Vince Two Eagles
The Rez of the Story
Yes, Indians had Board Games too
By Vince Two Eagles Hau Mitakuepi (Greetings My Relatives), The so-called "holiday season" has arrived everywhere at once here in our country--yes even in Indian Country. Many families have begun conversations about where they are going to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas, complaints about the out-of-control cost of Xmas gifts are also thrown into the mix for good measure. So be it. But I thought it a bit appropriate to call your attention to an interesting fact of history about what may surprise you as a legitimate subject for possible conversation about the so called "savage" and "ignorant" nature of the indigenous peoples who's savagery and ignorance was of course lifted by the "certainty" of European culture brought here by European immigrants. One of the more common gifts I noticed families like to give each other during this coming time of year is board games. Yes, I said board games--you know like Monopoly, Scrabble and the like. Well, I got news for you, American Indian people had already invented "board games" without any "help" or "enlightenment" from white America thank you very much.
A depiction of the game of patolli in the Codex Magliabecchiano. Image from University of California, Berkeley, via Wikipedia
Case in point--Emory Dean Keoke and Kay Marie Porterfield in their book American Indian Contributions to the World
put it this way: ". . . Patolli and bul, two board games played by ancient Mesoamericans, were engaged in recreationally, as a form of gambling, and for religious purposes. These games, blending strategy and chance, were just as challenging and entertaining as those devised in Europe or Asia. Boards of patolli have been found scratched into buildings floors and on benches at Aztec archaeological sites; the Florentine Codex shows two people playing patolli. (The Aztec Empire was established in what is now Mexico and parts of Mesoamerica in about A.D. 1100.) Although bul is certain to have originated with the Maya, who were playing it by the time the Europeans arrive, no game boards have been found. (Maya culture flourished starting in about 1500 B.C.)"
The go on: "Patolli is often credited with having Aztec origins; however, some archeologists believe that both games are Maya in origin. Patolli boards have been discovered throughout the Maya world."
And they continue: "Both patolli and bul could be played on round or square boards, but the rules were different. Patolli was similar to modern-day backgammon or Parcheesi. Generally it was played on a marked board or bark paper, with beans for counters. The first person to travel around the board and return home safely would be the winner. Whether or not the Aztec originated the game, they played it frequently and bet high stakes on who would win."
Then they tell us: "Bul, the Maya word for playing with dice, utilizing grains of corn for markers and involving throwing other grains of corn that had been burned on one side as dice. Players advanced their markers by throwing the dice. If they landed on a space occupied by another player's marker, or "warrior," they could capture it, then change direction to drag it back to the other end of the board. At the point the opponent's warrior would be officially dead. The game ended when all of one of the player's men had been "killed." When more than two people played, the rules were more complex. Some Maya still play a version of the game today.
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"Board games were popular throughout North America as well. Much like modern board games, they were played with dice and counters, or "men," that were moved around a course marked out on a board. For example the Hopi . . . played a game called totolospi, using dice made of two pieces of cane with designs burned into the round side. Players placed stones they called animals on a board marked with a square design, including a number of circles around the perimeter," Keoke and Porterfield conclude. Thus the stereotype of Indian people being living out violent and poverty ruled lives, so popular among many white Americans, becomes less and less tenable when you know the rez of the story. Doksha (later) . . . Find the award-winning Lakota Country Times on the Internet, Facebook and Twitter.
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