The Stick Game

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The Stick Game

“Considering the Stick Game, each time you pick up the Bones,

you take your life in your hands.” Floyd Heavy Runner

I had a Love/Hate relationship with many of the Indian Stick Game

players, some loved that the fact I could play the game, and win,and some hated the fact that I did it as a Whiteman. Sort of like therise of American Soccer chipping away at one of the last domainswhere Mexico has ruled over an American nation that hashistorically humiliated them in so many respects. To some of theIndians, it was the same feeling at Stick Game, my skill at the

game just hurt them, what would the Whiteman take next, therewas damn little left that he had not already grabbed. I have littlesympathy for that point of view, and it misses the point as concernsme. This simply was a game that I loved. On the other hand, therewere Indians that thoroughly enjoyed the fact that I would, time totime, take the ‘Point’, or leadership of a team, and destroy the

opposition, game after game, throughout the course of a night.These Indians were the ones that did not get caught up in theRed/White politic, but were purely into the technical detail of thegame, the game for the sake of the game, and admired my skill.

Skill and winning was all that mattered. And that is the approachof the better Stick Game players.

Stick Game, closely scrutinized, analyzed in its totality, couldfascinate or disturb a lot of white people, for diverse reasons.Giving the anthropologists something to think over, Stick Game isidentical in its mathematical principle and cultural application, to

the values of the I Ching, the Bones values representing the old &young Yin & Yang, and the divination revealing the relationshipsof Man to the movement of energy in Nature. I realized these people are identical to the Taoists in their theory of the world -as it

applies to this game- and the game is, culturally speaking, an elder brother of the oracles of Chinese Civilization. The Whiteman’s



physical scientists could consider the games ability to shred their laws of mathematical probabilities, when a team goes on a winningstreak, perhaps leaving their physicists stumped. The 900 tollnumber telephone psychics, and the new age channels, could give

up their fraud and amateur efforts, respectively, in exchange for thereal thing at Stick Game, and they would not stand a chance. And

among many other natural phenomena they freak out over, theEvangelists can freak out over the Sorceries, or Witchcraft,associated with the game.

Stick Game has replaced Inter-Tribal Warfare and Horse Stealingas the equivalent of the Olympics in the Western tribes of native

North America. The game is everything in the Indian world that isnot Western or White. It epitomizes the pre-western, aboriginalmethod of thought.

This Stick Game chapter will seem perhaps a bit tedious to some inthe first several pages.. but the intent here is not only to tell the

stories but to actually teach the basics of this ancient aboriginaldivination. A bit of perseverance in these first pages pays off wellin subsequently following the stories of the game itself.

Stick Game takes its name from the sticks that are employed as asort of chit- keeping, the tally of points earned or deducted. Other names for the game, in various forms and applications are; BoneGame (for the bits of bone used in the games required divinations);Hand Game (after the players hands hiding the bones); Feather Game (aka Holy Hand Game, for the requirement to interpret thedivination by a special feather attached to a divining stick- a

variation more typical of formal decision making in a religiouscontext); or just Game. Most Stick Game is played in a commongambling and entertainment form. In this form, you will find theopen field combat of the Medicine Warriors, the Witches and the

Sorcerers. This is the form of the game that I loved.



The mechanics of the game may seem simple. It is not a simplegame.

I knew the game well in two forms, Blackfeet style and, more

importantly, Flathead style: Flathead style is the most commoninter-tribal form used at most of the common, or ‘open’ gambling

games, regardless of the games tribal location. So I will talk aboutthe Flathead style, because if you visit a western states pow wow,and see this game in public, chances are that Flathead style is thegame you would see being played.

‘Taking the Point’ is leading a side in a game. A ‘Point’ is making

a divining choice. The ‘Pointer’, is the leader of your war party,and makes the guesses, leads the singing or designates a songleader, chooses your teams hiders, the ones that will conceal the‘Bones’, in short, the Pointer is the chief of your team for thatgame. Traditionally this leader keeps the ‘Point’, so long as he or she continues to direct winning play of the game. If there is a loss,

in any given game, more often than not, the leader, which had led ateam to defeat, will surrender the ‘Point’ to another player for thenext game. Usually the change of point follows some informalseniority order within the group making up that team.

A typical game kit is 11 sticks, five each with identical designs butdifferent colors and a ‘Kick’ stick that incorporates the design in both colors, and two sets of Bones: each set of Bones has onemarked Bone, and one unmarked Bone. Each Bone set mustgenerally follow these specifications: Each Bone must be easilyconcealable in a fist, and the marked Bone must be clearly marked

and easily differentiated from the unmarked Bone.

