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Games in Culture
JOHN M. ROBERTS
Cornell University
MALCOLM J. ARTH
Harvard University
ROBERT R. BUSH
University of Pennsylvania

ECREATIONAL activities have been classic ethnographic concerns, and

R sophisticated questions about the distributions of games were asked early
in the history of anthropology.’ Still, the science has yet to produce a general
theory which deals with such anthropological problems as the description and
explanation of the historical development of games, their world distribution,
and their functional significance in various societies. This paper suggests a line
of inquiry which might lead to the construction of such a theory.
I n the extensive ethnographic literature on the subject, a wide range of
recreational activities has been called “games,” but this general category is too
broad for the purposes of this article. Here, a game is defined as a recreational
activity characterized by: (1) organized play, (2) competition, (3) two or more
sides, (4)criteria for determining the winner, and (5) agreed-upon rules. Other
recreational activities which do not satisfy this definition, such as noncompeti-
tive swimming, top-spinning, and string-figure making, are considered “amuse-
ments.” It is relevant to note that most games reported in the ethnographies
are activities in which adults can participate.
The games of the world may be classified in terms of distinctive patterns of
play. Some outcomes are determined primarily by the physical abilities of the
players, some by a series of moves, each of which represents a player’s choice
among alternatives, and others either by nonrational guesses or by reliance on
the operation of some mechanical chance device such as a die; some are deter-
mined by combinations of these patterns. All these ways of determining out-
comes are widely distributed among the societies of the world, and it is there-
fore possible to offer the following general classification of games: (1) physical
skill, (2) strategy, and (3) chance.
Each of these three categories requires further definition. Games of physical
skill as herein defined must involve the use of physical skill, but may or may
not involve strategy or chance; examples are marathon races, prize fights,
hockey, and the hoop and pole games. In games of strategy, physical skill must
be absent and a strategy must be used; chance may or may not be involved.
Chess, go, poker, and the Ashanti game of wari are examples. Finally, games of
chance are so defined that chance must be present and both physical skill and
strategy must be absent; examples are high card wins, dice games, and the
597
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598 American Antlrropologisl [61, 1959

moccasin games. We should note that there are three defining attributes for
games of chance (chance, strategy, and physical skill), two for games of
strategy (strategy and physical skill) and one for games of physical skill
(physical skill).
Games of each type are widely but unevenly distributed. Although we did
not conduct a comprehensive survey, data on games were sought both from the
literature and from the Cross-Cultural Survey files2 on approximately 100
tribes. These tribes displayed a wide geographical distribution and great cul-
tural variability, but they did not represent either a stratified sample or a ran-
dom sample of the tribes of the world; the recorded materials on games were so
uneven that this was impossible.
I n 82 instances the tribal literature contained some information on games.
I n the literature on 19 tribes explicit statements were found that either a com-
plete description of the games was being given or that no games existed. We
refer to these tribes as well-covered: Baiga, Chagga, Chukchee, Copper Es-
kimo, Hopi, Rababish, Lepcha, Lesu, Macheyenga, Menomini, Murngin,
Nauru, Siriono, Siwa, Tanala, Wapishana, Warrau, Yaruro, and Zuni. With 3 1
additional societies, it was inferred either from similar reports by independent
observers or from the extensive treatment by a single writer that the descrip-
tions were intended to be complete. We refer to these tribes as apparently well-
covered: Achewa, Ainu, Aleut, Alor, Arikara, BaVenda, Bena, Buka, Da-
homey, Euahlayi, Gros Ventre, Jukun, Kansa, Kiwai, Korea, Kwakiutl, Lak-
her, Lamba, Malekula, Maricopa, Masai, M bundu, Navaho, Papago, Rwala
Bedouin, Sema Naga, Vietnam, Witoto, Woleaian, Yap, and Yungar. The ma-
terials on the remaining societies were inadequate; although games were noted
in some of them, there was no reason to infer that the descriptions were com-
plete. It is plain that while widespread interest in games can be easily docu-
mented, the systematic description of all the games played by the members of
a tribe is by no means common in the ethnographic literature.
Among the 50 tribes that were either well-covered or apparently well-cov-
ered, 19 had games of strategy, 19 had games of chance, and 44 had games of
physical skill. Five were reported as having no games a t all. I t is clear that
games, as here defined, are widely distributed, but that no single type is
universal.
Games occur so widely that it is an easy inference that they meet general
human needs. They are integrated into tribal cultures in many ways. For ex-
ample, in some societies games are linked with religion; elsewhere, they are
associated with hunting or war. The relationships between games and needs
of any single society must be complex and generalizations about them cannot
be made easily, but consideration of two general characteristics of all games
points the way toward further inquiry. These are the expressive and the model
characteristics.
The expressive character of games is plain. They do not directly satisfy the
biological needs associated with survival. There are few obvious environmental
and technological limitations on them. Indeed, the artifacts for most games
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ROBERTS, ARTR, AND BUSH] Games 599
can be made by peoples with quite simple technologies. Go, a Japanese game of
strategy, requires only two sets of “stones” and a rectangular board on which
19 equidistant lines are drawn parallel to one edge and 19 lines at right angles
to them. This simple equipment could easily be duplicated by almost any
group, but the game itself is equal in complexity to any in the world. Every-
thing suggests that games are expressive, much as are folk tales, dramatic pro-
ductions, music, and paintings. If such is the case, games should be related to
other expressive behavior, some of which has already been explored cross-cul-
turally.
1. DISTRIBUTION
TABLE OF GAMETYPESIN FIFTYSOCIETIES

