Wheel game or hoop and stick game, a pastime of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Niitsitapi or Siksikaitsitapi), is a variation of the hoop and arrow or pole game. Materials necessary for play were arrows or darts measuring approximately three feet long and an it-se-wah or wheel. The it-se-wah is approximately 3-5 inches in diameter and was most often made from willow wood and wrapped in buckskin. Traditionally, fastened to the interior rim were spokes, four of which are made of spiraled brass wire and the alternate ones of coloured beads, which are suggested to be representative of the coloured horses acquired by the Blackfeet [1]. In 1961, Dr. George Bird Grinnel described the gameplay as follows,

“The wheel was rolled along the course, and each man at the whence it started, darted an arrow at it. The cast was made just before the wheel reached the log at the opposite end of the track, and points were counted according as the arrow passed between the spokes, or when the wheel, stopped by the log, was in contact with the arrow, the position and nearness of the different beads to the arrow representing a certain number of points. The player who first scored ten points won” [2].

This summer game, played only by male participants, was used to hone the skills of accuracy, which were crucial in both hunting and warfare.

1. J.C. Ewers, The Blackfeet: Raiders on the northwestern plains, (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 3rd ed., 1967), p. 156