To begin a game, the two team leaders face off, each with one setof Bones from their respective game kits. Now the two leaders play

for the ‘Kick’ stick. Each of them hides their bones in their fists, perhaps placing their hands behind their backs or under their shirt



to conceal from the other which Bone went to which hand. Butnow they must reveal their respective fists clutching the Bones for the other to see, perhaps placing their fists on their knees, or holding them in front of their bodies, arms crossed. Now with

gestures of a fist or head, they guess each other, each looking for the unmarked Bone of the other. If necessary, they will guess again

and again, until one has guessed correctly and the other has missedwith his guess. Then the game begins. Whoever wins the Kick,their team has the absolute advantage to start the game. The Kick winner’s game kit is used, their sticks and bones will be played.The other puts his Bones and sticks away. The Kick winner hands,or tosses to the other team, five of his sticks. Then he puts the Kick

stick, already won, away. Each team leader now, sometimes veryritualistically, arranges the five sticks per team on the ground between the teams, these ten sticks belong to the earth, and neither team is in real possession of them yet. The Kick winning team isalready drumming and singing. They presently possess both sets of Bones.

I have played in games with 200 players and singers, and 30 or 40hand drums, back in the 1970’s, when Stick Game was still really big. The teams’ array face to face in long horizontal lines. There is

probably about a ten foot ‘no mans land’ between them. At thericher tribes, I have seen as much as US$18,000 wrapped in a largescarf, or a shawl, lying on the ground between the teams, thecollective wager for a single game. Often these games largelyrepresented, in their makeup, the historical warfare between thediffering tribes. Often times, the older songs employed in thesegames represented accounts of past victories against the foes they

were facing.

Now the Kick winning leader, perhaps standing up to better surveywho is present and playing for him, decides who will hide the

Bones for his team. He will take his time to choose, and thendelivers the Bones to his hiders. By this time, the opposing team



leader is perhaps looking deliberately disinterested in hisopponents magical incantations, acted out in pantomime with theBones. Fists clutching Bones, especially in the hands of thewomen, are sometimes doing something akin to Hawaiian Dance

moves, as the singing and drumming team taunts him, daring himto guess. He can take his time, but he must make a choice. A game

can last ten minutes. A game can last ten hours. You never knowwhat to expect.

The Point in this initial run of the game presents 4 possibilities,looking at the drumming and singing Indians facing him, thediviner, the Chief of the team that wants to win the Bones to his

side, must first make an accurate determination of what he is facedwith. He knows the mechanics, his Point must be either the‘Outside’, the fists facing him in that choice would be the righthand of the hider facing him on his left and the left hand of thehider facing him to his right, the ‘Middle’, the fists of the arms between the hiders facing him, opposite of the previous, or, he

must call open both the left fists or both the right fists of the hiderson the team presently singing. One guess, two hiders. He must findthe unmarked Bone of each. He points his right forefinger to theground directly to his front and nods affirmation, his guess is the

Middle, and the hiders must open their hands and reveal the Bones.Both hiders suddenly bring their fists together, they have beencaught, the singing stops, he has won the Bones. The Bones arethrown across the no-mans-land to the man that just made this firstPoint, now his Indians begin to sing, but only the Bones have beenwon, and with them the right to hide, the sticks have not movedfrom the ground. It is like winning the serve in Volleyball, there is

no score on the exchange. Now the circumstance of play isreversed between the teams.

Now the pointer who had won the Kick is faced with divining, his

opposition is singing and taunting, the drums are loud, and in thisincredible din he must be able to find his sight, be able to see the



unmarked Bones through the concealment and bring them back. Hemakes his shot, extending his right arm, forefinger pointingdirectly off to his right, he has guessed both opposing players lefthands when he adds the required affirmation to his guess, in this

case he simply shouts above the din, Hey!, the opposing hiders, both women, chirp “Ki –yi-yi-yi, and the entire singing team is

instantly frenzied, fingers shaking to the beat at the guesser whohas just missed both the hiders’ positions with his guess, theopened hands revealing his mistake for all to see, he has guessedthe marked Bones, he reaches to the ground and picks up twosticks, throwing them across the no-mans-land to the singing team,their hiders have ‘ducked’, bones and hands concealed from view

as they prepare the bones positions, they are entitled to hide again,now the fists emerge back into to view, the singing team isanimated now, singing loudly together, these women hiders areexperts. The Pointer looks at the ground trying to block out thenoise, and gather his concentration. Now the Pointer must decide if the women hiders have ‘stayed’, or if they have ‘run’ with the

