Farmington Area Education Foundation
Ojibwe Games
Farmington High School
Ashley Anderson - FHS English Teacher
Thank you for your support in bringing joy to learning!
We had so much fun playing our first round of games!
These board and card games align with our novel’s main character, Ezra, who is a member of the Ojibwe nation. We are using Ezra’s story to dig into identity and culture.
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Bagese (shown to the left)
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Bagese (or Bowl Game) is one of many Anishinaabe games of chance. The word Bagese is the verb “to throw” in the Ojibwe language. It is in reference to the dice going into the air when playing this game.
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Traditionally, Bagese is played using thirteen counters of bone carved into various shapes like men, snakes, war clubs, fish and ducks, along with four circular brass counters. These are thrown from a bowl, and a score is derived from the way in which they fall.
Makizinataagewin: The Moccasin Game (shown to the right)
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This is a game of hide and seek. At the start of each Moccasin Game the 20 long sticks and the 9 shorter scoring sticks are unearned and placed in the middle-side of the playing area. The Moccasin Game begins by a coin toss as one of the teams calls Head or Tail. The winner of the coin toss receives 4 sticks from the middle sticks and earns the right to hide the bead first. The loser of the coin toss is the hitting team and will attempt to the find the bead.
Ginebig -The Snake Game (shown to the left)
Many Native communities have their own versions of hand and stick games. Ginebig is a modern, reimagined game, based on the Ojibwe Snake Game, also known as the Ojibwe Stick Game.
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The snake game is a game of chance played by rolling or tossing your “snakes”. Traditionally, the snakes were made of carved sticks or tree roots.