Number
Physical
Societies of Chance Strategy
Skill
Societies

Achewa, Aleut, Chagga, Hopi, Korea,

Nauru, Vietnam, Zuni
BaVenda,Jukun, Lakher, Lamba, Masai,
8 + + +
Mbundu, Tanala, Woleaian, Yap 9 +- - +
Dahomey 1 +- +
Siwa
Baiga, Chukchee, Copper Eskimo, Gros
1 - +
Ventre, Kansa, Kwakiutl, Maricopa,
Menomini, Navaho, Papago
Ainu, Alor, Arikara, Bena, Buka,
10 + + -

Euahlayi, Kiwai, Lesu, Macheyenga,

Malekula, Rwala Bedouin, Sema
Naga, Siriono, Wapishana, Witoto,
Yungar
Kababish, Lepcha, Murngin, Warrau,
Yaruro

It is also evident that most games are models of various cultural activities.
Many games of physical skill simulate combat or hunting, as in boxing and
competitive trap shooting. Games of strategy may simulate chase, hunt, or
war activities, as in backgammon, fox and geese, or chess. The relationship be-
tween games of chance and divining (ultimately a religious activity) is well
known. I n instances where a game does not simulate a current cultural activity,
it will be found that the games ancestral to it were more clearly models. The
characteristics of such models have not been systematically studied, but they
are related to problems in abstract thought and cognitive mapping.
If games are expressive models, they should be related to other aspects of
culture and to the variables which figure in expressive or projective mecha-
nisms. More specifically, games of strategy which are models of social interac-
tion should be related to the complexity of the social system; games of chance
which are models of interaction with the supernatural should be linked with
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600 American Anlhropologisl [61, 1959
other expressive views of the supernatural; and there is a possibility that games
of physical skill may be related to aspects of the natural environment. This
paper examines these possibilities in the hope of stimulating further inquiry.
GAMES OF STRATEGY
Games of strategy d o appear to be models of social interactive systems.
Chess, for example, as described in a n early classic,
. . . must be classed as a game of war. Two players direct a conflict between two armies
of equal strength upon a field of battle, circumscribed in extent, and offering no ad-
vantage of ground to either side (Murray 1913: 25).
T h e role structure of t h e two “armies” is quite complex. Both the structure and
the terminology of such a game of strategy may offer clues to the nature of the

2. SYSTEM
TABLE COMPLEXITY
AND GAMES
OF STRATEGY

Games of Strategy Present Games of Strategy Absent

3 (Hopi, Woleaian, Zuni) 13 (Baiga, Copper Eskimo,

Social Kiwai, Lesu, Murngin,
Classes Navaho, Papago, Siriono,
Low A bsenl Wapishana, Warrau,
Political Witoto, Yaruro, Yungar)
Integration
Social 2 (Aleut, Nauru) 5 (Alor, Buka, Chukchee,
Classes Kwakiutl, Malekula)
Present

Socinl 2 (Achewa, Masai) 4 (Ainu, Gros Ventre,

Classes Maricopa, Menomini)
Absent
High
Political . 12 (BaVenda, Chagga, 2 (Kababish, Rwala
Integration Social Dahomey, Jukun, Korea, Bedouin)
Classes Lakher, Lamba, Mbundu,
Present Siwa, Tanala, Vietnam,
Yap)

interactive system i t represents. Pieces are called “men”; they capture or kill,
they attack or defend, they race, and so on.
L e t us consider the hypothesis, then, that since games of strategy simulate
social systems, those systems should be complex enough t o generate such needs
for expression. Simple societies should not possess games of strategy and should
resist borrowing them.
I n his world sample, G. P. Murdock provided various ratings on 565 tribes
(Murdock 1957). Two of his ratings-on levels of political integration, and on
levels of social stratification-may be used as indices of social system com-
plexity. Some of RIurdock’s ratings were combined to produce the breakdown
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KOBEXTS, ARTH, AND BUSH] Games 60 1
shown on Table 2. The ratings “No political integration” and “Autonomous
local communities’’ were classed as low political integration; “Minimal states,”
“Little states,” and “States” were classed as high political integration. The
categories “Absent,” “Formal age groups,” and “Wealth distinctions,” were
classed as social stratification absent. “Hereditary aristocracy” and “Complex
stratification” were classed as social stratification present. Forty-three of the
50 tribes found to be adequately covered in our study received ratings on these
two dimensions. The results given below confirm the expected relationship be-
tween games of strategy and social complexity, but this relationship does not
hold for games of chance and physical skill.
With political integration, 52 tribes supported the hypothesis while 11 did
not. With social classes, 31 tribes fitted the hypothesis and 12 did not. Among
societies with either low political integration and no social classes or high politi-
cal integration and social classes, 25 societies supported the hypothesis and five
did not.
The association between games of strategy and complexity of social organi-
zation is supported also by the fact that among the adequately-covered tribes,
the four hunting and gathering groups lacked games of strategy, only one out
of five fishing groups had such a game, and only one out of three pastoral
groups. On the other hand, no truly complex society appears to have lacked
them.
Table 2 does not list the most complex American tribes, but among the in-
adequately-covered tribes, games of strategy were reported for the Aztec, Inca,
Ashanti, and Tiv. According to blurdock, three of these tribes were politically
integrated and socially stratified, but the Tiv had local autonomy and incipient
social stratification with slavery. The presence of the Aztec and Inca in this
group would indicate that the hypothesis also holds for the New World.
A few cases are worthy of special note. I n Africa, the Bushmen do not have
a game of strategy and the Hottentot do. The Tanala may be divided into two
distinct groups, one of which is hierarchically organized while the other is not,
and of these only the first has a game of ~ t r a t e g y . ~
GAMES OF CHANCE
Unlike games of strategy, games of chance appear to be associated with re-
ligious activities. I t is commonly thought by many peoples that the winners of
games of chance have received supernatural or magical aid. Even in the Euro-
pean tradition, religious beliefs conditioned views of games of chance:
The Greeks and the Romans (so far as one can make summary statements about
races whose members held such differing views) seem, on the whole, to have regarded
the world as partly determined by chance. Gods and goddesses had influence over the
course of events and, in particular, could interfere with the throwing of dice; but they
were only higher beings with superhuman powers, not omnipotent entities who con-
trolled everything. And the vaguer deities-Fortuna, the Fates, and Fate itself-
appear to modern eyes more in the retributive role of a personified guilty conscience
than as masters of the universe. The situation was radically changed by Christianity.
For the early fathers of the Church, the finger of God was everywhere. Some causes
were overt and some were hidden, but nothing happened without cause. In that sense,
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602 A merican A nthropologist (61, 1959
nothing was random and there was no chance. . . . Thomas Aquinas, arguing that
everything is subject to the providence of God, mentions explicitly the objection that,
if such were the case, hazard and luck would disappear , . . . He reflected the spirit of
his age, wherein God and an elaborate hierarchy of His ministers controlled and
foreordained the minutest happening; if anything seemed to be due to chance that
was our ignorance, not the nature of things (Kendall 1956:ll).
Although games of chance, as found over the world, are “fair” games, perhaps
as a result of long trial and error, explicit theories of chance do not appear in
primitive cultures. Again and again, outcomes are attributed to the interven-
tion of magical or supernatural forces.

‘ Aggressive 7 (Alor, BaVenda, Buka, 1 (Kwakiutl)

more than Lakher, Lamba, Lepcha,
Benevolent 50% Siriono)
less than .
50% Aggressive 1 (Lesu)
less t h n
.50%

more than
Benevolent 50%
more than .
50% Aggressive 1 (Mbundu) 6 (Baiga, Chagga, Dahomey,
less than Hopi, Papago, Zuni)
, swo
It is plausible, then, to argue that games of chance should be linked to the
larger expressive system of religious beliefs and that they are exercises in rela-
tionships with the supernatural. These hypotheses were not tested extensively,
but the use of three scales developed by Lambert, Triandis, and Wolf‘ provided
some interesting results. Here a sample of tribes was scaled in terms of (1) the
frequency of benevolent actions by gods or spirits, (2) the frequency of aggres-
sion by gods or spirits, and (3) the frequency of coercion of gods or spirits. The
first two scales had seven points ranging from “always benevolent or aggres-
sive’, to ‘‘never benevolent or aggressive.” The mid-points were defined as
being “benevolent or aggressive about one-half of the time.” Table 3 combines
these two independent scales. The coercion scale ran from “continuous, every
day or more often” to “never,” and the midpoint was “once a month.” The
hypothesis that games of chance will occur in societies high in benevolence,
low in aggression, or high in coercion is supported by Table 3 and Table 4
(only tribes appearing on the Lambert scale are cited). However, the relation-
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ROBERTS, ARTH, AND BUSH] Games 603
TABLE
4. FREQUENCYOF COERCION
OF GODSOR SPIRITS,
AND GAMES OF CHANCE

