Bo Bing (game)
Bo Bing as known in Mainland China, is a Chinese dice game from Southern Fujian traditionally played as part of the celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival. It is traditionally played with six dice and a china bowl. Bo Bing is a national-level intangible cultural heritage of China as of 2008. In the Philippines, the game is widely known as "Mooncake Festival Dice Game"/"Mid-Autumn Festival Dice Game" or "Pua Tiong Chiu" among the Chinese Filipino community.
The game dates back to the 1600s when it is said to have been invented by the Chinese general Koxinga of the Southern Ming, along with his lower officer Hong Xu. Zheng was stationed with his troops in Amoy planning the Siege of Fort Zeelandia to take Dutch Formosa, which had been occupied by the Dutch since 1624. The game was an attempt to boost the morale of Koxinga's homesick troops during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The game became popular in Amoy and is considered a folk game.
The Hokkien Chinese name Po̍ah-piáⁿ translates as "gambling for cakes", and the game traditionally has 63 different sized mooncakes as prizes for the winning players: 32 of the smallest cake, half as many of the next largest, and so on ending with a single large Chiōng-gôan-piáⁿ. These days in mainland China, the game's instructions are often printed on mooncake packaging, although the game is also played with prizes of daily necessities, household appliances or money. In the Philippines, the prizes are often usually money and/or daily necessities and household appliances for adults and sometimes toys, school supplies, junk food, various snacks and hobby items for the youth or sometimes for various ages, the prizes may also variously include mooncakes known in Hokkien or Hokkien.
Rules
The game requires six dice and a wide mouthed bowl. The first player is assigned by the eldest or most senior player rolling two dice and counting clockwise until the sum is achieved. The first player throws the six dice into the bowl and wins a specific prize depending on the dice combination. The dice are then passed to the next person clockwise, and the process is repeated until there are no prizes left. A throw is declared invalid and the thrower's next throw forgone if at least one of the dice lands or bounces outside the bowl.If a player makes an ultimate throw, they receive all of the other mooncakes designated for 6th to 1st place, even those which were already awarded. This rule can be omitted to ensure all players receive a prize.
Big prizes such as 状元/狀元, 对堂/對堂, and 三红/三紅 may be chased by other players, wherein a prize already won by another player can be taken by another player who has rolled the dice combination corresponding to a prize that has already been completely taken. In the case of 状元/狀元, where there is only one prize, the hierarchy of 状元/狀元 size determines if it can be taken; only players who roll a higher combination of 状元/狀元 than the last can take the prize.