CHINESE GAMES WITH DICE AND DOMINOES. 499 



opposite side and back to the starting jilace, the player who first gets all his pieces 

 there winning the game. 



Two dice are thrown, and the pieces are moved to the places which the nnmlter of 

 the throws directs. One may move whatever piece or pieces one chooses, according 

 to the number, either pieces which have been moved before or those which have not 

 yet been moved. If, instead of upright pieces, one plays with small flat discs, which 

 is also permitted, they may be placed side by side or piled on top of each other, as 

 seems most convenient. 



A throw of 2 "ones" causes a piece to be set aside and delivered uji as lost, or, if 

 the game is played for money, it loses the player the tenth part of his stakes. Who- 

 ever throws "twos ■' or " threes " begins moving to the second or third lines, and so 

 on. If doublets are thrown, one may move to the place corresponding to the half 

 uximber of such doublets; and this maybe done by moving 1 piece once to such 

 half number, or 2 pieces at the same time to the place corresponding with such whole 

 number, for in this case either 1 or 2 pieces together may be moved. If " five " and 

 "six," which make 11, are thrown, one may move 1 piece to the fifth place and 

 another to the eleventh, or else move 2 pieces at the same time to the tenth line 

 or place, and then 1 of them to the next line, which is the eleventii. And thus 

 with resi>ect to other throws : If single (as " two " and " four "), for the single num- 

 bers move as many places, but if joined (as "five" and "six"), then otherwise, as 

 already stated. 



The game of backgammon, played upon a board of 24 stations simi- 

 lar to the boards in common use in Spain at the present day, exists 

 along the entire eastern coast of Asia, from Korea to the Malay Penin- 

 sula. 



SSANG-RYOUK. 



In Korea the game of backgammon is known as ssang-ryouk (Ohi^lese 

 slu'umj Jul), doable sixes. It is played with wooden pins or men 

 (fig. 5), called mal (Chinese md), '' horses," upon a hollowed board, «san^- 

 ryouk-lipan* according to the throws with two dice. 



The throws receive the following names: 



1-1, syo-syo (Chinese siu siii), " smallest." 



1-2, tjoui-hko (Chinese shii pi), "rat nose. ' 



1-3, syo sdm (Chinese sUl sdm), " small and three." 



1-4, putk 8(i (Chinese jja'/t sz'), " white and four." 



1-5, |jfliA; i (Chinese pdk 'ng), " white and five." 



1-6, pdik ryoiik (Chinese j>a'A; luk), "white aiul six." 



2-2, tjoun-a (Chinese tsun a), "superior two." 



* Hpan, the ^ord used for "board " in ssana-ryouk, as well as Korean chessand other 

 Korean games, is written with the Chinese character meaning "an order," "rank," 

 which the Cantonese call kuk. The men are about 31 inches in height. I^ifteen are 

 employed on each side, one set being painted red and the other left the natural color 

 of the wood. They are usually made of boxwood, but some softer wood is emjjloyed 

 for the cheaper sets. 



Dice are called in Korean //]/0M-.9rt-« (Chinese c/u* sftrf, " vermillion," d f ), and are 

 identical in every respect with those of China. The only other Korean games with 

 dice than ssang-ryouk with which I am acquainted areas follows: One which my 

 informant tells me has no particular name, but which might be calledtjyou-sa-d-nol-ki 

 Three or four boys sit around, and one puts a peanut or pine nut on the floor and the 

 die is thrown, the nut going to the one throwing the highest. The other, consists 

 in the substitution of a cubical die for the four staves used in the prevailing Korean 

 game of nymit-nol-ki. 



