Gorean Games

[sweetlarma]

Bat and Ball

Perhaps the most serious incident of the contests had occurred in one of the games of bat and ball. In this contest there are two men on each side, and the object is to keep the ball out of the hands of the other team. No one man may hold the ball for more than the referee's count of twenty. He may, however, throw it into the air, provided it is thrown over his head, and catch it again himself. The ball may be thrown to the partner, or struck to him with the bat. The bat, of course, drives the ball with incredible force. The bats are of heavy wood, rather broad, and the ball, about two inches in diameter, is also of wood, and extremely hard. This is something like a game of "keep away" with two men in the middle. I was pleased that I was not involved in the play. Shortly after the first "knock off," in which the ball is served to the enemy, Gorm, who was Ivar's partner, was struck cold with the ball, it was driven from an opponent's bat. This, I gathered, is a common trick. It is very difficult to intercept or protect oneself from a ball struck at one with great speed from a short distance. It looked quite bad for Ivar at this point, until one of his opponents, fortunately, broke his leg, it coming into violent contact with Ivar's bat. This contest was called a draw. Ivar then asked me to be his partner. I declined.
"It is all right," said Ivar, "even the bravest of men may decline a contest of bat-and-ball. I acceded to his judgment. There are various forms of ball game enjoyed by the men of Torvaldsland; some use bats, or paddles; in the winter, one such game, quite popular, is played, men running and slipping about, on ice; whether there is any remote connection between this game and ice hockey, I do not know; it is, however, ancient in Torvaldsland; Torvald himself, in the sagas, is said to have been skilled at it."
~Marauders of Gor, page 140~

Belled Hunt

Not named in the books, this particular pastime is found in Slave Girl of Gor.A very lengthy passage, it details the hunt of a bound, belled and hooded slave girl, pursued by five blindfolded men. A referee, with a switch, keeps the girl moving. One by one, she is caught and used. The contest stops after the fourth man and the fifth man is greatly ridiculed. The girl later serves the men, not knowing which men captured her or even which were involved in the hunt. See also ‘Girl Catch.’

Bola Run

Quite often the runners themselves, slave girls, are the wagers in this timed sport. A slave tries to elude a kaiila rider who is intent on bringing her down and securing her with his bola and returning her to the circle from which she began her run. The girl runs toward a black lance stuck in the turf some distance away. A judge on a kailla sits near that lance to determine whether she makes the black lance before being captured. The time is kept based on the heartbeat of a standing kailla by a judge near the circle. The lowest time wins.

“A black lance was fixed in the prairie about four hundred yards away. A rider beside it, on a kaiila, marked its place. It was not expected, of course, that any of the girls would reach the lance. If one did, of course, the rider would decree her safe. In the run the important thing was time, the dispatch and the skill with which the thing was accomplished.

The time in these matters is reckoned by the heartbeat of a standing kaiila. Already one had been brought. Near the animal, on the turf, a long bosk whip was laid in a circle, having a diameter of somewhere between eight and ten feet. The girl begins her run from the circle. The object of the rider is to effect her capture, secure her and return her, in as little time as possible, to the circle of the whip.”
~Nomads of Gor, page 70~

Bones

Imnak and I sat across from one another, both cross-legged. He dropped a tiny bone to the fur mat between us. Each player, in turn, drops a bone, one of several in his supply. The bone Imnak had dropped was carved in the shape of a small tabuk. Each of the bones is carved to resemble an animal, such as an arctic gant, a northern bosk, a larl, a tabuk or sleen, and so on. The bone which remains upright is the winner. If both bones do not remain upright there is no winner on that throw. Similarly, if both bones should remain upright, they are dropped again. A bone which does not remain upright, if its opposing bone does remain upright, is placed in the stock of him whose bone remained upright. The game is finished when one of the two players is cleaned out of bones.
~Beasts of Gor, page 184-185~

Cat's Cradle

Others faced one another, kneeling, and, with string and their fingers, played an intricate cat's-cradle game. Others played "Stones," where one player guesses the number of stones held in the other's hand. I tried the cat's-cradle game but I could not play it, I always became confused, trying to copy the intricate patterns. How beautifully they would suddenly, in all their complexity, appear. The other girls laughed at my clumsiness. The northern girls, incidentally, were very skilled at this game. They could beat us all.
~Captive of Gor, page 107~