Bones, he has to guess them both again, and deciding both womenhave changed hands with the unmarked Bones, believing they have‘run’ he makes the identical guess as before, again both womengive the Ki-yi-yi-yi, bringing their team to its feet, now standing,

dancing in place to drums, sing and play, they are on a roll, thewomen exhibit their open hands, neither unmarked Bone had beenmoved, they had both ‘stayed’, the Pointer had guessed the twomarked Bones again. The pointer again picks up two sticks andthrows them across to the singing team and then gestures to thesinging team that he has passed the next guess to a woman sittingnext to him, perhaps this woman can divine the women hiders. The

hiders have ducked and now the fists come out again, invitinganother mistaken point. Now this newly designated woman Pointer is the focus of the taunts, as she attempts to concentrate on makinga good point. She closes her eyes and places her face in her hands,

elbows on her knees sitting in a folding chair, she looks without physical sight for the bones and ‘sees’ the younger woman has run,



she has switched the Bones positions in her hands, but she cannot‘see’ the older woman’s Bones, her ‘sight’ is blocked, she can onlyguess. Eyes open and looking now, she attempts the physical sightscrutiny of the older hider. Nothing is revealed. Still she can only

guess. Suddenly this woman makes up her mind and points to the‘Middle’ and nods her affirmation that this is indeed her decision,

the younger woman throws her bones across, busted, but the other woman hider again gives the Ki-yi-yi-yi opening her hands toreveal the mistake.* Now the woman pointer throws one stick across and give the set of Bones she has won back to her originalteam leader. The singing team is sitting again, all eyes are on their remaining hider, will she run?, will she stay?, the original pointer

takes the single set of bones and ducks with them, it appears hewill guess her one on one in the same style as is sometimes used towin the Kick stick. Now he comes out with his fists and holdinghis fists in the air, he shouts Hey! Notifying the hider he hasdecided.. but she will not show, she shakes her head in thenegative, he must open his hands first, he put his hands back under

a blanket on his lap, as though undecided, but this woman knowsall the technical detail of the game, the obscure rules, she hascalled his bluff, his hands had concealed nothing, a trick, but shedid not bite and he looks foolish now, and actually that was his

intention for her, to make her look foolish and break her rhythm.His confidence is shaken. He gives the Bones, this set presentlyemployed for the purpose of guessing, back to the woman that hadwon them, but she has seen his confidence shaken, and that pullsher confidence down too. But she makes the guess, holding her hands extended, palms up with a bone in each, and with her trademark nod in the affirmative, this is her guess, and the woman

hider is chirping again Ki-yi-yi-yi, and the singing team’s leader now reaches down and picks up a stick from the ground in from of him, there are only four sticks left on the ground, some of hissingers are now waving ‘bye-bye’ in their taunts at the opposition

that cannot divine their woman hiding the Bones. Now many of the players on the guessing team, not having drummed or sang since



winning the Kick, are looking glum or serious, being taken downfrom the get-go in a game is unlucky, embarrassing. Now the set of Bones with the guessing team is passed, guess by guess, todifferent players trying to stop the woman hider on the singing

team and with each mistake another stick is picked up from theground by the singing team, until all are gone. Now the guessing

team has only the Kick stick to defend. The pointer pulls it out andstabs the Kick stick into the ground like a stake. He throws the bones, his own Bones that have failed him, onto the ground, and points his forefinger in the direction the Bones indicate the guess..wrong again, the game is over. Finished. The winning team jumpson the bet, matched amounts of money, waiting in the no-mans-

land. It may have lasted 15 minutes.

* with the information provided up to this point, you now have all

the necessary knowledge to determine on which side each hider is

facing you, old or young, your left or your right, and in which hand

each held the unmarked bone for this guess. Can you sort it out?

The preceding description is a general picture of the game, as Ihave seen it played many times, and describes what happens whena team of journeyman players runs into a set of crack players. This

has happened, much as described above, countless times. But it isthe exception, not the rule. There is no typical game, games last 30minutes, an hour, 2 hours, 10 hours (I hated those games.) It is amatter of not only skill, it is about collective will.

I am not going to give up all of my Stick Game secrets, the oldMedicine Ways shared with me, here. What point, example given,

would there be in telling you that the white, very old wild dog shit,Coyote shit from the prairie, is good protection against a particular kind of Indian witch at Stick Game, when that same Indian witch,when not sitting opposite me at Stick Game, is my friend? I mostly

won’t go there, the where’s, whys and how’s of that. Anyway, thatsort of thing is truly dangerous, if you do not know how to read the



context of the sorceries going on in a given game, something likethat little piece of crap can, in a manner of speaking, explode inyour face. But there is plenty I can, and will tell. Some of it perhaps useful to a player that might read this, some of it

interesting to people who just want to know. I will reconstructsome of my own play in games here, intended as

instructive/entertaining descriptions.

