Stick Dice Game for Native American Heritage Month

One of the special things about our Club is that we are part of the Native Services program. One of the special things about our Native Club is that we don't just have one or two tribes represented by our members. We have nine major tribes in our area, but currently we have nineteen different tribes represented by our membership enrollment. I think that's phenomenal! As a result of having such a diverse background within our youth, I strive to provide program resources for tribes all across our nation. This activity is from the Pomo Indians of California and is called Stick Dice. I've done some research and there are lots of variations of Stick Dice from tribes across the country. We chose this adaptation because it was one of the most simple to explain.

The Pomo nation was well known for their intricate basket weaving techniques. These baskets were used for trade both inside and outside of their culture. Basket weaving patterns were used to create the varied designs used on stick dice.

The original stick dice designs were created using burned etching, we opted to make our designs using markers for safety and practicality.

A group of our older members decorated several sets of sticks for our younger members to use. The game is very simple once you get the hang of it, and because there are counter beans, it's easy enough for the youngest members of our club to play without adaptation.

To play: Divide your group into pair. Each pair gets one set of stick dice (which has six sticks and 12 counting beans). Players take turns tossing their stick dice onto the ground (we had the kids sit in small groups on the floor so that they didn't get as wild with the throwing). When players throw the dice they say this chant: “Hey, chin-amah, Ho chin-a-mah, Hoya, Hoya, Hey!”

To score: Different combination will score different point values. At the start of the game, the beans should be in a pile on the ground. The players collect beans from the pile based on their points from each throw of the dice until the pile is used up and then they collect the beans from the pile of the other player. The first player who has all 12 counting beans is the winner.

Scoring the Throws: This is actually the part I like best about this version. There aren't a lot of complicated scoring rules so it makes game play possible for a wide range of ages.



If a player's throw results in all 6 blank side up stick dice, they get 2 points.

If a player's throw results in all six decorated side up dice, they get 3 points.

If a player's throw results in 3 blank side up and 3 painted side up stick dice, they get 1 point.

Any other combination of stick dice for a throw results in 0 points.

We played this game during one of our all day sessions in November and the kids loved it. This will definitely come out again during games time. How are your Clubs or organizations celebrating Native American Heritage Month? Let me know!