What games do Mongolians play?

[question from Sophie, Tom and Edward]

Mongolians play many of the same games that we do in the United Kingdom. Playing cards is something that helps people get through the long winter nights. Chess is also very popular - most families will own a chess board. I have also often seen people meet in the streets to play dominos. Groups of people will sit down together in a park and play dominos for a couple of hours.

However, there is one game which is only found in Mongolia, called "shagai". Shagai is a game which uses pieces of sheep's ankle bones. Families will have boxes of these bones - one family I stayed with had a box with over a 100 pieces of bones! The game starts when one player throws all the pieces into the air. The pieces then settle on the floor, landing in different positions.

sda

The positions the bones land in are important to the game. How the bone lands determines which animal the bone represents.

• If the bone lands on its side and it is curving inwardly, then it is a camel.


• If it lands on its side and is curving outwardly, it is a horse.


• If the bone lands completely flat, and is curving inwards it is a sheep.


• A goat is a bone that has landed completely flat, and is curving outwards.

You can see the different positions can be seen in the photo:

The game is a bit like playing marbles - you have to flick the shagai bones so that they hit the same type of bone (so a 'horse' bone would have to hit another 'horse' bone). If you hit the correct bones you get to keep them. However, if you miss or you hit the wrong bone (for example, your camel bone hits a horse, sheep or goat bone), your turn ends and your opponent gets to have a go. The one with the most bones at the end of the game wins. Shagai is a very traditional game, which has been played for hundreds of years. It is still very popular - many children play this game.
asas

Some people also play a slightly different game with the shagai bones - the "shagai horserace". Some bones are lined up to create the racetrack. Next the players chose another bone to be their counter on the 'racing field' (the space next to the racetrack). Then each player takes it in turns to throw four bones. If they throw any 'horses', they can move their counter forward one place. The person who is the first to get to the end of the track is the winner!

P.S. I'll talk about the sports that Mongolians like to play in a future post.