Dominoes, the National Game of China [pp. 559-565]

DOMINOES, THE NATIONAL GAME OF CHINA.
generally made of
wood, points to their
original mat e r i a l.
They are also called
aiga p'ai, "ivory tablets," and sometimes
tim ts{' p'di, " dot- -
ted tablets." They
are now made of TEA}
teak wood, or of an
imitation of teak wood, of bamboo, bone,
or ivory, or of bone and wood conjoined,
like common European dominoes. Two
sizes exist: a large kind of teak, peculiar
to Kwangtung and southern China, in
which the pieces measure about two and
five eighths inches long by seven eighths
of an inch wide and three eighths of an
inch thick, and a smaller kind, of bone or
bamboo, about an inch long by seven
eighths of an inch wide and one half
inch thick.
The distinctive peculiarity of Chinese
dominoes does not lie, however, in their
form or material, but in their marks.
They differ from the European game in
the absence of the blanks, a set comprising
twenty-one different pieces, formed by
the permutations of two dice. (Fig. 2.)
In the common form of Chinese dominoes,
as ordinarily sold, eleven of the twentyone pieces are duplicated, making thirtytwo pieces in the complete set. The
duplication of these pieces constitutes the
chief problem presented by the game.
A remarkable characteristic of Chinese
dominoes is found in the names applied
to the pieces. It was by reason of the
curiosity excited by these names, which
will be seen to be more than merely suggestive and descriptive, that I was led to
the study and investigation of games
generally.
In the first place the twenty-one dominoes are divided into two series or suites,
which are respectively known as Man,
"Civil," and Ma, "Military." The Man
pieces in the order of their rank are:
WOOD DOMINOES, K\ANGTUNG. CHINA.
KWOOD DOMINOES, KWVANGTUNG. CHINA.
6-6, called t'in, "Heaven."
i-i, called ti, "Earth."
4-4, called yan, "Man."
I-3, called wo, "Harmony."
5-5, called mui, "Plum" (flower.)
3-3, called ch'eung sam, " Long three."
2-2, called pan tang, "Bench."
5-6, calledfu t'au, "Tiger's head."
4-6, called hung t'au shap, "Red head ten.'
I-6, called ko keuk ts'at, "Long leg seven."
I-5, called kung ch'ui luk, "Red mallet six."
The Mb pieces are -
2-4 and 1-2, called chi tsun, "Supreme."
6-3 and 4-5, called tsap kau, "Heterogeneous
nines."
6-2 and 5-3, called tsap pat, "Heterogeneous
eights."
4-3 and 5-2, called tsap ts'at, "Heterogeneous
sevens."
I-4 and 2-3, called tsap'ng', "Heterogeneous
fives."
In the ordinary set of thirty-two pieces,
intended for playing the game to be described as "Heavens and Nines," the
eleven pieces of the Man suit are duplicated. In this game they mate each with
its duplicate, while the Ma or Military
dominoes, mate as shown above, with
reference to the sum of their spots. In
"Heavens and Nines," the pieces 2-4 and
I-2, called "Supreme," are together the
highest, and separately, the lowest, of
the Military series.
It is to this game of T'in hau, or
"Heavens and Nines," that I assign the
first place, both as a game and as an object
of antiquarian research among the many
Chinese domino games. So perfect are
its mechanical details, so rapid and dramatic its unfolding and development, so
56o