Hawaiian Makahiki games: kōnane, ulu maika and more
Short version: the Makahiki was a season of tribute, harvest, sport and play in old Hawaiʻi, and games such as kōnane and ulu maika belong to it. This page draws on Makahiki Games, Kamehameha Schools and Hawaii-Guide.com. The sources disagree on when the season starts, so it gives both. It is a summary, not a rulebook.
The season
Kamehameha Schools
Says the Makahiki begins in mid-November and ends in late January or February, with the rainy season, and is signalled by the rising of Makaliʻi (the Pleiades). It describes it as a time for tribute, harvest, sport and play.
Hawaii-Guide.com
Places the season from about late October, when Makaliʻi rose at sunset, through February. It says warfare was kapu for the four lunar months and cites a National Park Service overview framing it as a religious observance honoring Lono.
The two dates do not match. Neither source is a final word; Hawaiian cultural organizations are the best place to confirm the season in a given year.
The games
Makahiki Games builds its kits and weekly issues on a 1978 doctoral dissertation that documents 101 traditional Hawaiian games, The Sports and Games of the Makahiki Festival: A History and a Unit of Instruction by Santiago Wilfred Navalta (Brigham Young University). Six of the games the sources name:
Kōnane
A jump-capture game on a board of shallow depressions cut into wood or stone, played with black and white pebbles. The aim is to leave your opponent with no jump (Makahiki Games, Kamehameha Schools).
Ulu maika
Players roll a smooth stone disc between two upright stakes. Hawaii-Guide.com says it was a game of skill that drew heavy wagering.
Moa pahe‘e
A dart game: players slide a wooden dart along the ground toward a target (Hawaii-Guide.com).
Hukihuki
A tug of war, often team against team (Hawaii-Guide.com).
Uma
Arm wrestling done lying on the stomach (Hawaii-Guide.com).
Haka moa
A balance duel: two players stand on one foot inside a circle and try to push each other off balance or out (Hawaii-Guide.com).
Kōnane: what the old accounts say
A Makahiki Games issue, “Kōnane: Two Feet Long, Divided Into 238 Squares” (October 14, 2026), collects what early writers recorded about the game. A summary:
The pebbles
Black pebbles came from lava rock (ʻiliʻeleʻele) and white pebbles from coral and, at times, bone (ʻilikea). The issue quotes Peter Buck on pebbles in the Bishop Museum: some about 1.3 inches across and 0.6 inch thick, others thicker or round.
The board (papamū)
A slab of wood or stone. Captain King described one about two feet long with 238 squares, 14 to a row (that is 17 rows). Kenneth Emory counted 14 stone slabs on Lānaʻi with 8 to 15 rows and 64 to 260 depressions; more holes meant a longer game.
Kōnane in four steps
Set the board
Two players. Black and white pebbles go on the board in alternating colors, row by row or in another pattern.
Open
The game begins when a player removes one pebble from the center or a corner.
Jump
Pebbles leave the board by being jumped over, in straight lines (Hawaii-Guide.com says there are no diagonal moves).
Win
The winner is the player who leaves the other with no jump. Kamehameha Schools notes the difference from checkers: the aim is to be the last one able to move, not to remove every piece. The Makahiki Games issue gives names for the result: hāpala ka ʻele when white beats black and na ke kea kaʻai when black beats white.
A note on sources
Kamehameha Schools says much of the depth of kōnane has been lost over the years; its page is a school newsroom article from 2014. Hawaii-Guide.com is a commercial travel site. The Makahiki Games issue lists its sources at the bottom: the Pukui and Elbert and Andrews dictionaries, Culin (1899), Buck (1957), Cook and King (1784), Emory (1933) and the Navalta dissertation (1978).
Where to find a set
Kōnane: Ready to Play
A printable PDF of seven pages: three boards to print (6 × 6, 8 × 8 and a bigger one), a one-page rules sheet, a guide to saying four Hawaiian words, ways to make it easier or harder, and the story of the game. It is a digital download, nothing is shipped, and you gather 18 black and 18 white pebbles (beans, buttons or checkers work). Made for ages 8 and up, for two players or three taking turns.
Kōnane: Hawaiian Checkers
A printable, step-by-step kit for teaching kōnane to a class or group, even if you have never played it. Digital download; you gather the pebbles.
Makahiki Games also sends one issue a week on a traditional Hawaiian game, free: subscribe. More makers are on the Hawaiian and Pacific games page. Learn what to look for first: how to choose a traditional game set.
Featured
FeaturedMakerSpecialist in these games
Carries: Printable kits for traditional Hawaiian games, including Kōnane, Kimokimo and Palaʻie
See it at makahiki.games
Sources
- Kōnane: Two Feet Long, Divided Into 238 Squares (Makahiki Games, October 14, 2026)
- Kōnane: Ready to Play (Makahiki Games product page)
- Kōnane: Simple board game or battle simulator? (Kamehameha Schools, November 10, 2014)
- Traditional Hawaiian Games for Visitors (Hawaii-Guide.com, July 2026)
All pages read November 10, 2026. The Makahiki Games product page describes a kit that business sells.