“In another place several women sat on a fur blanket playing a cat’s cradle game. They were quite skilled. This game is generally popular in the Gorean north. It is played not only by the red hunters, but in Hunjer and Skjern, and in Torvaldsland, and as far south as the villages in the valley of the Laurius.”
~Beasts of Gor, page 196~

Dice

A number of men crowded between the tables then and some dice, inked knucklebones of the verr, were soon rattling in a metal goblet. Sura knelt before the table of Cernus, her head down. One of her guards snapped a slave leash on her collar. The leash key was on a tiny loop of wire. The guard twisted this wire about the red-enameled steel of her collar. Behind her the men began crying out, watching the tumbling of the knucklebones on the stones of the floor. I understood to some extent what was taking place. It was merely another of the turnabouts of Kajuralia, but in it was perhaps more; Sura's pride and her position in the House, though she was slave, had been resented by many of the men and staff; perhaps even Cernus felt she had overstepped herself; surely he seemed pleased that she would now be humbled, now used as a common Red Silk Girl.”
~Assassin of Gor, page 248~

“I passed a few fellows playing dice. There are many forms of dice games on Gor, usually played with anywhere from a single die to five dice. The major difference, I think, between the dice of Earth and those of Gor is that the Gorean dice usually have their numbers, or letters, or whatever pictures or devices are used, painted on their surfaces. It is difficult to manufacture a pair of fair dice, of course, in which the ‘numbers,’ two, three and so on, are represented by scooped out indentations. For example, the ‘one’ side of a die is likely to have less scooped-out material missing than the ‘six’ side of a die. Thus the ‘one’ side is slightly heavier and, in normal play, should tend to land face down more often than, say, the ‘six’ side, this bringing up the opposite side, the ‘six’ side in Earth dice, somewhat more frequently. To be sure, the differences in weight are slight and given the forces on the dice, the differential is not dramatic. And, of course, this differential can be compensated for in a sophisticated die by trying to deduct equal amounts of material from all surfaces, for example, an amount from the ‘one’ side which will equal the amount of the ‘six’ side, and, indeed, on the various sides. At any rate, in the Gorean dice, as mentioned, the numbers or letters, or pictures or whatever devices are used, are usually painted on the dice. Some gamesmen, even so, attempt to expend the same amount of paint on all surfaces. To be sure, some Gorean dice I have seen to use the ‘scooped-out’ approach to marking the dice. And these, almost invariably, like the more sophisticated Earth dice, try to even out the material removed from each of the surfaces. Some Gorean dice are sold in sealed boxes, bearing the city’s imprint. These, supposedly, have been each cast six hundred times, with results approximating the ideal mathematical probabilities. Also, it might be mentioned that dice are sometimes tampered with, or specially prepared, to favor certain numbers. These, I suppose, using the Earth term, might be spoken of as ‘loaded.’ ”
~Magicians of Gor, page 59~

“I stayed to watch the fellows playing dice for a few Ehn. I do not think they noticed me, so intent were they on their game. The stakes were small, only tarsk bits, but one would not have gathered that from the earnestness of the players.
‘Larls, larls!’ called a fellow. ‘I win!’
‘Alas,’ moaned the other. ‘I have only verr.’
‘Larls’ would be maximum high, say double highs, if two dice were being used, triple highs if three dice were in play, and so on.The changes of obtaining a ‘larl’ with one throw of one die is one in six, of obtaining ‘larls’ with two dice, one in thirty-six, of obtaining ‘larls’ with three dice, one in two hundred and sixteen, and so on. Triple ‘larls’ is a rare throw, obviously. The fellow had double ‘larls.’ Other types of throws are ‘urts,’ ‘sleen,’ ‘verr,’ and such. The lowest value on a single die is the ‘urt.’ The changes of obtaining, say, three ‘urts’ is very slim, like that of obtaining three ‘larls’ one in two hundred and sixteen. ‘Verr’ is not a bad throw but it was not good enough to beat ‘larls.’ If two dice are in play a ‘verr’ and a ‘larl’ would be equivalent on a numerical scale to ten points, or, similarly, if the dice are numbered, as these were, one would simply count points, though of course, if, say, two sixes were thrown, that would count as ‘larls.’
~Magicians of Gor, pages 60-61~

