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Evidence for Patol
2 pieces of evidence found.
Id DLP.Evidence.1577
Type Ethnography
Location 34°54'28.55"N,106°41'40.89"W
Date 1891-01-01 - 1891-12-31
Rules Forty stones are arranged in a circle, with a larger gap between every tenth and eleventh stone. One piece per player. Any number of players. Three sticks used as dice, marked on one side and blank on the other. Throws are as follows: One marked side up = 3, two marked sides up = 2, three marked sides up = 10; all blank sides up = 5. One piece per player. Players enter their pieces from one of the wider gaps in the board, and chooses to move either clockwise or anti-clockwise. Each player may enter on whichever large space they choose, and proceed in whichever direction they choose. When a player's piece lands on a space occupied by the opponent, the opponent's piece is sent back to the space in which they entered. The first player to complete the circuit wins.
Content "A NEW OLD GAME. The Teewah branch of the Pueblo Indians with
whom I live call it pa-tol. 1 Boys and gray-
haired men play it with equal zest ; and of a sum-
mer's evening, when work in the fields is done, I
seldom stroll through the village without finding
knots of old and young squatted in convenient
corners at the most popular of all their sedentary
games.
There is nothing complicated about the preparation of a pa-tol set. The boys gather forty smooth
stones the size of their fist, and arrange them in
a circle about three feet in diameter. Between
every tenth and eleventh stone is a gate of four
or five inches. These gates are called
" rivers." In the centre of the circle ( " pa-tol house " ) is placed a larger cobblestone, smooth and approximately flat on top, called
hyee-oh-tee-dy. There is your pa-tol ground.
The pa-tol sticks, which are the most important
part of the paraphernalia, are three in number.
Sometimes they are made by splitting from dry
branches, and sometimes by whittling from a solid
block. The chief essential is that the wood be
firm and hard. These sticks are four to five
inches long, about an inch wide, and a quarter of
an inch thick ; and must have their sides flat, so
that the three may be clasped together very much
as one holds a pen, but more nearly perpendicular,
with the thumb and first three fingers of the right
hand. Each stick is plain on one side and marked
on the other, generally with diagonal notches, as
shown in the illustration. The only other requisite is a Jcah-nid-deh (horse)
for each player, of whom there may be as many
as can seat themselves around the pa-tol house.
The " horse " is merely a twig or stick, used as
a marker. When the players have seated themselves, the
first takes the pa-tol sticks tightly in his right
hand, lifts them about as high as his chin, and,
bringing them down with a smart, vertical thrust,
as if to harpoon the centre stone, lets go of them
when they are within some six inches of it. The
three sticks strike the stone as one, hitting on
their ends squarely, and rebounding several inches,
fall back into the circle. The manner in which
they fall decides the " denomination " of the throw,
and the different values are shown in diagram
No. 2. Although at first flush this might seem to
make it a game of chance, nothing could be farther
from the truth. Indeed, no really aboriginal game
is a true game of chance the invention of that
dangerous and delusive plaything was reserved for
civilized ingenuity. An expert pa-tol player will
throw the number he desires with almost unfailing certainty by his arrangement of the sticks in
his hand and the manner and force with which he strikes
them down. It is a dexterity
which any one may acquire
by sufficient practice and
only thus. The five-throw is
deemed very much the hardest of all, and I have certainly found it so. It is to
this opportunity for skill in
throwing that the interest of
the game and its value are
due.
5 According to the number of
his throw the player moves his
marker an equal number of
stones ahead on the circle,
using one of the " rivers " as a starting-point. If the throw
is five, for instance, he lays his
" horse " between the fourth
and fifth stones, and hands
the pa-tol sticks to the next
man. If his throw be ten,
however as the first man's
first throw is very certain to be it lands his
" horse " in the second " river," and he has another
throw.
The second man may make his starting-point
the same or another "river," and may elect to run
his " horse " around the circle in the same direction that the first is going, or in the opposite. If
in the same direction, he will do his best to make
a throw which will bring his " horse " into the same
notch as that of the first man in which case the
first man is " killed," and has to take his " horse "
back to his starting-point to try over again when
he gets another turn. In case the second man
starts in the opposite direction which he will
not do unless an expert player he has to calculate with a good deal of skill for the meeting, to
"kill," and to avoid being "killed" by No. 1.
When he starts in the same direction as No. 1, he
is behind and runs no chance of being " killed,"
while he has just as good a chance to kill. But
if, even then, a high throw carries him ahead of
the first man for " jumping " does not count
either way, the only "killing" being when two
"horses" come in the same notch his rear is in
danger, and he will try to run on out of the way
of his pursuer as fast as possible.
The more players, the more complicated the
game, for each " horse " is threatened alike by foes
that chase from behind and charge from before,
and the most skilful player is liable to be sent
back to the starting-point several times before the
game is finished, which is as soon as one " horse "
has made the complete circuit. " Lummis 1891: 184-187.
Confidence 100
Ages Child, Elder, Adolescent, Adult
Genders Male
Source Lummis, C. 1891. A New Mexico David, and other Stories and Sketches of the Southwest. New York: Scribner's and Sons.
Id DLP.Evidence.1578
Type Ethnography
Location 35° 4'5.87"N,108°50'57.25"W 35°26'1.68"N, 106°26'48.06"W 34°49'26.79"N,106°50'18.84"W 35° 2'12.21"N, 107°22'58.08"W 35°36'32.10"N,106°21'1.07"W 34°53'47.08"N,107°34'54.71"W 35°48'8.75"N,105°58'31.91"W 36°24'21.72"N,105°34'25.29"W 36°20'36.45"N,106°11'20.68"W 35°53'31.10"N, 106° 7'6.06"W 32°46'38.50"N,108° 9'11.06"W
Date 1891-01-01 - 1891-12-31
Content "n a reply to a letter of inquiry, Mr. Lummis writes me that he distinctly remembers having witnessed this game at Isleta, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, and Taos (Tewan(; at Acoma...(Acoma colonies), Cochité, Laguna, El Rito, Sandia, and San Felipe (Keresan), and Zuni." CUlin 1898: 734.
Confidence 100
Source Culin, S. 1898. Chess and Playing-Cards. Washington: Government Printing Office.
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