Cherokee marbles or five hole, is a traditional game among the Cherokee

Cherokee

The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...

 people of the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.

The game

It is played, traditionally, with round balls made of stone, but now sometimes with standard billiard balls. An annual tournament is held during Cherokee National Holiday

Cherokee National Holiday

The Cherokee National Holiday is an annual event held each Labor Day weekend in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The event celebrates the September 6, 1839 signing of the Cherokee Nation Constitution in Oklahoma after the Trail of Tears Indian removal ended....

 each Labor Day

Labor Day

Labor Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the first Monday in September that celebrates the economic and social contributions of workers.-History:...

 weekend.

History

The origin of the game is unknown, but it is not mentioned in the works of ethnologist James Mooney

James Mooney

James Mooney was an American ethnographer who lived for several years among the Cherokee. He did major studies of Southeastern Indians, as well as those on the Great Plains...

.

Cherokee marbles is a similar game to the rolley hole marbles

Marbles

A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about ½ inch in diameter, but they may range from less than ¼ inch to over 3 inches , while some art glass marbles fordisplay purposes are over 12 inches ...

 played by Anglo-America

Anglo-America

Anglo-America is a region in the Americas in which English is a main language, or one which has significant British historical, ethnic, linguistic, and cultural links...

ns in Kentucky

Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...

 and Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

, though the dimensions are different and rolley hole uses three holes instead of five.

More recently, the game has been introduced into the public schools in Northeast Oklahoma, by the Cherokee Nation, as part of a program to discourage methamphetamine

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a psychostimulant of the phenethylamine and amphetamine class of psychoactive drugs...

 abuse.

Rules

There is an official rulebook which is used in tournament play. It is played on a field about 100 feet in length, and with five holes. A player must advance to each hole, knocking other players' marbles out in a prescribed manner, and return again.

See also

• Billiards
  Billiards
  Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
  
  
• Chunkey
  Chunkey
  Chunkey is a game of Native American origin. It was played by rolling disc shaped stones across the ground and throwing spears at them in an attempt to place the spear as close to the stopped stone as possible...
  
  
• Croquet
  Croquet
  Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
  
  
• Marble (toy)
  Marble (toy)
  A marble is a small spherical toy usually made from glass, clay, steel, or agate. These balls vary in size. Most commonly, they are about ½ inch in diameter, but they may range from less than ¼ inch to over 3 inches , while some art glass marbles fordisplay purposes are over 12 inches ...
  
  
• Bocce
  Bocce
  Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...