Saturday, June 8, 2002

Museum scientists help identify your basement curios and garage-sale finds of natural and cultural objects. This year, the Museum's annual ID Day celebrates the exhibition Baseball As America, with Joshua Leland Evans, chairman and founder of Leland's sports auction house. In keeping with a theme of games, you can explore Games from around the World and participate in a series of hands-on activities, watch films and view a special display that takes us through the museum and around the world.

Program Guide

Museum scientists identify natural and cultural objects

William Schiller, Dept. of Education

Jacob Mey & Rondi Davis,

Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science

Anibal Rodriquez & John S. Hansen,

Div. of Anthropology

Paul R. Sweet, Div. of Invertebrate Zoology

and Collections Manager Ornithology

Susan Klofak, Div. of Paleontology

Carl Mehling, Div. of Paleontology

Tam Nguyen, Div. of Invertebrate Zoology

Chris Boyko, Div. of Invertebrate Zoology

David Dickey, Div. of Invertebrate Zoology

Daniel Janies, Div. of Invertebrate Zoology

Learn more about your baseball treasures with Joshua Leland Evans

A baseball subway series showdowns

A self-guided activity in the Museum's cultural halls

A special display of recycled toys from around the world

A series of short films that look at urban games from checkers to jump rope

Phil Lerner. 1959. 7 min. Video. New York

The vivid imagination and inventiveness of children transform the urban New York City landscape into an endless playground.

Francisco Carneiro. 1997. 5 min. Video. Mozambique

Meet a group of high-stepping girls from Mozambique who try to stay on their feet as they skillfully demonstrate one of the more challenging versions of jump rope.

Caroline Coe. 1992. 9 min. Video. Brooklyn.

A bit of local history and a lot of table action from a distinguished group of gentlemen who have made the game of pool checkers into a venerable Brooklyn institution.

Learn the rules of different games and put them into play

The Kiowa hand game is a guessing game where players must find out in which hand an object is hidden. The fun begins when the teams cheer themselves on and distract one another with songs and dances. Stories are also told after the game is over.

String figures are designs made with a loop of string. Today, contemporary and traditional string figure designs are found all over the world, and they can be created as a form of artistic expression, storytelling, or even a good luck charm.

Yut Nori is a Korean board game played with four halved round sticks that are tossed into the air. Scoring is based on how they land. This game is most commonly played with all family members on Lunar New Year's Day.

Skully, also known as skelly, skilsies, and skelsies, was one of the most popular street games in New York City back in the '50s and '60s. The game is played by shooting bottle caps onto a board drawn with chalk on the street and players use a whole language of skully-specific terms. (This game will be played inside the Museum.)

Shaagi, or anklebones, is a Mongolian game that is played most commonly with sheep and goat anklebones. When rolled like dice, anklebones can land on any of their four sides, named horse (mori), camel (temee), sheep (khoni), and goat (yamaa). Players can participate in a variety of strategy, shooting, and counting games.

Warri is a strategy board game similar to Mancala, also known as Awale and Owari. Two players use a wooden board with holes and seeds or beads. Both children and adults can enjoy this game since its rules are simple, yet its strategies are as complex as a chess game.