Bloodless war game
November 7, 2009 5:26 AM   Subscribe

Oral histories indicate that slahal is an ancient game, dating to before the last ice age. At times discouraged, this gambling game is still being played. Also known as the bone game and the hand or stick game, the rules are simple: guess which hand holds the unmarked bone. But while your team tries to guess, the opposing team will confuse you with chants and drumming and music. And you do the same to them. An entire game can be quite loud and quite subtle. A short documentary.
posted by twoleftfeet (8 comments total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
My ADD self would not be good at the finding the bone, but I might not be bad at hiding it. Cool post, thanks.
posted by schyler523 at 6:38 AM on November 7, 2009


This is interesting. So the idea is to fake a shoot to see if people react. They say that the drumming and singing is to 'intimidate' the other team, but it seems to me that it's more of a tool to stop the team from reacting (by keeping them occupied) when the other team feints.

I'm not sure how much of a game this is, but I'd like to read what a real games designer thinks of it.
posted by empath at 10:17 AM on November 7, 2009


I played a version of this at camp when I was a kid. It was a great way for the teenage counselors to mess with 6th graders.
posted by shinyshiny at 11:12 AM on November 7, 2009


Sorry to nitpick, but isn't "Wikipedia says that oral histories indicate slahal is an ancient game, dating to before the last ice age citation needed" another way of saying "I am totally making this shit up right now?"

I mean, if the game is ubiquitous throughout the Americas, one could make an argument for the game dating to the last ice age (and only near the end, really), but beyond that oral histories don't get you anywhere unless there's some group of indians somewhere keeping meticulous oral track of ice ages. Archeological evidence or widespread traditions of some kind of similar game among NE siberian groups (or Chukchi, or Nivkh, central siberians, or whomever your amerindian ancestor du jure is) would maybe give you an argument... but damn.
posted by kernel_sander at 11:34 AM on November 7, 2009 [5 favorites]


oral histories don't get you anywhere unless there's some group of indians somewhere keeping meticulous oral track of ice ages.

I don't think anybody who plays this game for money really cares exactly how old it is, but they agree that it is very old. From the fifth link:
A set of 14,000-year-old rodshaped bones now in the Washington State Historical Society Museum is evidence...
Oral histories are more along the lines of putting the origin at the time when animals and humans were fighting it out, and running out of food. (also from the fifth link).
posted by twoleftfeet at 2:38 PM on November 7, 2009


One of my favourite books of all time, Medicine River by Thomas King, has a scene that revolves around a hand game... I've always wanted to learn more about it. Thanks, twoleftfeet!
posted by Jughead at 3:04 PM on November 7, 2009


I first heard about this game in Jean M. Auel's Earth Children series (Clan of the Cave Bear, etc.). She seems to think it was old, too.
posted by wires at 4:23 PM on November 7, 2009


From the Wikipedia article:
Oral histories indicate that slahal is an ancient game, dating to before the last ice age.[citation needed] In the Coast Salish tradition, the Creator gave stickgame to humanity as an alternative to war at the beginning of time. Thus the game straddles multiple roles in Native culture -- it is at once entertainment, a family pastime, a sacred ritual and a means of economic gain (through gambling). These juxtapositions are sometimes difficult to comprehend for the Western mind, but to many members of the Native community they are woven together effortlessly as a harmonic whole.

"Difficult to comprehend for the Western mind"? You have to be kidding me. Factual accuracy of the rest of the page aside, this is an outdated tourism pamphlet, not an encyclopedia article.
posted by DoctorFedora at 7:29 PM on November 8, 2009


« Older Colin Douthwaite Logs Off   |   Makes you nine feet tall when you're four foot... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments