How to play anklebone shooting game?
Mongolian Anklebone Game is ancient time traditional game which is still played common today in Mongolia. Mongolians play in dozens of games with anklebone known as shagai, including Multicolored turtle, horse racing, camel racing, anklebone shooting, set four difficult, and Catch anklebones, Guessing and anklebone flicking. Even we also practice fortune-telling with the ankles.
Ankle archery (Ankle bone shooting) is also a traditional Mongolian sport which is included in Naadam Festival.
Below are explanations of how to play anklebone shooting game:
There is no limit on the number of players who can be involved in the flicking game.
First, anklebones are tossed on the ground and the players flick the same positioned ankle bones like a horse by horse, sheep by sheep etc. and pick one of them by his/her choice. Actually the choice should depend on which one can be useful for the next shoot. Depending on which side is landing, ankle sides are named different. A sheep if humpy side falls upside down, a goat if hollow side falls upwards, a camel if curved side falls upside down, a horse if straight side falls downwards.
The player continues to play until he/she touches and moves other anklebones or misses the target. Then he/she shifts the turn to the next player. The player who gets most anklebone becomes a winner. The player who collected less number of anklebone will be lost. The rules of this game can be discussed beforehand, such as whether to allow picking up anklebone with flicked hand or not, what to do in case of ‘Onkh’ (neither of the four figures is set),