Ankle bone shooting

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Ankle bone shooting is a game of Mongolian origin, having been invented around the time of the empire of Genghis Khan. The game involves flicking a piece of bone with one's finger towards other bones (ankle bones) that serve as a target.

A large number of traditional Mongolian games are played using the anklebones of sheep (knucklebones), known in Mongolian as shagai. Depending on the game the anklebones may be tossed like dice, flicked like marbles, shot at with arrows, cuaght in the hands, or simply collected according to the roll of a die. In many shagai games the manner in which a tossed bone lands is significant. The anklebone can land on any of four sides, each of which corresponds to one of the animals herded in Mongolia : horse, sheep, camel, and goat.

• Horse race. This is one of the most common shagai games. It is usually played with two players, but more can also participate. A number of bones are lined up to represent the steps of a race course, and each player places one bone as a racehorse at the beginning of the track. Players take turns tossing four anklebones, moving their racehorses one step (i.e., one bone along the line of the course) for each "horse" obtained in the toss. The first player to reach the end of the course wins the game.

• Birthing camels. On a player's turn, they toss all the bones on the ground. If any bones have landed as camels, the player attempts to knock each one over so that it ends up on the sheep side, by flicking it with one of the other bones that previously landed as a sheep. The player continues the turn until there are either no camels or no sheep remaining. If there are no camels, the player collects all the sheep. If there are no sheep, however, the player must set aside all the camels and try to knock them over with the sheep obtained in subsequent turns. Once all the bones have been collected by the players, whoever has the most sheep wins.

• Cat's game. A number of bones are set up two by two in a row, placed uniformly either on the sheep or on the goat side. Players take turns tossing a small object (often a piece of chain) into the air and, before the object can reach the ground, picking up one of the laid-out bones without disturbing the others next to it. If the surrounding bones have not moved the player can take another turn; otherwise the next player's turn begins. Whoever manages to collect the most bones wins.

• Full toss. Between two and four players can participate, using any number of bones. Players take turns tossing all the bones onto the playing surface and counting the number of bones which have landed on horse and camel. If there are no camels, the player collects all the bones having landed on horse. If there are no horses, however, the player must return a number of horses to the general pool equivalent to the number of bones having landed on camel. A player without enough horses to replace establishes a debt which must be repaid on subsequent turns. Once all bones have been collected, the player with the most bones is the winner.

• Open catch. Any number of players can participate in this game, using ten or more anklebones. On each turn the player places all the bones in their hands and tosses them into the air, then quickly turns their hands over and tries to catch the bones on the back of the hands. The player then throws the bones thus caught upwards into the air once more, and attempts to catch as many of the bones as possible by grabbing them in a fist. The bones caught in this manner are kept by the player. The game continues until all the bones have been collected, with the player having the most bones becoming the winner.

• Twelve years. The main object of this game is to throw the anklebones so that they land on the "horse" side. Two players take turns tossing two anklebones, counting a point for each horse obtained in twelve rounds, corresponding to the twelve years of the traditional calendar. The player who obtains the highest number of points wins the game. If neither player obtains twelve horses in twelve tosses of the anklebones, the game begins anew. It is considered auspicious for a horse to land in the round corresponding to the player's own year.

• Tossing three shagai. Any number of players can play towards an agreed-upon number of points. The players take turns tossing the three bones, scoring two points if all three bones land on the same side (i.e., three horses, sheep, camels, or goats), and one point if two of the bones are the same.

• The four shagai. This game is played with four shagai. Players take turns tossing the four bones, earning eight points if all four land on different sides; four points if all four land on horse, sheep, camel or goat; and two points if the four bones land in two identical pairs (e.g., two sheep and two horse, two horse and two goat). If all four bones land on the same side following anyone's throw, all players attempt to grab the bones as quickly as possible; if any player succeeds at obtaining all four bones, they are entitled to add the value to their score. The game is won when one of the players succeeds at overcoming the remaining players by an agreed-upon margin of points - typically ten, twenty, or thirty.

• Four animals. This game is set up by dividing the bones into four equal groups, set up to represent four different herds of animals - sheep and goats, camels, horses, and cattle. (For the purposes of this game the traditional "sheep" side of the shagai represents the cow, while the "goat" side represents both sheep and goats.) Players take turns tossing an anklebone, collecting one bone from the laid-out "herd" corresponding to the animal-side on which the bone has landed : thus if the tossed bone lands on the camel side, for example, the player will take one bone from the camel herd and place it in their own camel stock. During the course of the game some of the herds may become depleted, in which case a player tossing a bone corresponding to that animal must return one animal from their own stock to the appropriate herd. A player who has no large animals (cow, horse, camel) must substitute two small animals (goats and sheep) when required to return large animals to the general herd. Once all the animals have been taken by the players the number of animals in each player's stock is counted - two small animals being equivalent in value to a single large one - with the player having the most animals declared the winner.

Used by permission from Eric Thrift 8/20/07 of mandal.ca with attribution to БНМАУ-ын угсаатны зүй [Ethnography of the MPR]. Ed. S. Badamkhatan. Ulaanbaatar: 1987, pp. 365-368)

See also: Shagai