Owl, I did, I found another stick!” Owl says, “One more stick, that’s all we’re going to play for, one more stick!” Coyote says, “Well, maybe so.”

As the drums beat harder and singers sing louder, the pressure is on. Which way are they? Both to the left? Both to the right? In the inside, or on the outside? A hand motion is signaled for each of these guesses, a simple point of the index finger to the left is guessing that the solid bones are in the hider’s right hands and vise verse. Using your index finger to point down to the ground, guesses that the solids are on the inside hand of the two. Holding your hand up with only your index finger and thumb out guesses they’re holding on the outside hand.

After the guesser has made their final decision on which way to guess, the hiders open their hands to expose whether the guesser has guessed them correctly. If they have guessed you correctly you must surrender your set of bones to the guesser. However, if they were incorrect, or “missed you,” the guesser must surrender one of his counter sticks to the guesser on the hider side. The hider will then hide again, the rest of the team will still drum and sing, and the game will carry on this way until the opposing guesser has guessed correctly and has both sets of bones in their possession. It would then be the other teams turn to hide, the game will go back and forth in this manner until one team has all eleven counter sticks, and are named the winners of the game by the opposing team.

In all those days that they were playing stickgame, people were beginning to starve. There was no food. And so Coyote thought about that, “I guess it’s not good to have everyone live forever.” So they sat and played for one more stick, twenty-one sticks, twenty-one days this game lasted. And finally Coyote picked up that last stick, showed everybody, “This is the last stick, winner gets to decide life and death!” and Coyote thought, “Yeah maybe it’s not a good idea for everyone to live forever. This will be a good game to lose.”

Amongst the multiple differences in the game there are also generation disputes. Along with many other cultures, stories and everyday rules, things change over time.  The late Floyd Williams once told me, “Make sure and watch your son really carefully around here, these old timers they know how to use their medicine. In the middle they shoot medicine back and forth at each other, and if your son happens to run in the middle, he might get hit.” He talked about how much the game has changed in all the time he and his late wife played the game. “The young men these days, that’s all they use is their drum, we can’t even hear the songs they are trying to sing, all drum.” Williams also speaks of the gestures, or “points,” that are made in this generation, there are guessers out there who will “fake” guess to try and get the hiders to show their bones. This is known as a form of cheating and is frowned upon and even banned on some reservations.

On the other hand, to most of the people of our day, it is believed that this game has become more and more about the gamble of money. “We used gaming, stickgame, handgame, bonegame, in our past, in our culture, in our way of life as a form of obtaining good, as a form of enhancing our worth; gaming now with our casino is doing the same thing.” Ronald “Buzz” Gutierrez plays for the travel, the entertainment and to meet new people and keep in touch with old friends, for him, money is not a requirement. For a lot of others, new gamers, it’s just a game, to them, its no different then sitting in front of a slot machine.

And Coyote started singing again, rubbing the bones. And Owl notices, “You’re sure doing that much harder this time!” And all the time, he’s rubbing that black mark off the bone, this time he pointed on the right side and it was a white bone.  Owl says, “Alright, I won, no more sticks Coyote, twenty-one days, twenty-one sticks we have. That’s it!”

“Ok,” Coyote says, “You won!” Owl stood and says, “Ok. Everyone is going to die when it is their time, that’s it!” and that’s how we got life and death, and that’s how we got stickgame.