MWW 47: Шагай

Cyrillic	шагай
Transcription	šagai
IPA	[ʃaˈɢæ:]
Layman’s Pronunciation	shah-GAA
Meaning	ankle bone
In Genghis Khan’s time it was šaγai.

A шагай is an anklebone, and anklebones from sheep are used as pieces in a variety of games that are also called шагай. When animal anklebones are dropped, they can fall on one of four sides. Each of these sides is named after a major herd animal - sheep (хонь), goat (ямаа), horse (морь), and camel (тэмээ). (On uneven ground, a bone can land lopsided, and this is known as an үнээ “cow”). Rules vary, but however you play шагай, the object is to flick a bone with your finger and hit another bone of the same kind. So if you see a “sheep,” you want to flick it so it hits another sheep. If you do so successfully, you can collect the piece and keep playing. If you miss, someone else gets a turn. You keep going until there are no pieces left to hit, and the person with the most pieces wins.

The four animals of shagai - in this case, gilded shagai

Another kind of game you can play is a simulated horse race. The “track” is made of a long line of шагай one after the other. Players put a “horse” at one end of the track. They roll 4 шагай and for each “horse” that comes up, they move their piece one bone further along the track.

Шагай бол Монгол үндэсний наадам.