Games, Toys, Pets and Tools
of the Alsea Indians


The game most often played was called split- stick-dice.

Games--

The games the Alsea Indians played were all somewhat the same. One of the games played was flicking pebbles with twigs, at targets, such as a tree trunk, leaves, etc. Another game played, was very much like this one; they would put a dart on a stick and shoot it at a grass target They also used miniature bows for a number of other games.
The game most often played was called Split-Stick-Dice; although I'm not exactly sure why. Four dice--which were painted like ours today--were rolled. If you got any sort of pair they you got a point, and if you got twopair,

then you got two points.

The brothers would bet their sister against women in the other tribe.

Another one of the games that the Alsea Indians played went along with one of their creation myths. It was called Shinny. The game Shinny was played much like field hockey is today. They used wooden sticks shaped almost exactly the same and a ball wrapped in skins. The purpose was to get it in the goal.
The Alsea believed that four young brothers and their sister went around and played with all of the other tribes. The brothers would bet their sister against women in the other tribe. The four boys never lost. When they won the women, they would get them pregnant and leave them, spreading their kind all across

the land.

Two toys that were found most often in kids' hands were tops and a weird device that made noise...

Toys--

Two toys that were found often in kids' hands were tops and weird device that made noise when strings were pulled. This device was a circular disk made of wood, with
 two holes in it. Tring was interwoven through it in such a way that when you pulled the strings back and forth it made noise.
      --Adam Schreiber

Pets

The Alsea Indians had pets. They had d'ogs and at least the informant, Mrs. Ludson, had a pet seagull. The dogs had pointed ears, curly tails, short hair and white necks. They weren't named after people like we do now.
The Indians didn't train the dogs, they just kept them around as pets. The slept in the woodsheds. If the dog's owner was killed the dog might be killed too. Most likely for spiritual reasons.
Mrs. Ludson explained that her pet seagull wasn't kept in a cage. It was loose and free but it was domesticated like a parrot.

      --Bobby Grader

...her pet seagull wasn't kept in a cage. It was loose and free...





One toy involved a wooden disk spun on a loop of string or sinew. Early settlers used string and a button to make a similar noisy toy.