I know that my presence as a Pointer bothered a lot of the Indians Ifaced in competition over the years. Floyd Heavy Runner’sdaughter, Sarah, once made a somewhat hilarious observation incasual conversation that I can relate to this. I was enjoying lying in

the prairie grass by a campfire at one of our outdoor summer campsites by the Badger Canyon, there were visiting Indians,everything was relaxed and cool. There is always joking going on,these are incredibly fun and self deprecating people who, whenamong themselves, make jokes about nearly everything having todo with life. Someone was telling what could be taken as a racist

joke, a joke story about a ‘honky’, these stories did not bother me,I made my own jokes about my race, as the Blackfeet did theirs.When the joke had been told, I noticed one of the visitors lookingsomewhat wide eyed at me, for a reaction. Sarah also noticed and

chimed in, “Don’t worry about Ron, he doesn’t realize he’s not anIndian.” That drew even more laughs.

Having Indians like Sarah, people who did not concern themselveswith my race, on my Stick Game teams, and faced with raciallyconflicted Indian opposition on many occasions at the games, I believe gave me an advantage that very few may have ever known

when playing the game. Add the fact that further, I had the mostknowledgeable possible teachers and was a meticulous student of the game, and you sometimes met with a recipe for disaster as anIndian facing me in the game for the first time. No matter how

good a player you were, not far into the game, fear could strikeyou. I had become a master of the obscure rules and technical



detail. Also, I played the race card in subtle ways, to my psychological advantage, when faced with racially conflictedIndians. Stick Game is War, and short of cheating with the Bones,or getting angry (never get angry at Stick Game, a cardinal rule, if

you get angry, you are really finished), you do whatever it takes towin.

One time I was faced with a Pointer I knew did not like me, did notlike Whites. He was typically one of the better game leaders in our region. By this time I was also known as a premier Pointer. He wasconfident he could beat me, it would be a Coup for him to beat theWhiteman, and he was playing a strong game. So I resorted to a

very dirty tactic, for me it was time tested and true against theracist Medicine Men that play the game. I noticed he had a lot of confidence in one song in particular when his team was singingand I made myself learn that song, listening, on the spot. Havingwon the Bones back, I signaled to my singers to sit quiet and I took a drum and sang his song back to him, making no move to chose

my hiders, but singing several stanzas, the first ones correctly, toshow him I had his song, and the subsequent stanzas I deliberatelyfucked up, while looking right at him and saw an expression thatmade it appear he had herniated his rectum right there. And then,

without missing a beat, I converted to one of our teams songs,which my singers immediately picked up, and handing the drum back to its owner, I delivered the Bones to my hiders, now myentire team has picked up the singing and we took all of his sticks,game over.

Another time, a woman Pointer at Flathead, facing me for the first

time, and having heard of my reputation, stated carelessly acrossthe no-mans-land as we were preparing to play, “So I hear you area ‘big time’ Bone handler.” With a straight face I fired right back “I will leave handling the ‘Big Bone’ to you”, an oblique reference

to male anatomy. Coming from a Whiteman, that otherwise totally



fair taunt killed her gaming ability, wrecked her psychology, before we ever played. An easy win for me.

On another occasion, I was not leading the game, but was playing

as a hider. Our team’s leader was Ed North Piegan, a CanadianBlackfeet who had married a Browning Indian that was a relative

of mine, Wilma Wells. I was doing a good job winning sticks, andthe other team was nearly defeated. Chosen again to hide, after Edhad won the Bones back, Ed smiled approval at me from his chair,and as he was leaning forward in my direction, tossing me theBones to hide again, and in full hearing of hundreds of Indians, awoman player, sitting close to Ed and pointing to me, shouted to

the opposing team over the din of the drums, “This is your worstnightmare, look there, it is a Honky with the Bones.” Ed nearly fellout of his chair laughing, he knew my real value as a player.

Every Pointer has to wait, at times, for his or her turn to take agames leadership. Sometimes your turn comes up sooner if you are

sitting on a persistently losing side that changes Pointers often. Buteven in that situation a good Pointer may have to wait. Such wasthe case for me with the big Inter-Tribal games at the BrowningIndian Days Celebrations in the 1980s’. I never had the seniority of

the other good Blackfeet Pointers and most of them would turn outfor these games. So I was, in a manner of speaking, quite a waysdown the list at these events. During those summer celebrationswhen the Blackfeet hosts were winning, and the games did notoften change Pointers (I was always a ‘home team’ player), mosttimes I had no opportunity to point at all. But I always got to play because I also was a good hider, not only a Pointer. There were,

however, two memorable occasions that I was able to leadBlackfeet teams against other tribes teams at these big events.

