GAMES OF CHANCE 
The ultimate object of all Indian games of chance is to determine 
a number or series of numbers, gain or loss depending upon the 
priority in which the players arrive at a definitive goal. The Indian 
chance games, as before mentioned, may be divided into dice games 
and guessing games—that is, into those in which the hazard depends 
upon the random fall of certain implements employed like dice, and 
those in which it depends upon the guess or choice of the player; one is 
objective, the other subjective. In general, the dice games are played 
in silence, while the guessing games are accompanied by singing and 
drumming, once doubtless incantations to secure the aid and favor 
of the divinity who presides over the game. 
The guessing games consist of four kinds: 
I. Those in which a bundle of sticks, originally shaftments of 
arrows, are divided in the hands, the object being for the opponent 
to guess in which hand the odd stick or a particularly marked stick 
is held; these for convenience I have designated stick games. 
II. Those in which two or four sticks, one or two marked, are held 
in the hands, the object being to guess which hand holds the un- 
marked stick; for these the common name! of hand game has been 
retained. 
III. Those in which four sticks, marked in pairs, are hidden 
together, the object being to guess their relative position: these I have 
designated four-stick games. 
IV. Those in which some small object—a stone, stick, or bullet— 
is hidden in one of four wooden tubes, in one of four moceasins, or in 
the earth, the object being to guess where it is hidden; for these I 
have accepted Mr Cushing’s designation of the hidden-ball game, 
and for a particular form of the game, the common descriptive name 
of the moccasin game. 
DICE GAMES 
Under this caption are included all games in which number is 
determined by throwing, at random, objects which, for convenience, 
may be termed dice. A game or games of this type are here described 
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