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Waltes: A Northeastern Native American Bowl Game
Waltes was a traditional
game played by the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Micmac. This version
of the game is adapted from information found in Frank G. Speck's Penobscot
Man (1940) and Stewart Culin's Games of the North American Indians
(1907). The game rules have been simplified to allow elementary school
children to play. A photograph of an actual waltes game, taken by Frank
Speck, can be seen in the Penobscot Primer Project gallery of the Hudson
Museum.
Materials
• Polymer clay, such
as Sculpey™, in white or off-white
• Bamboo kabob skewers. Enough to make 51, 6-inch counting sticks
• 4 craft sticks
• A sturdy paper plate such as Chinet™ for the waltes bowl
Procedure
Make 6 round dice that
are domed on one side and flat on the other. To make the dice, you may wish
to shape them in a watercolor paint tray or mini ice cube tray. Follow directions
for baking the clay. When the dice are cool, decorate the flat side with
a permanent, felt-tipped pen. Use the same design to decorate all six dice.
Use some of the dice designs below or create your own.
Next, make the counting
sticks. Cut the bamboo kabob skewers into 6-inch lengths, discarding the sharp
points. A pair of pliers works well for this task. You will need to make 51
plain, round counting sticks. To make the other counters, take 3 of the craft
sticks and draw the fletching of an arrow on one side. On the remaining craft
stick, draw the arrow's point.
Arrow Fetching Design and Point Design
Hudson Museum
Game Rules for 2 - 3 Players
Each player takes three
turns dropping the dice. A player shakes the six dice and drops them into
the waltes bowl. A player who drops his or her dice on the ground, rather
than in the bowl, loses his or her turn. For each die that lands with its
decorated side up, the player is awarded a wooden counting stick (see scoring
count above). After a player has completed his or her three throws, the
dice are passed to the next player. If all four craft sticks are claimed
by a single player, that player receives four additional round counting
sticks as a bonus.
The game continues until
all the wooden counters are distributed. Each player counts his or her sticks.
Each round stick counts as 1; the arrow fletching counts as 5; and the arrow
point counts as 6. The player with the highest score wins.
Scoring
For each die that lands
decorated side up, the player is awarded a wooden counting stick.
If 1.......1 round stick (1 point)
If 2.......2 round sticks (2 points)
If 3.......3 round sticks (3 points)
If 4.......4 round sticks (4 points)
If 5.......a stick with arrow fletching (5 points)
If 6.......the stick with the arrow point (6 points)
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