On one of these occasions, there was a sort of inter-tribal team of

All Stars, a select group of top players from several Canadiantribes that had made the trip together as a team, to take on the



Browning Blackfeet at the Stick Games. The strategy of assembling this special team for the occasion had paid off. TheseCanadians, mostly Crees, had not lost a game since they had begun play, now it had been two days. The Blackfeet persistently took

them on, again and again, Stick Game Indians at home just don’tgive up. They can’t. These Crees could go home and brag that they

had whipped their old enemies, the Blackfeet, but they wouldnever be allowed to say they ran the Blackfeet out of their owngames, that just would not happen.

One of my Blackfeet ‘Blood Brothers’ from Brockett, AndrewSmall Legs, had been playing on our side since the beginning of

this fiasco for the Blackfeet home team, and now it was his turn totake the Point. But he exercised his right to give his turn away tothe Blackfeet player of his choice, and he gave the game to me.Andrew told me, “I have seen what you can do. I know you cantake these people down.” It was about 9 PM. I had my big game.The Pointer for this amalgam of Crees was about 35 years old, and

a friend of mine, Lloyd Chippewa, like myself a Vietnam veteran,was his main assistant. They had picked up Lloyd, a MontanaChippewa/Cree, and a good player, for advice on the Indians theywould encounter at these games. Lloyd had played against our

Blackfeet, and me, many times. I had also played with Lloyd, inthe past, when we had banded together against common foes, suchas at the games on the Flathead Reservation and at Fort Hall,Idaho, against the ‘Snake’ (Shoshone) Indians. Lloyd and I hadalso played together at Wellpinit, Washington, in a sort of informalnational finals Stick Game event. We knew each other’s gamewell. But nobody on the side opposing me, including Lloyd, was

prepared for me to take this game’s point, it was a completesurprise. Up to that moment, I had only sat and watched thesegames. But now I was sitting beside my brother Andrew, ready to begin. And these particular Crees, Lloyd excepted, had never faced

a Whiteman leading a Stick Game before. That was their problem.



This was the Big Time, and I would play my most skilled game,there would be no room for mistakes.

Looking across and seeing Lloyd, I wanted to modify the game I

was most fond of, my technique that Lloyd knew, but I repressedthat urge. I did not dare, at that point, deviate from my game

scheme. It was a tested means of play, I had learned it from veryold people some years before, it was good, and I did not want to place myself in unfamiliar territory by adopting a differenttechnique. My game was good enough to give even Lloyd, whograsped it, a least a bit of a difficult time and he was not the mainPointer for their side, Lloyd had had no chance to explain me to his

Pointer, consequently, importantly, the main body of Indians Ifaced would not realize, initially, that I would employ a very oldmethod of play, complete with arcane rules. In Stick Game, youhave to play up, to the level of game your opposition brings you.And you might be surprised to discover Stick Game is diverse instrategy, much like Chess, and there are many techniques that can

be employed.

After four tries, the Crees won the Kick. They were singing, I putmy kit away. Now I leaned back in my chair, close my eyes for 30

or 40 seconds and let my senses take in their drumming. I allowtheir drums into my head, and note any thoughts, visualizations or sensation the sound evokes to emerge, the ego is consciousness setaside, now I am in the disciplined meditative or waking dreamstate learned from fasting, a state of subconciousness I havelearned to evoke at will. 30 seconds can seem like a long time inthis state. I have found where I want to be, I see some things.

I will play the north-south variation of my game. The will be nomiddle or outside signals in my points, only both their right handsor both of the hiders left. I am willing to give up a stick to do that.

Now I sit forward, opening my eyes, and look towards the hider tothe north, my left, but keep my eyes unfocused and looking past



this player with a set of Bones. I am studying the player with my peripheral vision, looking for energy fields. There is somethingdark clinging to her right side, perhaps the unmarked bone ismasked there by her concentration, she is visualizing the marked

bone as being on her right and directing that thought towards me. Imake my decision regarding her, but make no indication of it, and

turn my unfocused gaze to the other player. I see the dark energyon his right side as well, perhaps the unmarked Bones are set upthat way, imbued with a dark masking energy to ward off a guess,and my several misses, while playing for the Kick, reinforce thethought. Suddenly I send my left arm north, forefinger extended,guessing both players right hands and nod. I have caught them

both, now we can sing. Andrew looks across at the other side withthe slightest cagey smile, he knows these Crees are in for a toughtime.

Now I am surveying the Indians playing on my team, whilestanding with the four Bones in my hands, our people are singing

and no one looks at me- it would be poor form while I am decidingwho should hide. My people had been getting whipped around theclock up to now and I want hiders who have seen my play in the past, in games I have won for them, and have a confidence boost at

my taking both sets of Bones with my first shot. But it cannot beAndrew, he is my 1

stassistant in this game and hides with me

either as a last resort if I get in trouble, or to make the kill, nearingthe end of a game that goes our way. Meanwhile Andrew doesnothing- unless I need him to make a point against a hider thatgives me trouble.

