CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES: Family and Friends
ACTIVITY FIVE: First Nations Card Game
John Tod met his wife Sophia at Fort Kamloops where some of their children were born. This game comes from the Thompson River First Nations of that area; perhaps their children learned to play it, or Sophia played it as she grew up.
Types of Cards
- sun
- man (kokwoi)
- dog (kokwoi)
- fishes
- backbone of fish
- roots
- loon-necklace
- crossing of many trails
- crossing of trails, bridge, or four quarters
- trails
- trails, creeks, or trunks of trees (xwa'akst)
Activity Steps
Make two sets of these cards. cardboard can be used instead of birchbark. Together they create one deck of cards.Game
1
- Two players are required; one player and one dealer.
- Shuffle the cards well.
- Four cards are laid down, face up.
- Each person chooses two of these.
- The dealer places the rest of the cards down in succession.
- When a card is placed down which matches one of the two cards in the players' hands, they take the card and place it aside, thus creating a matched pair.
- The first player to have both of their cards matched first, wins.
Game
2
- Shuffle cards.
- Two cards are placed on a mat face up.
- The dealer then gives three cards to the player, backs up, and the next three to himself.
- The player goes first.
- If he has a mate of either of the two cards facing up, he throws it down, face up, on top of its mate, and then taking both together, lays them aside; he has won a trick.
- If the player doesn't have any matches, he simply places one of his hand cards, face up, along side the other two.
- The dealer then plays his cards, either picking up a trick or discarding his card,
as the case may be.
- They play in turn until all the cards are used up.
- The cards are shuffled again.
- Then the dealer gives three cards to the player again and three to himself again and they play until all the cards are used up.
Points are scored by the type of 'trick' one has.
The player who is able to gain:
- one "kokwoi" gains 5 counters (or points).
- both "kokwoi" gains 10 counters (or points).
- one "xwa'akst" gains 10 counters (or points).
- one "xwa'akst" and one "kokwoi" gains 15 counters (or points).
- both "xwa'akst" and one "kokwoi" gains 20 counters (or points).
- both "xwa'akst" and both "kokwoi" gains 30 counters (or points).
- If he gains the last, which is the highest, it is called "tsispikst" or "tsispelk."
- The person who gets the most cards gets 5 counters (or points). There are 4
pairs of winning cards.
The pictures on the cards are suggested by the dreams of the owner of the pack.
Possible Discussion topics:
- What card games do you play? Do you play cards on a computer?
- Have you ever made a drawing of your dreams?
- Why was animal imagery important to First Nations people? (See the First Nations legends on this
website.)
- Do First Nations people still know the language of their ancestors? Did they have to learn English or French to trade with the fur traders?
What other languages did they have to learn?
- Why were trails and creeks important to them? Did they have roads or trains?
- How did they travel to trade with the Europeans or other Native People? (See the
Adventures section of this website.)
- How do you think they'd leave messages for others along a trail?
For Teachers
These activities are meant to supplement your classroom lessons and help to
achieve the following Social Studies 5
Learning Outcomes:
- analyze the impacts of technology on lifestyle and work.
- demonstrate an understanding of Canadian culture.
- demonstrate an understanding of Canada as a bilingual nation within a multilingual society.
- analyze factors that influence use and development of transportation and communication systems in different regions of Canada.
