cULIN] DICE GAMES: KERES 121 
A piece of bone, white on one side and black on the other, is tossed with the 
fingers. Black counts 10 and white 5. Black gives another throw. The count 
is 30, and is kept by making marks on the ground. Formerly a deer bone was 
used, but now a sheep bone is substituted. 
Keres. Cochiti, New Mexico. (Cat. no. 4977, Brooklyn Institute 
Museum. ) 
Three sticks, 4 inches in length, flat on one side and convex on the 
other, one of the flat sticks marked on the round side with four- 
teen or fifteen notches with two crossed notches, as shown in 
figure 126. 
They were collected by the writer in 1904, and were made by a 
Cochiti boy at St Michael, Arizona, named Fran- 
cisco Chaves (Kogit). He gave this account: 
The sticks are thrown, ends down, on a flat stone. The 
counts are as follows: Three round sides up counts 10; 
three flat sides up, 5; the marked stick round side up 
and the other two flat side up, 15; one round side up and 
two flat, 2; one flat side up and two round, 2. The game 
: - Y) 
is counted around a circle of forty stones with markers TSS 
called horses. 
3 Fig. 126. Stick dice; 
Laguna, New Mexico. (Cat.no. 61819, Field ‘length, 4 inches; 
4 Keres Indians, Co- 
Columbian Museum.) chiti, New Mexico; 
: . eat. no. 4977, Brook- 
Three flat wooden blocks, 44 by 1% inches, with one ion TeRtiintat Mae 
side plain and one side painted red. One of sev. 
the block has fifteen notches, ten of which are on one edge and 
five on the other, as shown in figure 127. Collected by Dr C. E. 
Lukens. 
The following detailed account of the game, under the name of 
owasokotz, which was furnished by the collector, appears on the 
museum label : 
The game is played with three billets 
of wood, painted black on one side, white 
on the other, one of the white sides hay- 
ing fifteen notches on it, the other plain. 
Each player bas a small stick to use 
as a marker, formerly known as o-poia- 
nia-ma, but of late called a horse, “ be- 
cause it goes so fast;” a flat stone, the 
Fig. 127. Stick dice; length, 4} inches; size of the hand, used as a center stone, 
Keres Indians, Laguna, New Mexico; : 5 
cat. no. 61819, Field Columbian Museum, UPOD which the billets are dropped; and 
forty small stones, the size of a hen’s egg. 
These forty stones are placed on the ground in the form of a circle, with four 
openings, or doors, called si-am-ma, always facing the four cardinal points. The 
play always begins at the east door, but after that they play whichever way they 
choose. Each player may go a different way if he chooses; as many as wish can 
play, or they may play partners. At the beginning of the play the horses are 
placed at the east door. A player takes up the billets and, placing the ends even 
with one hand, strikes them ends down on the center stone like dice; the count 