I see a woman that is smiling and taunting, looking confident, andshe seems familiar to me, I throw one set of Bones to her, the other set I give to a Browning woman that has played for me before.Their Pointer shoots and ‘kills’ my players, they both throw their

Bones to the other side. Now I am using my ‘gaze’, my unfocusedsight again, and I can see the dark energy on both their hiders, but



it would require a shot from me to the Middle and I won’t go there.I pick up a stick and give it to Andrew, designating him to take thisshot, but I also lean over to him and say just one word: “Middle.”Andrew takes the stick and acts as though he is in his own

meditative state to divine the Bones, then suddenly points the stick to the ground and nods, the Middle, and both hider throw their

Bones back across to us, Andrew hands me the Bones together with the stick, which I place back on the ground. Now we aresinging and I return the Bones to the same women that were‘killed’ on the last point against us. I want all my team to see myfaith in my players.

Both of my hiders are looking at me and I make a peculiar fistsignal to them both, use the ‘War Club’, hit them, both nodunderstanding and turn to concentrate on hiding without giving upclues, straight faces, unfocused gaze, refusing to react to, or notice,any of the many distractions directed at them by the opposingteam. The opposing Pointer is looking at me now, I had just stalled

his runs and momentum in these games, and he is checking out thisWhiteman that runs a team like a professional. Well, I am a pro,and I notice one of his better players from earlier that night, awoman, is besides herself, barely able, actually not very well able

to contain her outrage at what they are confronted with. I take noteof that, her rage likely will be useful. Lloyd is just taking it in fromthe other side, he does not want to lose, but he knows it would befutile to try and explain what they are up against during the actualgame, it would only distract his Pointer. His best chance is just tosit back and hope his Cree team can cope. They couldn’t. It was ashort game that lasted perhaps twenty minutes and their streak was

over. Winning the Bones back only twice more, and winning onlytwo sticks, other than the Kick, which they ultimately were unableto hang on to, my hiders had gained confidence over the obviouslyrattled Crees. The two Points that I gave up a stick each, winning

only one set of Bones on those points, happened when the energyshowed me their hiders were on the ‘Outside’ and ‘Middle.’ I



could not let Andrew take all those shots without chancing givingaway clues that I could ‘see’ through to the bones and/or was playing a game with an element of Taboo. The old ones that hadtaught me the north-south variation, forbid shots to the middle and

outside: it was a ‘Medicine Rule.’ So shooting only north or south, but able to ‘see’ the energy, I was able to always pick up one set of

Bones on the first shot. When there is only one set of Bones beinghidden for the second shot, there is no middle or outside, there isonly north-south. So when they went outside or middle, my tradeoff was only one stick for both sets of bones, not bad. My hidersdidn’t have that problem. At the moment the game ended, aBlackfeet women from our team, who could speak their language,

told them in Cree “It took a Whiteman to beat you.” Their leadership, including Lloyd, disappeared for a short while to confer about the next game. Normally they could have left with their winnings after a loss following a long string of wins, not being ahome team, but not under these circumstances. Now there was thematter of the Whiteman having defeated them, they could not leave

without a victory over me. Now they were back in their chairs andready to play again.

I had suspected Lloyd would be my next Point opponent, that was

a near given, but what I really wondered was whether they would bring out a different set of Bones. The Bones we had used in the previous game obviously had been ‘Doctored’, the ‘ward off’energy associated with the unmarked Bones in that set had workedagainst my team until I sat down to take the lead, but now the power of those Bones had fled to me. I liked them. Lloyd wasasking the Pointer of the previous game for a Bone set. It was the

same set. I brought out my Bone set, Lloyd had his set of Bonesand we both hid for the Kick guesses. I had won the game, soLloyd had to guess me first, and he indicated his choice of myhands. I did not show any expression or open my hands, but I

guessed Lloyd while deliberately trying miss. He showed his bones, I had missed, and I did not even show my Bones, but simply





solely to the other hider and promptly ‘Killed’ him, retrieved thatset of Bones, and only then turned to her, with my full attention.She is looking right at me, angry, determined, and unafraid. I can’tlet this turn of event get under my skin, I am not going to change

my game now, it is too late for that, so I decide it is just a guessinggame at this point, on any given guess with her, it is 50-50. I

missed, tossed over a stick, she ducked to rehide, too fast, whenshe brought out her scarves again and looked up, it was right intomy point, I had my arm extended already, just a pure guess, but sheran into it, and I had caught her. We had all of the Bones again, shehad nearly thrown hers directly at me, not the cursory toss, and wecould sing again now, and I took my time choosing hiders for my

side, buying time to think over this new development.