Duels

The duel is used to settle disputes, both legal and personal, in Torvaldsland. There are two general types of duels. The first being the free duel in which all weapons are permitted without restrictions on tactics or field. The formal duel is complex, involving a fighting field and a shield bearer for each combatant. The shield bearer is permitted three shields with which to, hopefully, fend off the opposition blows. Once these three shields are hacked to pieces or made useless, the shield bearer retires. The duel takes place on a large cloak. An agreement may be made between the combatants or at the discretion of one of the two referees that when first blood touches the cloak the match may be terminated and three tarn disks paid to the victor by the loser. These duels, particularly the formal duel, may be used for gain. If challenged by an opponent for his farm, companion or daughter, the man has the choice of forfeiting the stake or risking his life to keep what is his. Of course, if he is slain during the duel, the stake is surrendered by law to the challenger. Onlookers often gamble on the outcome of these duels.

Game of Favors

“She had had only two favors left at her belt, I had noted. Normally in this game the woman begins with ten. The first to dispense her ten favors and returns to the starting point wins. I looked after her, grinning. It would have been churlish, I thought, to have refused the favor. Too, she had begged so prettily. This type of boldness, of course, is one that a woman would be likely to resort to only in the time of carnival. The granting of such favors probably has a complex history. Its origin may even trace back to Earth. This is suggested by the fact that, traditionally, the favor, or the symbolic token of the favor, is a handkerchief or scarf. Sometimes a lady’s champion, as I understand it, might have borne such a favor, fastened perhaps to a helmet or thrust in a gauntlet.”
~Players of Gor, page 44~

Girl Catch

There are two types of contests called ‘girl catch.’ One is a contest held to settle disputes between two warring cities, whereby young free women are dressed in short tunics, sometimes masked for modesty and placed within an enclosed area and then ‘captured’ by the men of the opposing cities and taken to a girl pit until all girls from one city or the other have been captured. One consists of a contest to settle disputes where young women, free and slave, are captured by the opposing village within a boundaried area. Another form of contest involves a single slave who is belled, hands bound, hooded and placed within a specific area and then ‘hunted’ by a group of men who are similarly hooded or blindfolded. The man who ‘captures’ the girl is then given use of her.

“ ‘Make way! Make way!’ laughed the brawny young fellow. He had a naked girl over his shoulder, bound hand and foot. He had won her in Girl Catch, in a contest to decide a trade dispute between two small cities, Ven and Rarn, the former a river port on the Vosk, the second noted for its copper mining, lying southeast of Tharna. In the contest a hundred young men of each city, and a hundred young women, the most beautiful in each city, participate. The object of the game is to secure the women of the enemy. Weapons are not permitted. The contest takes place in an area outside the perimeters of the great fair, for in it slaves are made. The area is enclosed by a low wooden wall, and spectators observe. When a male is forced beyond the wall he is removed from the competition and may not, upon pain of death, re-enter the area for the duration of the contest. When a girl is taken she is bound hand and foot and thrown to a girl pit, of which there are two, one in each city’s end of the ‘field.’ These pits are circular, marked off with a small wooden fence, sand-bottomed, and sunk some two feet below the surface of the ‘field.’ If she cannot free herself she counts as a catch. The object of the male is to remove his opponents from the field and capture the girls of the other city. The object of the girl, of course, is to elude capture.

‘Make way!’ he called. ‘Make way!’ I, with others in the crowd, stepped aside.

Both the young men and women wear tunics in this sport. The tunics of the young women are cut briefly, to better reveal their charms. The young man wears binding fiber about his left wrist, with which to secure prizes. The young women, who are free, if the rules permit, as they sometimes do not, commonly wear masks, that their modesty be less grievously compromised by the brevity of their costume. Should the girl be caught, however, her mask is removed. The tunics of the girls are not removed, however, except those of the girls are not removed, however, except those of the girls of the losing city, when the match has ended and the winner decided. The win is determined when the young men of one city, or those left on the field, have secured the full hundred of the women of the ‘enemy.’ A woman once bound and thrown to the girl pit, incidentally, may not be fetched forth by the young men of her city, except at the end of the match, and on the condition that they have proved victorious. The captured women of the victorious city at the conclusion of the contest are of course released; they are robed and honored; the girls of the losing city, of course, are simply stripped and made slaves. This may seem a cruel sport but some regard it as superior to a war; surely it is cleaner and there is less loss of life; this method of settling disputes, incidentally, is not used if it is felt that honor is somehow involved in the disagreement. Honor is important to Goreans, in a way that those of Earth might find it hard to understand; for example, those of Earth find it natural that men should go to war over matters of gold and riches, but not honor; the Gorean, contrariwise, is more willing to submit matters of honor to the adjudication of steel than he is matters of riches and gold; there is a simple explanation for this; honor is more important to him. Strangely the girls of the cities are eager to participate in this sport. Doubtless each believes her standard will be victorious and she will return in honor to her city.”
~Beasts of Gor, pages 41-42~

