HIDING THE DISKS

Source: Indian Games
Category: Guessing Games



INTRODUCTORY NOTE.--This game, known under a variety of names, is a
favorite among the Indian tribes living on the North Pacific Coast. The
disks, always of an uneven number, are made of wood and ornamented with
designs composed of segments of circles with groupings of dots. Some of the
markings are regarded as cabalistic, and there are men who claim to have a
knowledge of spells that will bring luck to the disks they ornament and
treat; such disks are considered valuable and often command a high price.
All of the disks in a set that is used in this game are ornamented alike
except one; this must be different from the others. It may be decorated
with red, for the sun, or with a dark color almost black, for the night.
This disk is frequently called the "chief," and the aim of the game is to
guess in which pile of disks the "chief" is hidden.

_Properties_.--A mat on which the game is played; a small mat on which the
counting or tally-sticks are put; a board that is to serve as a drum; four
drum-sticks; nine wooden disks about two and a half inches in diameter. The
designs on the nine disks, the twenty tally-sticks and the four drum-sticks
should be in color or burned into the wood. Eight of the disks should be
decorated alike; the ninth must be different and have either red or brown
as the predominating color; this disk is the "chief." A bundle of excelsior
is to be the substitute for the fiber of cedar bark which is used by the
Indians of the Northwest Coast when playing this game; if excelsior is not
available, dry leaves or some other dry material might be substituted,
within which, or under which, the disks could be hidden. All the articles
used in this game except the mats should be made in camp.

_Directions_.--An uneven number of players is required for this game. The
mat is laid east and west; at a little distance back to the northwest the
small mat is placed and on it are put the twenty tally-sticks. In a line
with the small mats to the northeast is laid the board around which the
four singers and drummers sit. The bundle of excelsior, or whatever
material is used in its place, together with the nine disks, is put at the
western end of the mat; before these is the place for the player who is to
hide the disks. On the northern and southern side of the mat sit the
players who are to guess where the "chief" is hidden, three or four on a
side. The messenger stands at the eastern end of the mat facing the player
who is to hide the disks. Lots should be drawn to determine who of the six
or eight players are to sit on the northern side and who on the southern
side. The player who is to do the hiding of the disks can be either
selected or drawn by lot. Whoever takes this part in the game should be
capable of considerable dramatic action. Among the Indians the person who
does the hiding of the disks personifies one who practices magic; he makes
passes over the disks and the cedar fiber under which the disks are hidden,
makes signs and movements, and does what he can to throw a spell of
confusion over those who are to guess where the "chief" is hidden.

When the players about the mat, the singers about the board drum and the
messenger standing at the eastern end of the mat are all in readiness, the
singers begin the following song, keeping time by beating with their
drum-sticks on the board drum; the players about the mat join in the
singing.

HIDING THE DISKS

[Music]

The player at the western end of the mat opens the bundle of excelsior or
other material and spreads it on the mat and then puts all the nine disks
under the material, making many movements as he does so, all of which must
be in rhythm with the song, rolling the disks about under the material and
finally dividing them into two parts, well covered up by the material. He
continues to make passes with his hands as though invoking mysterious
forces and to shuffle around the two piles of material in which the disks
are hidden. Suddenly a player points to one of the piles; the player at the
end ceases to shuffle and sends the disks concealed in the pile rolling
down the mat to the messenger standing at the other end, who looks to see
if the "chief" is among the disks rolled toward him. If he finds it, all of
the players on the side of the guesser give the victory shout and the
messenger goes to the small mat, brings one of the tally-sticks and stands
it before the successful guesser. Then the messenger rolls the disks back
to the other end of the mat where the person sits who hides the disks. That
player begins again his passes and movements as he mixes together the nine
disks and hides them under the material; then he divides the disks and the
material under which they are hidden into two piles, shuffles them about
until a player points to a pile, when he at once stops shuffling and sends
the disks under the pile pointed at rolling down the mat to the messenger.
If the "chief" is not found among the disks, the side to which the
unsuccessful guesser belongs loses a point, and the messenger takes from
the small mat a tally-stick and stands it at the end of the row of players
on the opposite side. The disks are then sent spinning over the mat to the
player who hides them. He mixes up the disks, hides them, shuffles the
piles until another guess is made. If that guess should be by a player on
the side that had just lost a point, and the guess prove to be
successful--that is, the pile pointed at contain the "chief"--then the
messenger takes the tally-stick that had been put at the end of the row of
the opposite side and stands it in front of the successful guesser. He
could not take back a tally-stick that had been won by a guess unless all
the tally-sticks had been taken from the small mat. One side or the other
must win twenty points to be victor in the game. In the process of winning
the game the tally-sticks may therefore be taken back and forth before one
side wins the entire twenty.

The victory shout is given only when a successful guess is made. The
singing stops at a victory shout and is resumed as soon as the disks are
rolled back to the player who hides the disks. He must be careful to keep
all his dramatic actions and movements of hands, arms, body and head in
rhythmic accord with the song. The steps and movements of the messenger
must also be in time with the song.


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