Hubbub – A Native American Dice Game

This is a traditional Native American dice game. The scoring systems seem to vary from one reference to another, so the system below is a simplified system which scouts should be able to follow.

You will need one set of materials for each pair of players

Equipment

• 1 flat bottomed bowl or pie dish

Materials  

• 5 dice traditionally these are plum pits. If you don’t have plum pits be creative. Small wooden craft pieces work well. Or use bottle caps.
• 50 sticks use actual sticks, toothpicks, or craft sticks

Instructions 

1. Decorate one side of three of the dice with stars. On the other two dice, decorate one side with Xs.
2. One player tosses the dice in a bowl. The dice will be star side up, X side up, or blank side up.
3. Score as shown in the notes below. The player who rolled the dice takes a number of sticks equal to the number of points he scored.
4. The second player rolls and is scored just as the first player was.
5. When all of the sticks are gone, each player counts his sticks. Whoever has the most sticks wins.

Scoring

• All blanks = 1 point
• 2X’s (and a combination of blanks and stars on the other dice) = 3 points
• 3 stars (and a combination of blanks and Xs on the other dice) = 3 points
• 5 marked sides up = 8 points
• Anything else = 0 points

Picaria

Picaria is a Native American board game which is somewhat like tic-tac-toe or checkers. You can play it by drawing the lines for the play area on the ground or you can print out a template for the board.

Pahsahëman

Pahsahëman is a Native American field game which is somewhat similar to football. This game originates from the Lenape of the American Northeast.

Be Respectful of Native American Culture

Before discussing Native American traditions or imitating them, think about how your words and actions reflect on the culture and be knowledgeable about how they might be interpreted.