494 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1893. 



KON MIN YEUNG. 



Kon min yeung, " pursuing sheep," is played with 6 dice of the larg- 

 est size. It is a game played for small stakes, usually for something 

 to eat, and is seldom resorted to by professional gamblers. 



In it the player throws until he gets 3 alike, when the sum of the 

 spots on the other dice is counted. 



The throws in the order of their rank are: Six " sixes," called tdi 

 min yeung, " large sheep." Six " fives," " fours," '• threes," " twos," or 

 "ones," called min yeung Jcung, ^^ yauis.^^ Three alike and "six, six, 

 five," called wm y<?MM5' M(/, "ewes." Three alike and the other throws 

 than the above. These are designated by the number representing the 

 sum of the throws with the 3 odd dice. 



The throws, tdi min yeung and min yeung Jcung, take all the stakes. 

 If min yeung nd, or any other cast of 3 alike, is made, the next player 

 throws until he gets 3 alike, when he pays if his throw is lower, or is 

 paid if it is higher, as in sing luk. 



The throw of 3 "fours" is called ivong i^ang fui, concerning the 

 origin of which name the following story is related : 



A boy ami girl were betrothed by their parents. The girl's father died, and the 

 family having been reduced to poverty, her brother sold the girl to become a prosti- 

 tute. This she resented, and anxious to lind her betrothed, whose face she well 

 remembeied, she caused it to be advertised that she would yield herself to the man 

 who could throw 3 '' fours" with the dice. Many, attracted by her beauty, tried and 

 failed, until her husband, Wong p'ang-fiii, Avho had obtained the rank of kdi iin, or 

 senior wrangler at the provincial examination, presented himself. For him she sub- 

 stituted loaded dice, with which he threw 3 "fours," whereupon she disclosed her- 

 self, and they were happily united. 



chIk t'in KAU. 



ChdTi fin I'liu, "throwing heaven and nine," is played with 2 dice. In 

 this game the 21 throws that can be made with 2 dice receive different 

 names, and are divided into two series, or suits, called man, "civil," 

 and mo, "military." 



The 11 mail throws, in the order of their rank, are figured on the 

 right of Plate i. They are: 



" Double six," called fin, "heaven." 



"Double one," called ti, "earth." 



" Double four," called yan, "man." 



" One, three " called tvo,* " harmony." 



" Double five," called miii, "plum (dower)." t 



*Thi8 throw is called by some ngo, a " goose," a name, like those of the throws 

 that follow it in this series, evidently derived from a fancied resemblance of the 

 spots on the dice. 



tThe 5 spot is also called by the name of mitme or " plum (flower)," in Japan. In 

 Korea the same name, mai-hoa, "plum flower," is given to the sequence " five, one;" 

 "five, two;" "five, three;" "five, four;" "five, five;" "five, six " in the game of 

 Ho-hpai, with dominoes. 