“In one place, hearing a jangling of bells, I went over to a large open circle of fellows to watch a game of ‘girl catch.’ There are many ways in which this game, or sort of game, is played. In this one, which was not untypical, a female slave, with an enclosure, her hands bound behind her back, and hooded, is belled, usually with common slave bells at the collar, wrists and ankles, and a larger bell, a guide bell, with its particular note, at her left hip. Some fellows then, also hooded, or blindfolded, enter the enclosure, to catch her. Neither the quarry nor the hunters can see the other. The girl is forbidden to remain still for more than a certain interval, usually a few Ihn. She is under the control of a referee. His switch can encourage her to move, and, simultaneously, of course, mark her position. She is hooded in order that she may not determine into whose power she comes. When she is caught, that game, or one of its rounds, is concluded.The victor’s prize, of course, is the use of the slave.”
~Magicians of Gor, page 40~

Greased Wineskin

“I saw some fellows gathered about a filled, greased wineskin. There was much laughter. I went over to watch. He who manages to balance on it for a given time, usually an Ehn, wins both the skin and its contents. One pays a tarsk bit for the chance to compete. It is extremely difficult, incidentally, to balance on such an object, not only because of the slickness of the skin, heavily coated with grease, but even more so because of its rotundity and unpredictable movements, the wine surging within it. ‘Aii!’ cried a fellow flailing about and then spilling from its surface.There was much laughter. ‘Who is next?’ called the owner of the skin. This sort of thing is a sport common at peasant festivals, incidentally, though there, of course, usually far from a city, within the circle of the palisade, the competition is free, the skin and wine being donated by one fellow or wnother, usually as his gift to the festival to which all in one way or another contribute, for example, by the donations of produce, meat or firewood.”
~Magicians of Gor, page 36~

[sweetlarma]

Hook Knife

“I observed the two men, collared slaves, squaring up against one another in the sand. Both were stripped to the waist. The hair of both was bound back with a band of cloth. Each carried, sheathed, a hook knife. The edges of the sheath were coated with a bluish pigment.

‘These men are the champions among male slaves at hook knife,’ said Cernus. He scarcely glanced up from the game board at which he sat across from Caprus, of the Caste of Scribes, Chief Accountant of the House.

I heard the crack of a whip and the command ‘Fight!’ and saw the two men begin to close with one another.

A blue line appeared across the chest of one of the slaves fighting between the tables, on a square of sand some twelve feet in dimension. The line was adjudicated as a point. The two men then returned to opposite corners of the ring and crouched down, waiting for the command to fight again.

There was a shout from the men-at-arms and members of the House who sat at the tables as the second slave, he who had scored the first point, managed to leave a long streak of blue down the inside of the right arm of the first slave. ‘Point!’ called the man-at-arms, he with the whip, and the two slaves separated again, each going to their corners and crouching there in the sand, breathing heavily. The man whose arm had been marked was forced then to carry the sheathed hook knife in his left hand. I heard the odds changing rapidly at the tables as the men of the house of Cernus revised their betting.

There was a cry and I looked again to the square of sand and the first slave, with the hook knife in his left hand, had plunged across the sand, taking a stroke across the chest, to strike his own blue line blow at his opponent.

‘Point for both,’ announced the man-at-arms.

‘A kill!’ cried the man-at-arms with the whip. I saw that the second slave, who was doubtless the better man at the sport, had slipped behind the first and, holding his head back with a powerful forearm, had decisively drawn his sheathed hook knife across the throat of the first man.

