Māori stick games
A DigitalNZ Story by Zokoroa
This story captures photographs, videos, audio and articles on Māori stick games, and includes activity suggestions
Stick games, Tī rākau, Titi tōrea, Tītī touretua, Tītī tourea, Poi rākau, Games, Pastimes, Māori
The following photos bring back memories of being shown Māori stick games that our mother had learnt during her school days. Suggestions for activities, including audiotapes and videos of stick games, are also listed.
Māori stick games are also known as tī rākau, poi rākau, tītī tōrea, tītī touretua, and tītī tourea. Poi rākau was initially played as a training game for Māori warriors to improve hand/eye coordination. Stick games became played by men and women for taiaha skills, dexterity for using the poi, agility for kapa haka, and providing entertainment. During the 1940s and 1950s, Māori stick games, along with string games, action songs, poi and haka, were introduced in the NZ primary school curriculum, and stick games were also played by Scouts and Guides.
Find out more: Ross Calman, 'Traditional Māori games – ngā tākaro - Stick games, string games, poi and haka', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/traditional-maori-games-nga-takaro/page-5
Māori stick games are also known as tī rākau, tītī tōrea, tītī touretua, tītī tourea and poi rākau
Image: Girls demonstrating tī rākau at Pakotai School in the Mangakahia River Valley of Northland in 1947.
Alexander Turnbull Library
Games were played with either long sticks (tī rākau) or short sticks (tītī tōrea)
Image: Titi torea being performed at Whakarewarewa.(1930-1939)
Auckland Libraries
Sticks were initially made of wood from small trees (eg makomako & mānuka) & stalks of plants (toetoe, raupō & harakeke)
Nowadays, wooden dowelling, rolled up magazines & newspapers, inner cardboard tubes & PVC pipes used. (Image: 1964)
Tauranga City Libraries
![Image: [Maori stick game]](https://thumbnailer.digitalnz.org/?resize=770x&src=https%3A%2F%2Fcollection-api.aucklandmuseum.com%2Frecords%2Fimages%2Fmedium%2F513713%2F817d42f7d18b9d8f418ac268835047d2173ca90a.jpg&resize=368%253E "[Maori stick game]")
Players faced each other in a circle or two lines, then rhythmically tapped, threw and caught sticks in time to a chant
Image: Māori stick game at Rotorua (1930s)
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Some games had players seated or kneeling or standing whilst facing one another
Image: Playing a Māori stick game alongside a meeting house. (c.1910?)
Alexander Turnbull Library
Stick games became used for taiaha skills, dexterity for using the poi, agility for kapa haka, & providing entertainment
Image: The stick game tītī torea being performed at Whakarewarewa. (1930-1939)
Auckland Libraries
![Image: [Maori stick game]](https://thumbnailer.digitalnz.org/?resize=770x&src=https%3A%2F%2Fcollection-api.aucklandmuseum.com%2Frecords%2Fimages%2Fmedium%2F585119%2F771d8bcfd8b7781c80ad9c7b69c0c7edcf3ca73f.jpg&resize=368%253E "[Maori stick game]")
Stick game being performed near a stream. (1930s)
[Maori stick game]
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Soldiers from the 28th (Māori) Battalion choir play ti rākau games to music at All Saints Cathedral, Cairo. (1941)
Members of the 28th New Zealand (Maori) Battalion choir performing in All Saints Cathedral, Cairo
Alexander Turnbull Library
Playing stick games in a meeting house at Rotorua. (1949)
Maori women in traditional costume playing stick games in a meeting house at Rotorua
Alexander Turnbull Library
Women seated in front of a whare modelling the playing of stick games for the National Publicity Studios. (July 1954)
Models
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Children playing stick games inside the whare nui at Wairoa during Ringatu New Year hui. Photo by Ans Westra. (1964)
Ringatu New Year hui, Wairoa
Alexander Turnbull Library
Photograph of stick game taken for magazine number 90 of the Bay of Plenty Photo News. (15 Nov 1969)
Māori song & dance: stick game
Tauranga City Libraries
Children playing a stick game in Rotorua. (1960s)
A stick game in progress, Rotorua, 1960s
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
![Image: Maori girls practicing stick game [tititorea]](https://thumbnailer.digitalnz.org/?resize=770x&src=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.ehive.com%2Faccounts%2F3064%2Fobjects%2Fimages%2F11vdu3f_49ot_l.jpg&resize=368%253E "Maori girls practicing stick game [tititorea]")
Two girls kneeling & throwing batons to each other during a traditional game of tītī torea. (1994)
Maori girls practicing stick game [tititorea]
Rotorua Museum of Art & History Te Whare Taonga o Te Arawa
Early ACCOUNTS OF TRADITIONAL STICK GAMES
Titi-touretua (1901)
Description of the game and words of a chant used (Elsdon Best).
Alexander Turnbull Library
Tī rākau (1925)
Descriptions by iwi and examples of songs sung (Elsdon Best).
Victoria University of Wellington
Te Ara: Traditional Māori games – ngā tākaro (2013)
Story by Ross Calman giving an historical overview.
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
NZ Curriculum, & scouts & Guides
Māori stick games, string games, action songs, poi and haka were introduced in the NZ primary school curriculum in the 1940s and 1950s. In a 1943 article in the Education Gazette, the new superintendent of physical education, Phillip Smithells, wrote, "These activities, while they may not have the same cultural and historical significance to the pakeha, as to the Maori, are exceedingly good for the body of the pakeha." (Source: Te Ara - Dancing at school) Stick games were also practised by Scout troops and Girl Guides.