This woman appeared to be angry for reasons other than I hadinitially thought. Clearly, she saw something that nobody else onher side was seeing, appearing to be on to me, demonstrated by her scarves, she was obviously upset, but she had not totally lost her

composure, she was not afraid of me, she believed she could takeme on, and that is not the rattled confidence typical of a racistIndian being humiliated by a Whiteman in a game they never believed a Whiteman should play. At least not in my experience up

to this time. I was puzzled. Now, I was not so sure my quiver heldthe arrow with her name on it. But I could not just roll over, I hadto come up with a solution to this player, otherwise she might goon a tear with the Bones. Meanwhile, my players are winningsticks, and Lloyd’s game is in trouble anyway. But the game stillcould go either way. Many times it has happened that a team with a pointer of Lloyds caliber, and just one effective hider, such as this

angry woman possibly could be, can come all the way back, from asingle stick, to win.

I had an idea, and Lloyd had won the bones back, but he was down

to 3 sticks, including the Kick. I knew an obscure point gesture theangry woman might not know. The shot would have to be the



‘Outside’, everything would depend on luck, pure and simple. I didnot even look for the ‘energy’ in the other hider, the player hidingother that this woman, the outcome of that hider, on this shot,would have to be incidental. I took up a stick, and grasping it

between thumb and forefinger, precisely in its center, I held it,hand up, horizontal to the ground and nodded. She sat up sharply,

neither showing the bones and ducking, or throwing them across. Now she looked at Lloyd with a ‘What does that mean?’expression. Lloyd made to her the most common, one of several‘Outside’ gestures, thumb and forefinger spread apart, and she wascaught, it was a correct guess on my part. Very luckily, I won theBones back from the other player as well. Now the angry woman

had been, finally, at least momentarily shook up, and Lloyd hadseen that. We took one stick, Lloyd won the Bones back but wasnow down to two sticks. However, Lloyd did not have confidencein the angry woman and did not return a set of Bones to her. I shotthe outside again and won the Bones back and we again took onestick before Lloyd won the Bones back, now he had only the kick.

Now Lloyd and the pointer from the previous game hid the Bones,their last ditch effort. Neither one of them believed I would come back a third time with an outside shot and they both placed theunmarked Bones in that position. It would not have mattered. I

could ‘see’ the Bones and I shot the Outside shot again, a thirdtime, and then we took the last stick with Lloyd’s next, and lastguess. The game was over. Lloyd was stunned. It had been a fastgame again. About 20 minutes.

After a short break, the woman was back, with a ‘god only knowswhere she found him’ Indian, this old man she sat with, to take me

on for my third game, looked like a photo of Geronimo. He waswearing a Grizzly canine necklace. And together they beat me.Solidly. Andrew took the point for our side and we played themagain.. in one of those collective contests of will that I hate, a game

that dragged on all night. We lost again.



On another day, Lloyd and I, as friends, discussed the first twogames in particular. After we talked, I was laughing in retrospect atwhat had happened. What neither Lloyd or I had known at the timethese games were actually being played, was that this woman had,

earlier in the day before I played, noticed me and pointed me out tothe other Crees from Canada. She had seen me play at Flathead,

was convinced that somehow I had been schooled in the old ways,informing the others I could “really play the game.” Withoutexception, the group had dismissed her account as preposterous.Whitemen can’t do that. Perception of your player’s judgment is paramount, and she was not trusted with the Bones in the firstgame against me. And that is why she was so mad.

A couple of years later, on a second memorable occasion I was tolead a Blackfeet team against another tribe, it was again against agroup of Canadian Crees. It was towards the end of Indian Days inBrowning, actually the last night of the Pow Wow and my HeartButte family, the Wells, had been taking a beating. Towards

daybreak, I took the lead and ‘thumbed’ my way to our first win.‘Spud’ Wells one of my nephews, looked at me immediatelyfollowing the victory and said “Do it again!”

Using your thumbs to point is a reverse guess, and I resorted to this because none of the good pointers in our family, and these wereseveral very good pointers, had made any headway against theteam we faced. Everyone had been consistently deceived into thewrong guess. So I used my thumb from the beginning, and pointing with the thumb only means the opposite of the directionyou have pointed. It was working. When I felt pulled to a direction

with my guess, I pointed that way with my thumb and I was beginning to knock them down, ‘killing’ the Bones, the firstconsistent success we had seen that night. These were not easygames, and into this second game, already a hour long, I had to

shit, and it was desperate. I thought maybe I might have to rupturemy big intestine to keep sitting there much longer. But I could not



leave, I was the only pointer present that had handled thisopposition with any success, and my family could not afford me totake an absence at this moment. There is no ‘Time Out’ in stick game, the only recess is between games. I was trapped. Now,

desperate to escape this trap, for the first and last time ever in allmy years of playing this game, I resorted to a truly dirty trick to

win. I wanted the game over as soon as possible, but I was notwilling to lose, to make a run for the toilet.