The first man seemed numb, the heavy blue streak on his throat, and slipped to his knees. Two men-at-arms rushed forward and put him in shackles. For some reason, the man with the whip took the slave’s hook knife, unsheathed it, and drew it across the slave’s chest, leaving there a smear of blood. It was not a serious wound. It seemed pointless to me. The slave who had lost was then led away in shackles. The victor, on the other hand, turned about and raised his hands. He was greeted with cheers and was immediately taken to the table on my left, where he was seated at the far end of the table, before a plate heaped with meat which he began to devour, holding it in his hands, eyes wild, almost lost in the food, to the amusement of the watching men. I gathered the feed troughs in the pens of the male slaves seldom contained viands so choice.”
~Assassins of Gor, pages 86-88~

Kaissa

“Game! Game!" I heard, and quickly shook my head, driving away the memories of Ar, and of the girl once known, always loved.
The word actually cried was, "Kaissa," which is Gorean for "Game." It is a general term, but when used without qualification, it stands for only one game, The man who called out wore a robe of checkered red and yellow squares, and the game board, of similar squares, with ten ranks and ten files, giving a hundred squares, hung over his back. Slung over his left shoulder, as a warrior wears a sword, was a leather bag containing the pieces, twenty to a side, red and yellow, representing Spearmen, Tarnsmen, the Riders of the High Tharlarion, and so on. The object of the game is the capture of the opponent's Home Stone. Capturing of individual pieces and continuations take place much as in chess. The affinities of this game with chess are, I am confident more than incidental.”
~Assassin of Gor, page 26~

“The Players are not a caste, nor a clan, but they tend to be a group apart, living their own lives. They are made up from men of various castes who often have little in common but the game, but that is more than enough. They are men who commonly have an extraordinary aptitude for the game but beyond this, men who have become drunk on it, men lost in the subtle, abstract liquors of variation, pattern and victory, men who live for the game, who want it and need it as other men might want gold, or others power and women, of others the rolled, narcotic strings of toxic kanda.
There are competitions of Players, with purses provided by amateur organizations, and sometimes by the city itself, and these purses are, upon occasion, enough to enrich a man, but most Players earn a miserable living by hawking their wares, a contest with a master, in the street. The odds are usually one to forty, one copper tarn disk against forty-piece, sometimes against an eighty-piece, and sometimes the amateur who would play the master insists on further limitations, such as the option to three consecutive moves at a point in the game of his choice, or that the master must remove from the board, before the game begins, his two Tarnsmen, or his Riders of the High Tharlarion. Further, in order to gain Players, the master, if wise, occasionally loses a game, which is expensive at normal odds, and the game must be lost subtly, that the amateur must believe he has won.”
~Assassin of Gor, page 27~

Meat-Catch

“Lana, Ute and I knelt in a line, facing the players. Our hands were bound behind our backs with binding fiber.
The men, wagering, tossed us pieces of meat.
We caught them, in the firelight. A catch was two points. A piece which was dropped was fair game for any. We fought for the dropped pieces. The retrieval of such a piece was one point. Ute dropped a piece and Lana and I fought, each holding to a part of the fallen prize, rolling and tearing. I struggled back to my knees, tearing my head to one side. ‘Mine!’ I cried, swallowing the meat, almost choking, laughing.
‘Mine!’ cried Lana, gorging the other half of the meat.
‘Point for each,’ adjudicated one of the guards.
We were excited, and wanted to play further.
‘We are weary,’ said one of the guards. We saw copper tarn disks being exchanged.”
~Captive of Gor, page 112~

“I saw a line of five slave girls, kneeling, abreast, their hands tied behind their backs. Bits of meat were thrown to them, one after the other. A catch scored two points for the master. A missed piece might be sought by any of the girls, scrambling about, on their bellies. She who managed to obtain it received one point for her master. The girls were encouraged from the sidelines, not only by their masters but by the crowd as well, some of whom placed bets on the outcome.”
~Magicians of Gor, page 37~

“ ‘I entered Phoebe in ‘meat catch’,’ said Marcus, ‘but she failed to catch even a single morsel.’
~Magicians of Gor, page 43~

Other Games


Archery
“Archery is popular with the peasants and combats with the great staff.”
~Magicians of Gor, page 36~

Wrestling
“I passed two fellows wrestling in a circle, others watching.”
~Magicians of Gor, page 39~

