The Game of Chungke

 

The discoidal stones that are found in association with some prehistoric indian sites in North America suggests that they were used in playing a game known to several groups of North American Indians as Chungke or Tchung-kee. Some Mississippian figures actually depict what appear to be Chungke players rolling discoidal stones. This inference receives further support from the accounts Antoine Simon Le Page Du Pratz who observed the game of Chungke being played by different southeastern groups in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Native Americans playing the game of chungke. Image courtesy of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site.

"The warriors practice a diversion which they call the game of the pole, at which only two play at a time. Each pole is about eight feet long resembling a Roman f, and the game consists in rolling a flat round stone, about three inches in diameter and one inch thick, with the edges somewhat sloping, and throwing the pole in such a manner that when the stone rests, the pole may be at or near it. Both antagonists throw their pole at the same time, and he whose pole is nearest the stone counts one, and has the right of rolling the stone." -Antoine Simon Le Page Du Pratz, "History of Louisiana"(1758)