Birrguu Matya - an Aboriginal game

Today we learnt how to play an Indigenous Australian game called Birrguu Matya. It's a very old game, maybe thousands of years old. It was invented by the Indigenous Australians of the Bathurst region, the Wiradjuri people - they were the first people to play this game. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birrguu_Matya

To play it we used:


A mini whiteboard
A marker to draw a nine square grid (like noughts and crosses)
3 square counters 
3 circle counters


You could play this game anywhere and you could use rocks or sticks or leaves instead of counters. 




You play it in pairs, to win you need to get your 3 counters in a row, diagonally, vertically or horizontally. First you decide which player will start (we used rock, paper, scissors). Then, you take turns to put your counters in the squares, just like noughts and crosses. When all the counters are on the board you start sliding! Each player has to slide their counter one square when it's their turn. You can slide in any direction, even diagonally but you can't jump a square. You keep taking it in turns to slide until someone gets three in a row. It's harder than it sounds and lots of fun!

We learnt how to play and then taught it to Jared's grade. We had a great time!

I had a good game but I lost. It was still a very good game. Clarrie


I beat Clarrie by trapping him. Evan


Maisie and I played using square and round counters. Lucy


I learnt that if you go first you should put your counter in the middle. Rahima


I beat Fionn and I lost too. Fionn beat me 10 times. Aidan


Jarrod and I played a game - he won but he cheated (only joking). Jackson


Everyone played well and showed good sportsmanship. Connor


I learnt to play a game that was invented by the Wiradjuri people a long time ago. Riley


I learnt that it was fun to play with other people over and over again. Sunita


Mariana and I played. She won lots of times even though she was still learning. I won a few times too. Romy


It was a draw between Liam and I. It was ten all. Max H


I learnt how to play. You win by getting three in a row. Grace


I learnt that if you lose you shouldn't be mean. Just be a good sport. Chloe


You can win by thinking about your next move and your opponent's next move. Isaac


You can win by trapping your opponent in the corners, then they can't win and they have to let you win. Ilya


I learnt a game from Australia. The Aboriginal people who made it were from Bathurst and they made it up a long time ago. Fionn

You could play this game anywhere, using counters or rocks or sticks or leaves. You could draw the board in the dirt or on paper. Teagan, Rahima, Sunita