The Pima Indians/Esthetic arts/Games

by Frank Russell

ESTHETIC ARTS

Games

The Pimas were deeply imbued with the passion for gambling, and many games were played for the gratification of that desire. The old games are now practically abandoned and those who have the means and the desire to gamble employ a deck of filthy Mexican cards. Beads, paint, blankets, and any and all personal or family property were wagered. The women were quite as fond of gaming as the men, and staked their blankets when all else was lost, making shift to get along with a smaller piece of cloth in lieu of a skirt. When everything was gone the loser might win some stipulated article from her opponent if she could beat her in afoot race. A woman might gamble away the family sleeping mat, the metate, in fact any household property, although she hesitated to wager the drinking gourd, probably owing to the fear of provoking Navitco, the deity who gave the gourd to man.

In common with other American Indians the Pima knew naught of "luck" or "chance." He felt himself aided or opposed by supernatural beings, whose assistance he sought by gifts of beads and other sacrifices deposited on altars in the recesses of the hills, which will be described later. A favorite place of prayer for gamblers was the ceremonial hill northeast of Casa Blanca, near the center of Pimería. The following games were played by the men:

KI^NTS

Under the name of "ghing-skoot" this game has been described as played by the Papagos.^[1] The Pima name of the game is kiⁿts, of the sticks kiⁿtskŭt. Four sticks are used in playing. The set
Fig. 89. Kiⁿtskŭt. collected (fig. 89)^[2] is of giant cactus wood. The sticks are not named "old man," "old woman," etc., as among the Papagos, but are designated as follows:

No. 1—Ki-ik, "four."
No. 2—Tco-otpʼ, "six."
No. 3—Si-ĭkâ, meaning of word unknown to informants.
No. 4—Kiⁿts, meaning also unknown.

The players sit about 10 feet apart and put the sticks in play by striking from below with a flat stone held in the left hand. The sticks are held nearly vertical, but are inclined a little forward so that they will fall in the center of the space between the players, who rake them back with a long stick after each throw.

The count is similar to that described for the Papago game, if we substitute the Pima names for the pieces, as follows:

2 backs and 2 faces count 2.
1 back and 3 faces count 3.
Ki-ĭk facing up and others down count 4.
All faces up count 5.
Tco-otpʼ facing up and others down count 6.
All faces down count 10.
Si-ĭkâ facing up and others down count 14.
Kiⁿts facing up and others down count 15.

The counts are kept upon a rectangle marked upon the ground usually approximating 12 by 8 feet, having 10 holes or pockets, counting the corners each time, along each side. At two alternate corners are 2 quadrants called ki, "houses," of 5 holes each, not counting the corner holes, called utʽpa, "doors."^[3] The stick used by each player or side to mark its throw is called rsâika, "slave" or "horse." When a player is "coming home" and his count carries his "slave" only to the last hole of his house it is said to be "in the fire" and remains "burnt" until he throws a number less than 14 or 15.

Fig. 90. Diagram used in kiⁿts.

The corner hole of the rectangle is called tcolût, "hip;" the second, tco-olrsân, "near the corner;" the third, rsa-akĭt, "middle;" the fourth, ko’kĕtam, "above the end;" the fifth, ko-ok, "last;" the first hole of the house, tco’-oletam, "above the hip;" the second, ki-ĭk vakʽ utra, "four-hole end;" the third, vai-ĭk vakʽ utra, "three-hole end;" the fourth, sapʽkʽ utra, "right end" or "place;" the fifth, tai-ĭ utra, "fire end" or "in the fire." (See diagram, fig. 90.)

HAEYO

This game affords considerable amusement for the spectators as well as the participants. Four men provide themselves with moderately large stones, hayakŭt, which they throw between two holes set about 50 feet apart. All stand at one hole and try successively to throw into the other. If but one succeeds in throwing into the hole he and his partner are carried on the backs of their opponents across to the opposite goal. If both partners throw into the hole, they are carried across and returned to the first hole, the "horses" who carry them attempting to imitate the gallop of the horse.

abcd
Fig. 91. Canes used in vâpûtai.

VÂPÛTAI

A guessing game in which a number of players act as assistants to two leaders. A small bean^[4] is used by the Papagos and a ball of black mesquite gum by the Pimas. It is placed in one of four joints of reed. The reeds are then filled with sand, all being concealed under a blanket, and the opponents guess which reed contains the ball. The reeds are called vâpûtakŭt (vâpûtai, lay), "laying implements" (fig. 91).^[5] Reed a, called kuli, "old man," has 17 longitudinal rows of 8 spots each; reed b, âks, "old woman," is unmarked; reed c, hota stcok, "middle black," has 6 longitudinal rows; reed d, ma-atcoʌolt, has 5 rows around the open end.

