It has always been easy to see that games are an important part if the Inuit way of life and have been since the earliest days. Inuit games were played by the indigenous peoples of the Arctic Coast of Siberia (Chukotka, in Russian standard geographical terminology), Greenland, and the Arctic regions of North America. From east to west, the lands inhabited by the Inuit extend over a distance of almost 5,000 kilometers.
A great number of stories from the earliest days describe traditional games as they are still played today. This goes to show that the games are an important part of Inuit Culture even during those early days. These games were not just played for fun; they were an important part of traditional way of life.
Although the different groups are spread over this vast area, their cultures share many common features. All the people speak dialects of the same language. No one can understand every dialect, but the language is easily distinguishable from those of the Inuit’s neighbor, the Athapaskan and Algonquian people. What is more, the groups of families inhabiting the different regions made their living off the land in similar ways. They all survived under the difficult conditions of their Arctic homelands. In consequence, they all developed similar ways of making a living on the land. Although there was little if any contact between more distant groups, they would have easily recognized each other’s traditions as their own. The games that the Inuit people played mirrored their living conditions. Games were played during community festivals and were meant to be fun and competitive but also had an educational aspect to them. The games prepared people for living on the land and the hunt that lay ahead. Many of the games tested the competitor’s strength, endurance, and pain resistance all tools needed to survive in the vast Arctic.