Staff Contest
“There was, from one side, a sudden sound of grunting and the cracking of great staffs, and the urging cries from men. Two fellows, brawny lads, in half tunics, were doing staff contest. Both were good. Sometimes I could scarcely follow the movements of these weapons. ‘Watch him!’ called a fellow to one of the contestants. ‘Cheers for Rarir!’ called another. ‘Aii!’ cried one of the lads, blood at the side of his head and ear, stumbling to the side. ‘Good blow!’ cried an onlooker. But the lad came back with redoubled energy. I stayed for a moment. The lad from Rarir, as I understood it, then managed to pierce the guard of his opponent and thrust the staff into the fellow’s chest. He followed this with a smiting to the side of the fellow’s head which staggered him. He then, at the last moment, held back.The opponent, dazed, sat back in the dirt, laughing. ‘Victory for Rarir!’ cried a man. ‘Pay us!’ called another. Extending his hand to the foe the victor pulled him to his feet. They embraced. ‘Paga! Paga for both!’ called a fellow.”
~Magicians of Gor, pages 39-40~

Skill Contest
“There were races, poling rence craft, and skill contests maneuvering the small light craft, and contests with net and throwing stick.It was indeed festival.”
~Raiders of Gor, page 42~

Red Hunter's

"You spoiled her kick," said a man to me, in Gorean.
"I am sorry," I said.
The girl, with the other youths, had been playing a soccerlike game with the leather ball, with goals drawn in the turf. I had not realized, until too late, that I had been traversing the field of play.
~Beasts of Gor, page 193~

Slave Races

“I stopped for a moment to watch an amusing race. Several slave girls are aligned, on all fours, poised, their heads down. Then, carefully, a line of beans, one to a girl, is placed before them. She must then, on all fours, push the bean before her, touching it only with her nose. The finish line was a few yards away. ‘Go!’ I heard. The crowd cheered on its favorites. On this sport, as well as on several others, small bets were placed. Sometimes a new slave, one who has recently been a haughty, arrogant free woman, is used in such a race. Such things, aside from their amusing, and fitting, aspects, are thought to be useful in accommodating her to her new reality, that of the female slave. In them she learns something more of the range of activities that may be required of her.”
~Magicians of Gor, pages 38-39~

Stadium Games

“I do not choose to describe the nature of the games, except in certain general detail. There seems to me little of beauty in them and much in blood. Matches are arranged between single armed fighters, or teams of such. Generally Warriors do not participate in these matches, but men of low caste, slaves, condemned criminals and such. Some of them, however, are quite skillful with the weapons of their choice, surely the equal of many Warriors. The crowd is fond of seeing various types of weapons used against others, and styles of fighting. Buckler and short sword are perhaps most popular, but there are few weapons on Gor which are not seen over a period of three or four days of the games. Another popular set of weapons, as in the ancient ludi of Rome, is net and trident. Usually those most skilled with this set of weapons are from the shore and islands of distant, gleaming Thassa, the sea, where they doubtless originally developed among fishermen. Sometimes men fight locked in iron hoods, unable to see their opponents. Sometimes men wrestle to the death or use the spiked gauntlets.Sometimes slave girls are forced to fight slave girls, perhaps with steel claws fastened on their fingers, or several girls, variously armed, will be forced to fight a single man, or a small number of men. Surviving girls, of course, become the property of those whom they have fought; men who lose are, of course, slain. Beasts are also popular in the Stadium of Blades, and fights between various animals, half starved and goaded into fury by hot irons and whips, are common; sometimes the beast fight beasts of the same species, and other times not; sometimes the beasts fight men, variously armed, or armed slave girls; sometimes, for the sport of the crowd, slaves or criminals are fed to the beasts. The training of slaves and criminals for these fights, and the acquisition and training of the beasts is a large business in Ar, there being training schools for men, and compounds where the beasts, captured on expeditions to various parts of Gor, and shipped to Ar, may be kept and taught to kill under the unnatural conditions of the stadium spectacle. Upon occasion, and it had happened early in Se`Kara this year, the arena is flooded and a sea fight is staged, the waters for the occasion being filled with a variety of unpleasant sea life, water tharlarion, Vosk turtles, and the nine-gilled Gorean shark, the later brought in tanks on wagons across the margin of desolation to Ar for the event.”
~Assassin of Gor, pages 189-190~

Stones

“'Tal,' I said to two guardsmen who crouched at the side of a fire, playing Stones, a guessing game in which one person must guess whether the number of stones held in the fist of another is odd or even.”
~Outlaw of Gor, p 186~

