From Astragaloi to Jacks ……. and divination

Since ancient times games have been present in societies to relate people to each other in an enjoyable manner, especially in times when war was, almost a lifestyle.

The game of Knucklebones, also known as Astragaloi, Tali, Kuglelach, Five Stones, and other names, has been around for thousands of years and played all over the world, including Africa, Australia, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas. The first evidence known of its existence can be found in Homer’s poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, in Sophocles writings, a painting in Pompei and a Roman statue featuring a young woman playing it.

In its origin, the game was played with little rocks or animal ankle bones (sheep, goats or pigs). There were two methods of playing it. The first one consisted of tossing up the bones and catch them with the back of the hand. In the second method the player launches one bone to the air leaving the others on the ground, then he should take one bone from the ground with one hand and catch the bone in the air with that same hand.

But the use of knucklebones or just throwing bones is part of an even older tradition still in use today, this is divination o predicting the future or just searching for an answer where there is none. Depending on the type of bone and how they fell they will have different meanings or emotions. For example, in ancient Greece, unmarried women played knucklebones to put themselves in the hands of Aphrodite who will find them the perfect husband, and in Mongolia, it was related to fertility, destruction of evil spirits and promotion of life.

Over the years the game suffers some changes, bones have been replaced with metal or plastic pieces called Jacks and a rubber ball has been included, but the rules remain practically the same. There is some evidence that this modern version of the game arrives from Asia in the first half of the 20th century until then kids used to play the game with a sponge ball and seeds.

Today it is considered an old-fashioned game because you cannot play it on your phone or on any electronic device.

Some other names for Jacks

Argentina: Payana

Mexico: Matatena

Cuba and Venezuela: Yaquis

Costa Rica, Honduras and Panamá: Jackses

Perú: Jases o Jaxes

Colombia and Dominican Republic: Jases, Jacks, Catapis o Chipcha, depending on the area.

Ecuador: Macatetas

Unites States: Jacks