Frequency of
Games of Chance Absent Games of Chance Present
Coercion
~~~~ ~

Low 9 (Alor, BaVenda, Bena, Buka, 1 (Hopi)

Lakher, Lamba, Lesu, Siriono,
Tanala
High 5 (Baiga, Dahomey, Navaho,
Papago, Zuni)

ships shown did not hold either for games of strategy or for games of physical
skill.
I n the case of the benevolence measure, 16 out of 19 cases supported the
hypothesis; with aggression, 15 o u t of 19 supported the hypothesis; a n d with
coercion, 14 o u t of 15 cases supported the hypothesis. I n keeping with the
hypothesis, it might be conjectured from t h e lack of reference t o gambling
games in the latest concordance of t h e Bible t h a t t h e God of t h e ancient He-
brews was neither benevolent more t h a n 50 percent of the time nor was he
easily coerced.
GAMES OF PHYSICAL SKILL
There is no apparent relatjonship between the presence or absence of games
of strategy and the number of games of physical skill, b u t there does appear to
TABLE OF GAMESOF PHYSICAL
5. NUMBER SKILLAND GAMESOF CHANCE

Number of
Games of Games of Chance Present Games of Chance Absent
Physical Ski11
Present

0 to 4 4 (Achewa, Baiga, Dahomey, 26 (Alor, Ainu, BaVenda, Bena,

Kansa) Buka, Jukun, Kababish,
Kiwai, Lakher, Lamba,
Lepcha, Lesu, Macheyenga,
Malekula, Masai, Mbundu,
Murngin, Sema Naga, Siriono,
Siwa, Tanala, Wapishana,
Warrau, Witoto, Yaruro,
Yungar)

5 to 20 15 (AIeut, Chagga, Chukchee, 4 (Arikara, Euahlayi, Rwafa

Copper Eskimo, Gros Ventre, Bedouin, Yap)
Hopi, Korea, Kwakiutl,
Maricopa, Menomini, Nauru,
Navaho, Papago, Vietnam,
Zuni)
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604 A mericaiz ,4 nthropologist [61, 1959
be relationship between the presence or absence of games of chance and the
number of games of physical skill (see Table 5 below). Societies having five or
more games of physical skill frequently have games of chance but this may be
a consequence of the varying completeness of descriptions in the literature.
There was also a relationship between geographical location and the num-
ber of games of physical skill in a society. Of 23 tribes living within 20 degrees
latitude of the equator, 18 had fewer than five games of physical skill, while of
24 tribes living more than 20 degrees north or south, only nine had fewer than
five games of physical skill. Tentative work with mean annual temperature and
protein and fat in the diet suggests some correlation. There may be a relation-
ship between environment and activity as expressed in numbers of games of
physical skill, but the data were inadequate for an extensive analysis.
DISCUSSION
The foregoing suggests that games of strategy are related to social systems,
games of chance are related to religious beliefs, and that games of physical skill
may be related to environmental conditions. The social system, the religion,
and the environment are three important foci of anthropological interest, and
further study of these relationships appears to be warranted.
Psychological inquiries are also indicated. I n general, this paper supports
the psychoanalytic notion that games are exercises in mastery. Certainly the
area of child socialization, which has often been linked with expressive phe-
nomena, should be considered. Exploratory work with unpublished data pro-
vided by Whiting, Lambert, and Child suggests that the presence of games of
strategy is positively associated with low permissiveness in child training, high
severity of bowel training, and high reward for obedience behavior. Games of
chance appear to be related to none of the foregoing, but rather to high fre-
quency of responsible behavior and high frequency of achievement behavior.
Games of physical skill seem to be positively associated with low permissive-
ness and high conflict over nurturant and self-reliant behavior. Thus, we can
speculate that further inquiry will show that games of strategy are linked with
the learning of social roles, games of chance with responsibility and achieve-
ment, and games of physical skill with self-reliance. Alternatively stated, games
of strategy may be related to mastery of the social system; games of chance
may be linked with mastery of the supernatural; and games of physical skill
are possibly associated with the mastery both of self and of environment.
This paper has advanced a three-category classification of games and has
reviewed the distribution of these game types in 50 societies. It has suggested
that games may be exercises in the mastery of environment or self, social sys-
tem, and of the supernatural. We have not intended to say that the already
well-recognized functions of games should be ignored, but rather have intended
to suggest some new ways in which such expressive behavior might be viewed.
If all the relationships suggested in this paper do not ultimately hold, it is
still hoped that enough evidence has been presented to warrant further com-
parative studies of games. An anthropological theory of games could be the
result.
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ROBERTS, AKTH, A N D BUSH] Games 605
NOTES
Cf. Tylor’s famous articles on patolli and American lot-games (Tylor 1879: 116-129;
1896:55-67). The patolli problem stated by Tylor has continued to intrigue anthropologists and
interest in this problem provided the initial impetus for the present investigation.
The authors are indebted to the Laboratory of Social Relations, Harvard University, for
the support of this research and to the Cross-Cultural Survey, Institute of Human Relations,
Yale University, and the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences for auxiliary aid.
The authors are also grateful to John Champe, Franklin Fenenga, William Lambert, Kimball
Romney, Richard Savage, Elizabeth Tooker, Leigh Minturn Triandis, Gene Weltfish, John M.
Whiting, Margery Wolf, and others, for useful suggestions and comments.
3 Personal communication from Elizabeth Tooker.
4 Use was made of the Lambert, Triandis and Wolf unpublished data which were subsequently

reported in revised form in the Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology.

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