One hundred grains of corn are placed between the players in a hole, from which they are taken as won and placed in a hole in front of each player. When a player wins all the corn, he puts up a stick in the sand. The number of sticks may be from 1 to 10, as determined beforehand. Each player cancels one of his opponent's sticks when he wins one himself.

Two players confine their attention to the guessing; one on each side fills the reeds; one on each side watches the counting. Four
Fig. 92. Diagram used in vâputta. men, one at each corner, hold the blanket, under which the filling is done, and sometimes offer suggestions to the leaders. The "old people," the plain reeds, and the marked reeds, are kept together and the "young people" are used by the opponents. When the two pairs are filled with sand and a bean or ball is concealed in each pair, the blanket is dropped and the reeds are laid in the center, each filler handing his pair over to the side of his opponent. If A guesses wrong and B right, four grains of corn are forfeited to the winner. If neither guesses right, they exchange reeds and begin again. If both guess right, there is no count. When one guesses right, he takes the four reeds and places his ball in one and the opponent then decides which pair it is in by laying one reed across the other in the pair which he thinks does not contain it. Then he pours out the sand of first one then the other. If he has guessed right, he does not score, but continues the play by filling and offering to his opponent. If he guesses wrong, the opponent scores 4 and 6 additional if the ball is in the under reed, 10 if it is in the upper.

Fig. 93. Pottery disks.

Cheating is done in various ways, but there is reason to believe that this practice has arisen since the Pimas have come in contact with the whites.

VÂPUTTA

Any number of players may participate, but they are under two leaders who are selected by toss. Each draws up his men in line so that they face their opponents (fig. 92). A goal about 50 yards distant is marked out and the game begins. A small object, usually a circular piece of pottery, one of those so common about the ruins of the Southwest (fig. 93), is carried around behind the line by a leader and placed in the hands of one of his men. The opposite leader guesses which man holds the object. If he guesses wrong, the man at the end of the line in which the object is held who stands farthest from the goal runs and jumps over the upheld leg of the man at the opposite end of his own line. This moves the winning line the width of one man and the length of a jump toward the goal. If the first guess is correct, the object is passed to him and there is no jumping until a guess fails.^[6]

The boys play several simple games which develop skill in shooting the arrow or in running. In the former class may be included the following game:

VATÂMՈMՈLĬTC HՈKOʌOLIWIA

The players stand in a circle while a boy runs around outside, dragging at the end of a string a bundle of rags. When the play begins each boy deposits an arrow in a heap and the one who transfixes the bundle as it flies past is entitled to the pile of arrows. At the end the best marksman may have nearly all the arrows. The same runner continues throughout the game and receives a few arrows as compensation for his services.

PAPAIETCITAKŬT

The name of this game signifies "cooking place." Several boys play in the game. A rag ball the size of one's fist is tossed up and the one nearest where it falls tries to throw it against another, using a slightly curved stick called henyusika. The one hit has to stand with his head down to protect his face while the others throw the ball at him. After all throw, the game begins anew.

OKMAITCĔKĔ

A bundle of grass, called woliwikke, is tied with willow bark so that it is about 125 mm. long and 50 mm. in diameter. The player tosses the bundle upward with his left hand while holding the bow in his right, ready to shoot the bundle before it can strike the earth.

When the bundle is thrown forward instead of upward it is called tcomält maitcĕkĕ, "to shoot the bundle low."

NAOF TOWE KՈKRSA

The title given above signifies "prickly-pear standing opposite." There are usually four players, though sometimes two engage in this shooting game. Prickly-pear leaves are set up opposite each other at a distance of about 30 yards. The game is to pierce the leaf with an arrow, and when four are playing the two partners share equally the winnings or losses. Arrows, bows, and such similar property as these ragged urchins possess are wagered. A bow is considered worth from 10 to 20 arrows, according to quality.

KՈORSA

Either two or four may play. The game consists in shooting an arrow so that it will lie on the ground at a distance of about 100 feet and then shooting two more arrows with the intention of casting them across the first.

KWAĬTUSĬWĬKŬT

The children sometimes amuse themselves by tossing into the air corncobs in which from one to three feathers have been stuck. They do not shoot arrows at them.

There are three games in addition to the athletic game of âldû which were played exclusively by the women.

