Native American Stick Game

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Native American Stick Game

• Author Roberto Wheaton

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Session Goals
Present the fundamentals of Native
American Stick Game Appreciate and describe
how probability a role in Native American
Stick Game Create a scoring key Investigate
how other Native American games use probability
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Narrative

• Historically gaming has been a part of Native
  American culture for generations dating back
  hundreds of years. Stick Game is played by Native
  Americans in the western two-thirds of North
  America. With slight variations in hand gestures
  it is a game of chance or intuition that involves
  placing side bets and wagering pots of money or
  goods as grand prize.
• Traditionally, stick game was played as an
  ice breaker between tribes with waged items like
  horses, skins, food as prizes. Today Native
  Americans continue the Stick game tradition at
  Pow Wows with wagered pots in the thousands of
  dollars.

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Native American Stick Game Rules

• The goal is to identify or guess the correct
  position of female (plain) bones using hand
  signals.
• Each time a guesser is correct his/her team wins
  a counting stick.
• When he/she guesses incorrectly the team must
  give up a stick.
• The team who wins all the sticks is the winner
  and takes home all the waged goods and money in
  the pot.

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Materials
Stick game pieces
Kicker Stick
Bones
Bones
Counting Sticks
Counting Sticks
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Physical Set Up

• The Stick game is played by standing or sitting
  in rows across an open area five or six feet
  wide. Each team assigns a leader who will appoint
  members to point or hide the bones.

Leader
Leader
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Stick game photo
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Group Role

• The group role is to distract the opposing
  team by singing songs, beating drums or sticks.

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Individual Role

• Each team will decide on a leader who will
  also serve as pointer (guesser) and decide who
  will hide the bones on each side.
• The team with the bones will have two people
  hiding bones in their hands using a covering or
  behind the back.
• When the pointer is ready to guess
• he/she yells out Ho and gives
• a hand signal.

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Materials Hand Signals
male
female
Bone Arrangement Hand Gesture Description
Thumb and index finger outstretched, other fingers flexed
Hand edgewise down the middle
Index finger pointed to the right
Index finger pointed to the left
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Stick Game Rules

• The goal of the game is to win all the
  sticks by guessing the correct position of the
  plain (female ) bone combinations.
• To start the game each team will be given a plain
  (female) and marked bone.
• Each team will select a guesser and hider.
• The first team to identify the plain (female)
  hand position will start the game as the hiding
  team.
• The guesser must identify the correct position of
  the plain (female) bone combination in order to
  gain a stick and bone sets.
• Each incorrect guess will result in giving up one
  stick to the other team.
• The guessing team will continue to guessing until
  correct.
• Correct guess will result in the transfer of one
  stick and both bone sets.
• The team that earned all the sticks is the
  winner.

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Scoring Key
Using the information from this game.. Create a
scoring key that shows the probability of
guessing the correct female bone locations.
Guesses Kicker Team Team





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Probability Worksheet

• After playing the game come with a worksheet that
  shows the probability involved in this game.

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Questions

• 1. How does chance play a role in this game?
• 2. What is the probability of one guesser of
  being 100 percent correct?
• 3. How do the counting sticks add to the
  probability of winning this game.

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Additional Research

• Research other cultural games for probability
• Create your own game with natural materials.
• Compare and Contrast Stick with Plum Stone game.