Scouts play stick games (1934)
National Library of New Zealand
Rover Scouts demonstrated stick game (1940)
National Library of New Zealand
NZ primary school curriculum introduced stick games in 1940s and 1950s
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Teachers' Physical Education included stick games
Image: Teacher's Refresher course, Frederick Wallis House, Lower Hutt which became a conference centre in 1937.
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Stick game during Teacher's Refresher course at Frederick Wallis House, Lower Hutt
Date given as c.1900 - c.1947. Photographed by National Publicity Studios which formed in 1945.
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Stick games played by students at Whakarewarewa
Date given as c.1900 - c.1947. Photographed by National Publicity Studios.
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Video of Parents' Day at Titirangi School for Deaf includes children playing stick games (1957)
SignDNA - Deaf National Archive New Zealand
Students from South Wellington School practicing stick games (Ti Rakau), Civic Square, Wellington (1958)
Alexander Turnbull Library
Children in grass skirts kneeling & playing stick games in a classroom (1959)
Alexander Turnbull Library
Turakina Māori Girls' College students at the Annual Concert playing tī rākau (c.1960)
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
Students at Turakina Māori Girls' College playing tī rākau (c.1960)
Approximately 24 girls are kneeling in two rows facing one another.
Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
Girls playing stick games (No date)
Hocken Collections - Uare Taoka o Hākena, University of Otago
Girl Guides (1962)
Playing stick games at Division Patrol Camp
Auckland Libraries
'Games and dances of the Maori: a guide book for teachers' (Dept of Ed, 1966)
Based on articles by Physical Education Branch of the Dept. of Education.
Howick Historical Village
Stick games at Rotokawa School, Rotorua (1969)
Alexander Turnbull Library
'Nga Aro - Takaro' (2019)
Includes stick games. Compiled by Harko & Yves Tennessee Brown.
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Children at Wadestown Infants School about to learn a Māori stick game (1979)
Alexander Turnbull Library
Resources on stick games - audiotape & Video
Audiotape: Titi torea : stick game (1927)
Songs recorded at Rotorua during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York.
National Library of New Zealand
Audiotape: Ngāti Pōneke performances - Tape E (1940-1956]
Tape includes Witarina Harris talking about stick games.
Alexander Turnbull Library
Video: NZ National Film Unit: Weekly Review no. 171 (1944)
Includes Pākehā girls giving a display of the stick game at Auckland. (View from 5:12mins - 6:02mins into film)
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Video: Māori Village (1945)
Includes Guide Rangi introducing Māori Concert Party rehearsing stick games. (View from 4.04mins - 5.03 mins into film)
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Video: NZ National Film Unit: Weekly Review No. 408 (1949)
Includes Youth leadership course held at Christchurch which included a stick game. (View from 4.44mins - 5.00mins)
Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga
Video: Poi rākau (c.2013)
A group of young people learn the stick game poi rākau with a kaiako from Rangatahi Tū Rangatahi (Te Ara, 2013).
Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Video: Tītītorea at Auckland Museum (2015)
Mattie Hamuera and the Auckland Museum Guest Educator Taiohi Team demonstrate Tītītōrea.
Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira
Other videos:
NZ Folksong: E pāpā Waiari A traditional Whanganui song sung while playing tī rakau. Also includes sheet music & lyrics. (1 min 19 secs)
TeacherTube: Māori Stick Games - Rakau (1 July 2008) Demo presented by students at Tamaki Int, School (2 mins 03 secs)
Also see Youtube for a range of videos including:
Music Express Magazine (16 July 2014): E papä wairi (Maori Stick Game) (1 min 28 secs)
SAMIRICO67 MOANA NUI (23 July 2011): "E Papa " - Maori Tititorea's Dance (2 mins 20 sec)
Te Manawa (3 Dec 2012): Ti Rakau - Māori Stick Game (49 secs)
Waikatoforever (26 March 2010): Raukau Sticks - Māori Stick Game : Demo for beginners with students at Melville Intermediate School, Hamilton (1 min 09 secs)
What now (2 July 2016): Traditional Māori Game - Poi Rakau! (1 min 52 secs)
Video: Coco Kids Games- How to Play Poi Rākau
Students at Richmond Road Primary School in Ponsonby, Auckland (3 mins 19 secs).
The Coconet TV
Materials:
Tī rākau was initially made of wood from small trees such as the makomako and mānuka, and the flower stalks of the toetoe, raupō and harakeke. Nowadays, sticks are mainly made from wooden dowelling which may be decorated. Rolled up magazines and newspapers, or the inner cardboard tube from kitchen wrapping rolls, or PVC pipes have also been used.
HubPages: How to make rhythm sticks by KA Hanna (27 July 2018). How to use PVC pipe to make sticks.
Kiwi Can: How to make and use rakau sticks. Video on how to use magazines to make sticks and play with them (4 min 20 secs)
Online Scout Manager (UK): Tī Rakau - Traditional Māori Stick Game. How to make sticks from rolled up magazines and how to play, with links to videos.
Tīti torea Māori language week craft, Tūranga (Christchurch Central Library) (Sept 2023)
Christchurch City Libraries
Tīti torea, Te wiki o te reo Māori craft, Tūranga
Christchurch City Libraries
Tīti torea, Te wiki o te reo Māori craft, Tūranga
Christchurch City Libraries
additional activities:
Sportnz.org.nz: Tìtìtòrea - Health & Physical Education Activity Card Level 2 (pdf)
Auckland Museum Blog: How to play tītītōrea by Mattie Hamuera (27 Jul 2015)
Rangatahi Tū Rangatira: Poi Rākau - Taonga Tākaro (Traditional Māori Game)
This DigitalNZ story was updated in June 2025