Making a Tails Game

A set of 62 photographs of John and Mary Anne McKay making a tails game. -p01 to -p02: Caribou foot bones being boiled to make them soft. -p03 to -p08: John chopping and shaping the bones with a hatchet. -p09 to -p12: He now refines the shape with a knife. -p13 to -p18: Smoothing the bones with a file. -p19 to -p21: An original bone and the shaped bones - John will need to make six for the game. -p22 to -p27: John now cuts the bones to length with a hacksaw. -p28 to -p29: The tools include a jack-knife and a home-made crooked knife. -p30 to -p34: Reaming out the bones with a knife and an awl. -p35: Three of the bones drilled out. -p36 to -p37: John continues to prepare the bones while Mary Anne makes the leather tail. -p38: Four of the bones laid out ready. -p39 to -p43: John now works on the pin used to spear the bones. -p44 to -p46: Mary Anne finishes the tail and makes a leather lace. -p47: John and Mary Anne bringing the project together. -p48 to -p50: Some of the tools and pieces needed for making the game. -p51 to -p52: John threading the bones on the leather lace. -p53: More bones are put on the lace. -p54 to -p57: John threads the rest of the bones on the lace. -p58: The tail and all the bones assembled. -p59: The finished game and the tools used. -p60: John holds up the game. -p61: John plays the game. -p62: A tails game in use in Stanley Mission.

Historical note:

Photographs of John and Mary Anne McKay making a traditional Cree tails game at their trapline at Birch Rapids on the Churchill River, taken in 1980 by Lois Dalby of the Academic Education Branch of the Department of Northern Saskatchewan