“At "Stones," however, I was genuinely pleased with myself. It has two players, who take alternate turns. Each player has the same number of "Stones," usually two to five per player. The "Stones" are usually pebbles or beads, but in the cities one can buy small polished, carved boxes containing ten "stones," the quality of which might vary from polished ovoid stones, with swirling patterns, to gems worth the ransom of a merchant's daughter. The object of the game is simple, to guess the number of stones held in the other's hand or hands. One point is scored for a correct guess, and the game is usually set for a predetermined number of paired guesses, usually fifty. Usually your opponent tries to outwit you, by either changing the number of stones held in his hand or, perhaps, keeping it the same. I was quite successful at this game, and I could beat most of the girls. I could even beat Inge, who was of the scribes.”
~Captive of Gor, p 107~

“ ‘Stones? Guess stones!’ called a fellow. ‘Who will play stones?’
This is a guessing game, in which a certain number of a given number of ‘stones,’ usually from two to five, is held in the hand and the opponent is to guess the number. There are many variations of ‘Stones,’ but usually one receives one point for a correct guess. If one guesses successfully, one may guess again. If one does not guess successfully, one holds the ‘stones’ and the opponent takes his turn. The game is usually set at a given number of points, usually fifty. Whereas the ‘stones’ are often tiny pebbles, they may be any small object. Sometimes beads are used, sometimes even gems. Intricately carved and painted game boxes containing carefully wrought ‘stones’ are available for the affluent enthusiast. The game, as it is played on Gor, is not an idle pastime. Psychological subtleties, and strategies, are involved. Estates have sometimes changed hands as a result of ‘stones’. Similarly, certain individuals are recognized as champions of the game. In certain cities, tournaments are held.”
~Magicians of Gor, page 34~

Tarn Racing

“The track flown by the tarns is one pasang in length. In English measure the two sides of the track are each about seventeen hundred feet in length, and the measure at the corners would be something under a hundred and fifty feet in width. The flight track itself, of course, is rather like a narrow, aerial rectangle with two rounded ends. The course is determined by twelve rings, hung on chains from great supporting towers; six of these ‘rings’ are rectangular and six are round; the large rectangular ‘rings’ are three on a side; the smaller, rounder rings are set at the corners of the dividing wall, and one at each of the narrowest portions of the dividing wall. Thus, in leaving the perches at the beginning of the race, the tarns pass first through three rectangular ‘rings,’ then come to the first turn, where they negotiate three round rings, two of which are at the corners’ and then they encounter three more rectangular ‘rings’ and then come to the second turn, where they again encounter three round rings, two at the corners and one in the center; skill is required in flying such a course, particularly in making the turns and passing through the small round rings. If four tarns are flown perfectly, one above, one below, and one on each side, four could just pass through one of the round rings; one of the objects of the course is to manuever the tarn in such a way that it takes the center of the ring, or forces the following bird to strike the ring or miss it altogether; I doubt that this fierce form of racing would be practical were it not for the almost uncanny agility in flight of the short-winged racing tarns.”
~Assassin of Gor, page 146~

Zar

“He retired to the canopy beneath which, with water, he sat, cross-legged, with his companion. Between them they had, in the crusts, scratched a board for Zar. This resembles the Kaissa board. Pieces, however, may be placed only on the intersections of lines either within or at the edges of the board. Each player has nine pieces of equal value which are originally placed on the intersections of the nine interior vertical lines with what would be the rear horizontal line, constituted by the back edge of the board, from each player’s point of view. The corners are not used in the original placement, though they constitute legitimate move points after play begins. The pieces are commonly pebbles, or bits of verr dung, and sticks. The ‘pebbles’ move first. Pieces may move one intersection at a time, unless jumping. One may jump either the opponent’s pieces or one’s own. A jump must be made to an unoccupied point. Multiple jumps are permissible.The object is to effect a complete exchange of original placements. The object is to effect a complete exchange of original placements. The first player to fully occupy the opponent’s initial position wins. Capturing, of course, does not occur. The game is one of strategy and maneuverability.”
~Tribesmen of Gor, page 265~

[sweetlarma]

Sometimes, to be sure, commonly in the serving at the parties of young men, certain objects, sometimes as part of a game, objects with prearranged significance among the men, are thrown to the floor, and she must pick them up in a less graceful fashion. Whichever object she first touches determines to whose lusty abuse she must them submit."

Mercenaries
Page 207