Two groups of five players sit facing each other. Between them rest five bundles of kapa, each a different color, each about the size of a pillow. A single stone, small and smooth, waits hidden beneath one of the bundles. The hider keeps his face down, giving away nothing, while a polished rod four to five feet long waits in the hands of the team preparing to guess.
No'a
Players: Two groups of five players each.
Objective: One team hides the no'a stone beneath one of five kapa bundles. The opposing team guesses which bundle conceals it.
Equipment: A no'a, a small, smooth stone or piece of wood. A maile, a small, highly polished rod. Five kapa bundles for each team.
Malo's Version
Rules:
Two groups of five players each face each other with five bundles of kapa placed between them.
A skilled player is chosen to hide the no'a under one of the kapa bundles.
After the bets are completed, the hider attempts to deceive the opposing team, keeping his face down to avoid revealing any signs or clues.
The opposing team watches every movement of the hider's arm, judging where it relaxed to drop the no'a.
After the team confers, they make their guess. The player opposite the suspected bundle makes a sharp flick with his maile.
A correct guess scores a point. The guessing team then becomes the hiding team.
The team that first scores ten points wins the game.
Emory's Version
Rules:
The same team hides the no'a five or ten times, whatever number is agreed to before the game begins.
The team with the fewest strokes to locate the no'a wins.
In a reversed version, the team with the most strokes without locating the no'a is the victor.
The Implements of No'a
The Bishop Museum holds nine implements classified as no'a. Seven are made of basalt, one of coral, and one of wood. Of the basaltic no'a, four are spherical balls with diameters ranging from 1.0 to 1.7 inches, and three are circular disks with diameters of 2.1 to 2.7 inches and a thickness of 1.5 inches. The coral no'a is spherical, with a diameter of 1.4 inches. The wooden no'a is a polished disk, one side flat and the other convex, 3.3 inches in diameter and 1.5 inches thick at the center. There was no standardized pattern, though spherical balls and circular disks were the general choice.
The maile rod varied by account. On some rods, a tuft of dog skin or a ti leaf was drawn through a slit in the upper end. Other accounts describe a stick three feet long, decorated with a feather or cloth.
The government of New Zealand purchased the Oldman Collection, which held two maile rods: slender polished wands of hard wood, 41.5 and 43 inches long, with butt ends 0.3 inch in diameter and small pieces of dogskin tied to the other end. The Bishop Museum holds a polished slender rod of kaula wood, 53.3 inches long, 0.3 inch thick at one end and 0.2 inch at the other, with no hole or slit, the dogskin evidently tied on as with the Oldman rods. Two other identical rods measure 63.2 inches long, 0.6 inch thick at one end and 0.2 inch at the other. Though no dogskin remains attached, they are recorded as rods used in the game of no'a.
The last piece of equipment was five kapa bundles for each team, usually different colors and about the size of a pillow. Originally, five piles of sand were used instead.
Captain Cook and the Rods
Captain Cook saw several small polished rods approximately four or five feet long, slightly "thicker than the ramrod of a musket with a tuft of long white dog hair fixed to one end."
The Price of Losing
The game of no'a frequently occupied Hawaiians for days. It was an ideal game for gambling, and many commoners and chiefs became beggars because of the losses in this game.
Betting was very heavy. When a player lost his property and was reduced to poverty, he became bitter and desperate. He would then risk everything he had. When he lost, he became a beggar or would go crazy because of grief. Some would stake their wives or children, "speaking of the former as an old sow and of the latter as shoats."
Conclusion
No'a was played between two teams of five, using a stone, a maile rod, and five bundles of kapa. One version ended when a team reached ten points. Another version, documented separately, was decided by the number of strokes it took to locate the stone, fewest strokes winning in one account and most strokes winning in the reversed account. The implements varied across the specimens catalogued at the Bishop Museum, from spherical stones to polished wooden disks, and rods ranging from three to five feet in length. Captain Cook recorded seeing the rods in person. Betting on the outcome could cost a player his property and, in the most extreme accounts, his own family.
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Sources
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Buck, Peter H. Arts and Crafts of Hawaii. Honolulu, Hawaii: Bishop Museum Press. 1957.
Cook, James and J. King. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. 2nd Edition. London. Vol. III. 1784.
Culin, Stewart. "Hawaiian Games." American Anthropologist. Volume 1, Number 2 (April 1899)
Emory, Kenneth. Ancient Hawaiian Civilization. Honolulu: The Kamehameha Schools Press. 1933.
Malo, David. Hawaiian Antiquities. 2nd Edition. Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum. 1898.
Mitchell, Donald K. Na Pa'ani Kahiko O Hawaii — Ancient Sports of Hawaii. Honolulu, Hawaii: Kamehameha Schools. 1952.
Pukui, Mary K. and S. Elbert. Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian English-English Hawaiian. 1st Edition. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii. 1971.
Wilkes, Charles, U.S.N. Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition During the Years 1838, 1839, 1840, 1841, 1842. Volume IV. Philadelphia. 1850.