A game similar to dice, called tingmiujang, i.e., images of birds, is frequently played. A set of about fifteen figures like those represented in Fig. 522 belong to this game, some representing birds, others men or women. The players sit around a board or a piece of leather and the figures are shaken in the hand and thrown upward. On falling, some stand upright, others lie flat on the back or on the side. Those standing upright belong to that player whom they face; sometimes they are so thrown that they all belong to the one who tossed them up. The players throw by turns until the last figure is taken up, the one getting the greatest number of the figures being the winner.
Fig. 522. Figures used in playing tingmiujang, a game similar to dice.
(Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6823.) 1/1
A favorite game is the nuglutang (Fig. 523). A small, rhomboidal plate of ivory with a hole in the center is hung from the roof and steadied by a heavy stone or a piece of ivory hanging from its lower end. The Eskimo stand around it and when the winner of the last game gives a signal every one tries to hit the hole with a stick. The one who succeeds has won. This game is always played amid great excitement.
Fig. 523. Game of nuglutang. (Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. IV A 6821.)
The sāketān resembles a roulette. A leather cup with a rounded bottom and a nozzle is placed on a board and turned round. When it stops the nozzle points to the winner. At present a tin cup fastened with a nail to a board is used for the same purpose (Fig. 524).