Games and plays are traditionally an important part of the seasonal and ritual life of Mongol herdsmen. On the one hand, they have to gloom games which teach children how to master cleverness. Some of them are typical winter games, for example the propitiatory ones, played during the festivities for the new Lunar Year. On the other hand, there are also a number of summer games (naadam) which in the past were linked with sacrifices to the protecting local spirit. The communist government appropriated the traditional games and plays in support of its official educational and political propaganda, but even during the communist era they retained their traditional and popular character. In conclusion, the author suggests that the traditional games reveal an extraordinary capacity for abstract thinking that is apparent also in cognitive classifications and juristic distinctions of the Mongols.