CHINESE GAMES WITH DICE AND DOMINOES. 



533 



Fig. 25. 



PASE (DICE), SET OF THREE FOR CHAU- 

 SAK, LUCK.VOW, INDIA. 



9ity of 



(Fr. 



in Mu.'»eum of L'ni' 

 nnsylvan.a. ) 



cediug, the wooden backs beiug- substituted as a matter of economy. 

 Dominoes made entirely of wood would naturally follow, and the long 

 dominoes used in the south of China might be regarded as a later type. 

 Even they bear a suggestion of their origin in the spots with which 

 their ends and tops are decorated. 



The names of the dominoes are the same as those of the corre- 

 sponding throws with the 2 dice, and the pieces are divided, like the 

 dice-throws, into the series of miui and 

 mo, in which they rank in the same order 

 as the dice. The correspondence extends 

 to the game as well, the most character- 

 istic domino game, td fin Avru, closely 

 resembling the most characteristic dice 

 game, chdl- fin kau. Indeed, if dominoes 

 were invented for the purpose of a game, 

 they doubtless had their origin in the 

 game with 2 dice. This game with 2 

 dice, sJu'ung /»/>•, which, according to one 

 Chinese authority, is said to have come 

 from India, finds a parajlel in an Indian dice game. 



Several kinds of dice are employed in games in India. One (fig. 24) 

 called ^ff.s'^ (plural of p^fsvO i^re used in the game called chausar, SLud 

 consist of rectangular bone or ivory prisms, marked on 4 sides with 1, 

 2, 5, and G spots. These dice are sometimes made shorter and pointed 

 at the ends (fig. 25). Their origin I assign to the staves referred to on 

 page 507. Another kind of Indian dice, called by the Arabic name of 



l-ab, or kabat, from k'ab, 



"ankle," "ankle Done," are 

 used in the game of k'-aha- 

 tain, 2 dice being thrown. 

 Either natural astragali, 

 consisting of the knuckle 

 bones of a goat, or dice 

 marked on 4 sides with 

 "three," "four," "one," and 

 "six" spots, or cubical dice 

 regularly marked on the 6 

 sides (fig. 27) are employed. 

 The "four" spots on these 

 dice are usually marked in red, and often both the "three" and 

 "four" are marked in this color.* Thus cubical dice appear to be 



Fig. 26. 

 SET OF LONG DICE: CELEBES. 



' Thi.s account of k'ah was communicated to tlie writer by the Hon. Syad Moham- 

 med Hadi, of Sultanpnr, India. Two sets of ivory dice, received by the writer from 

 Lucknow, are cubical, and marked on their 6 sides with from 1 to spots, in the same 

 manner as our common dice. The '• fours" alone are in red. 