Choosing my moment, the next time their side had both sets of Bones, and when their hiders were ready, I used both my thumbs,my right hand thumb out and clear for all to see and pointed to my

right, which by itself would mean both the opposite players righthands, but at the same moment, I also pointed with my left thumb,to the left, opposite direction, however with this thumb held closer into my body so that my players to my right could not see this partof my guess. Now, everyone but my own players to my right sidehave seen me make the real point, not both the hiders right hands,

but the middle. When one of the opposing hiders properly expecteda stick and to hide again, my players to my right, seeing my falseguess intended only for them, became upset and the game stoppedfor a beginning argument. The entire opposition knew they were

correct, my players to my right had the perception I had made adifferent guess, however they were not correct, and I did notimmediately correct things with my players, but for just a couple of moments let the dispute develop to a point that the entire opposingteam was beginning to get angry as well. Only at that criticalmoment, before it got really out of hand, I corrected my players,tossed the stick across and everyone sat down to play again. But

now the opposite team was upset collectively, I still had my players to my left that did not become involved with the arguing,they were not upset, they saw nothing wrong, only wondered whathad happened, and using them, the game was over in only a few

minutes, we won. I jumped up to run for the nearest toilet, the sunwas up, and as I turned around, I saw the last portable toilet on the



Pow Wow grounds had just been loaded onto a truck, and it was being driven away.

**

My Stick Game stories would not be complete if I did not mention

The Blackfeet Elder, Oral Historian and Grandmaster Stick Game player William Running Crane, aka ‚Goat’, who also schooled mein the Blackfeet Oral History account of the Treaty of 1895. Goatis one of the finest traditional Blackfeet Indians I have ever known.I could never do Goat full justice in these stories. But I will sayhere that Goat is without question the most amazing Stick Game

player I had ever encountered. It would be easy for me to write off Goat’s incredible displays with the bones as that of a master magician, to all appearances pushing the bones into his ears and blowing them out of his mouth, if it were not for a singleencounter I had where Goat insured I would never doubt his powers as real. I was in a very small game, facing Goat, one of

those games that is just fun, only a few dollars riding on the gameand a small handfull of players, four or five, on each side. I hadoften in the past seen Goat give a small pop or jerk with his handswhen guessed, before opening his hands to reveal a miss and he

would collect a stick. Now, in this little and otherwise meaninglessgame, Goat taught me about that little convulsive motion as thehighest order of the game as it has ever been played, by drawingmy attention to something I was doing that I might otherwise never have noticed or understood.

Goat was guessing me, and I automatically slipped into the dream

state learned from fasting, I had to play my best, but I could not block out his eyes penetration, they glittered even when I was notlooking. For that fact, I was keenly aware in which hand I held theunmarked bone. There was no point to avoid looking at Goat,

under the circumstance, when he guessed me. So I gazed directlyat Goat waiting for the guess.



Goat guessed, he pointed, and at that moment I felt a small jump in both my fists, and opening them, it was revealed to both Goat andmyself.. Goat had missed, but actually not. The bones were the

reverse position of how I had hid them, they had switched withoutmy opening my hands. I was playing in Dream Time, in the awake

world. Goat saw this, I was doing something more typical for himto do.. and he made me look at it.

I won that game and Goat told me “I challenge you.” Goat wantedme to play him in a one on one Medicine Game, an old time power exhibition right then, right there, in the style of the old Blackfeet

ceremonial rules, a game he knew I could play. I told Goat “Iwon’t, I’m afraid of you.” Goat replied to me “You’re not afraid of me.” But then he let it go. He was right, I was not afraid of him. Iwas actually afraid of how far that contest would go in public, I didnot then and don’t to this day know the extent of my own powersrelating to the game. I knew, however, that Goat’s power was

great. In retrospect, too late, I realized I was wrong to pass on thechallenge. Only the real Medicine people in the crowd would havewitnessed the actual sorceries, the phenomena, and a game thatwould be strictly entertainment at the highest level for their sake.

The uninitiated would only have seen an especially entertaininggame. It was a colossal missed opportunity on my part.

But I made it up to Goat. Later, I bought a photo of a MountainGoat, an old Billy Goat resting on a mountainside, from thenationally known wildlife photographer Tom McBride. I gave that photo to Goat as a gesture of my respect. One of Goat’s grandsons

told me a year or two later that Goat would quietly invite visitors athis Heart Butte home into his bedroom: to see that very special photo of himself in its place on the wall.

Later on, about 1990, I was stuck when I played Stick Game. Icould not run with the bones anymore. So I forced myself, strictly



The Stick Game

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