54 GAMES OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS [ETH. ANN. 24 
bound with cotton cloth, and the inner side of the bottom is 
covered with the same material. The game is played by women. 
Collected by Mr James Mooney in 1891. 
The following account 
of the game is given by 
the collector: 4 
The dice game is called ta- 
u’séta’tina (literally,  strik- 
ing or throwing against 
something) by the Arapaho, 
and mo’nshimainh by the 
Fic. 21. Bone dice; lengths, } and 1j inches; Arapaho In- Cheyenne, the same name 
dians, Oklahoma; cat. no. 152802, United States National being now given to the mod- 
Museum ern card games. It was prac- 
tically universal among all 
the tribes east and west, and, under the name of hubbub, is described by a 
New England writer ® as far back as 1634 almost precisely as it exists to-day 
among the prairie tribes. The only difference seems to have been that in the 
east it was played also by the men, and to the accompaniment of a song, such 
as is used in the hand games of the western tribes. The requisites are a small 
wicker bowl or basket (hatéchi’na), five dice made of bone or plum stones, 
and a pile of tally sticks, such as are used in the awl game. The bowl is 6 or 8 
inches in diameter and about 2 inches deep, and is woven in basket fashion of 
the tough fibers of the yucca. The dice may be round, elliptical, or diamond 
shaped, and are variously marked on 
one side with ites or Heures, the tur- ani Tanna 
tle being a favorite design among the ORR Wt'e in a bi 
Arapaho. Two of the five must be bh tick 
alike in shape and marking. Theother 
three are marked with another design 
and may also be of another shape. 
Any number of women and girls may 
play, each throwing in turn, and some- 
times one set of partners playing 
against another. The partners toss up sae Sea ace eee 9 nae 
the dice from the basket, letting them SEM AUE RRR OE 3 eee Re mae 
drop again into it, and score points ac- 
cording to the way the dice turn up in the basket. The first throw by each player 
is made from the hand instead of from the basket. One hundred points usually 
count a game, and stakes are wagered on the result as in almost every other 
Indian contest of skill or chance. For the purpose of explanation we shall 
designate two of the five as ‘“ rounds” and the other three as “ diamonds,” it 
being understood that only the marked side counts in the game, excepting when 
the throw happens to turn up the three “diamonds” blank while the other 
two show the marked side, or, as sometimes happens, when all five dice turn 
up blank. In every case all of one kind at least must turn up to score a point. 
A successful throw entitles the player to another throw, while a failure obliges 
her to pass the basket to someone else. The formula is: One only of either 
kind counts 0; two rounds, 3; three diamonds (both rounds with blank side up), 
*The Ghost Dance Religion. Fourteenth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, 
pt. 2, p. 1004, 1896. 
> William Wood, New England's Prospect, London, 1634. 
