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Native Americans

Play served a variety of purposes and was ubiquitous in the lives of Native American men, women, and children prior to and after European contact. While the activities and implements of play varied among different tribes and geographic locations, play as a process of socialization, physical and mental development, and relaxation held a central place for Native American peoples from the deserts of the American Southwest to the frozen landscapes of the Arctic.

The process of play took many forms for Native Americans. From an anthropological and archeologi-cal perspective, the two most documented forms of play among Native Americans were games and toys, since material evidence provides a way of recording and analyzing the functions and types of play among the indigenous peoples of North America.

Odds and Probability

In general, Native American games included those that involved the odds of probability and guessing and those that employed the physical strength, dexterity, and endurance of the participants. As a form of play limited to adults, games of chance primarily included throwing dice-like objects with various markings and colors on one or two sides and using counting instruments for keeping score. Common dice-like objects included narrow strips of wood and cane, animal teeth, shells, shaped bone, fruit pits, colored beans and grains, and pottery disks. Common counting devices included stones and sticks placed onto a hide or cloth and wooden pegs placed into a board. Native American men and women played dice-like games for amusement and gambling, but these games often had religious and ceremonial importance and thus, in such instances, were limited to men.

Guessing games made up another form of play and such games of chance were widespread among Native American tribes. Guessing games involved participants selecting in which hand, bundle, or particular object a small item was hidden. Often played in large groups opposite one another, these games were social in nature and often accompanied by drumming and singing. They were also based on the amusement of deceiving an opposing group about the whereabouts of the item through diverting the group's attention and moving the item from one place to another. Such games were usually associated with betting and were meant for adult play.

Physical Development

Play for Native American children and young adults commonly involved games that developed their physical development and the skills necessary for them to function with efficacy in their environments. Archery games, for example, provided boys and young men with the opportunity to practice developing both accuracy and strength conditioning. Archery games consisted of shooting arrows through stationary or moving hoops, shooting an arrow at the ground in an attempt to cross an opponent's arrow, and shooting arrows at targets such as cacti, trees, and bundles of grass. Other archery games focused purely on strength, as young men and boys would see who could shoot an arrow the farthest or over a bluff of trees. Such games, however, were not limited to bows and arrows. Other games utilized the throwing of javelins and darts. Like archery games, these competitive activities functioned both as forms of amusement and as preparation for hunting and warfare.

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