MEKÛT TOAKŬT

Two women play this game. Five stones that have been carefully selected from rounded pebbles 3 to 4 cm. in diameter (fig. 94) are
Fig. 94. Gaming stones. used. The first player calls one of these "my stone" and tosses it into the air, keeping her eyes fixed upon it while she snatches up one of the other four stones before the first falls. After all are picked up in this way she begins again and picks up two at a time, then three and one, then all at once. If she proceeds thus far without mistake she wins the game. The next game is more difficult. The named stone is tossed up as before, but those remaining are shoved under an arch formed by the thumb and middle finger with the first finger crossed over the middle one. The stones are pushed under the arch in the same order as in the first game. In the one-plus-three combination the player selects one stone which she calls her opponent's and says she will not pick that one up first.

KÂ-ÂMĬSAKŬT

This stave game is played with eight sticks in two sets of four each, which are colored black on the rounded side in one set and on the flat side in the other, the opposite side being stained red (fig. 95). Two play, each using her own set of sticks, but exchanging them alternately, so that first one set is in use and then the other. They are held loosely in the right hand and are thrown from the end of the metate or any other convenient stone. If all fall red side up one
Fig. 95. Staves used in game of kâ-âmĭsakŭt. point is scored by a mark in the sand. Tf all are black two are counted. Winning four points completes the game.^[7]

TCՈLIKIWĬKŬT

This is the Gileño form of the widespread dart-and-ring game. It is not exclusively a woman's game, but was sometimes played by them. The younger generation knows nothing about it. The apparatus consists of a series of rings cut, from cultivated gourds (fig. 96). They vary in diameter from 3 to 12 cm., and are strung on a 2-ply maguey fiber cord 50 cm. long. They are kept from slipping off at one end by a rectangular piece of gourd a little larger than the opening in the smallest ring, which is at that end. At the other end of the string is fastened a stick 20 cm. long, the outer end of which is sharpened. The game is to toss the rings up by a swing and, while holding the butt of the stick, thrust the dart through as many of them as possible. If the thrower fails she hands the apparatus to her opponent, but she continues throwing as long as she scores, and counts the number of rings that are caught on the dart. In the specimen collected there are 14 rings, but only a few may be caught at a single throw. A certain number of marks, 2, 3, or 4, agreed upon in advance, constitute the game. These marks are made upon a diagram laid out in
Fig. 97. Diagram used in tculikiwĭkŭt. the sand in the form of a whorl (fig. 97). The scoring commences in the center, called the tcՈnni ki, "council house," and runs out to the last hole, called hoholdega ki, "menstrual house," which is on the west side of the diagram; then the score returns to the center before the player is entitled to one point toward game. If the player who is behind throws a number that brings her counter to the same hole as that of her opponent she "kills" the latter and sends back her counter to the beginning point, but this is not done if she passes her opponent's position.

Fig. 96. Dart-and-ring game.

Two specimens were obtained at Sacaton which were probably used in games by the Hohokam, illustrations of which are here presented for the benefit of those engaged in special researches concerning gaming devices.

Fig. 98. Cup stone.

CUP STONE

One of these objects is a cup-shaped stone of lava which was obtained from a Pima who had found it in one of the Gila Valley ruins west of the Casa Grande (fig. 98). Doctor Fewkes has called the writer's attention to the fact that it resembles the wooden cups used by the Hopis in a game not unlike the European "shell game."^[8]

Fig. 99. Ring stone.

RING STONE

A few rings of porous lava have been found about the ruins which have been called "head rings" because of their resemblance to the ordinary head rings of cloth or bark in common use among the Pimas (fig. 99). However, as most of them are too small and the material is extremely unsuited for such a purpose it is much more probable that they were employed in some game with which the present race is unacquainted.^[9]

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1. Culin in Report National Museum, 1896, 738. His description is from notes and material collected by McGee.
2. Length, 222 mm.; width, 17 mm.; thickness, 7 mm.; hemispherical in section; not colored on either side.
3. Culin in Report National Museum, 1896, p. 739.
4. Obtained from Sonora from the tree called paowĭ by the Pimas and chilicoti by the Mexicans.
5. The collection contains one set of reeds which are 27 cm. long and 22 mm. in diameter.
6. The object in called rsâika, "slave." It is 40 of 50 mm. in diameter, is pitted in the center "to prevent cheating," and may be of either pottery or stone.
7. This is similar to the game described in Report National Museum, 1895, 742.
8. It is 96 mm. long, 53 mm. in diameter, with cavity 26 mm. in diameter and 42 mm. in depth.
9. Diameter of ring, 115 mm.; internal diameter, 45 mm.; thickness, 55 mm.