Post by Please Delete on Apr 17, 2005 13:19:13 GMT -5
Well, the Smithsonian Exhibit on Games in Asia is incredible! I'm going to summarize everything below (there is a catalogue that has all of the information, available through the Smithsonian, ISBN 0-87848-099-4):
Tools
Dice
Dice appear to have originally been oracular in nature. In India since before the first millenium BCE, and back to at least the Han Dynasty in China. They are all sorts--cubed, 'stick', eighteen siders, etc. In Japan, 8th century dice have been found at Heijokyo, the mansion of Prince Nagaya, and the Dazaifu. Ban-sugoroku used dice, and by the 11th century they were throwing dice when children were born, hoping for an auspicious throw.
Race Games
Race games are your basic board games, where you throw the dice and move your pieces around the board, one person trying to get to the finish line before the other.
Pachisi, aka 'chaupat'
This is the 'national game of India', some say. I don't believe there is any set date for the start, but we know that it was popular enough that Akbar (1542-1602), a Moghul ruler, had a board laid out on the flagstones of his palace, where people were used as the pieces. Cloth boards seem more common, often in 'X' or cross shapes. It comes from the basic 'race' game.
Promotion Games
Promotion games are a variety of race games where one works their way from some start point to an end point that is an elevated state.
Snakes and Ladders
It is hard to say whether or not this is period, as we don't know how old it is. It came out of India, from a basic race game. It originally had religious and moral precepts written on the various squares, and was a morality tool. The goal was to work up through life through base human nature to enlightment, at the top.
Chinese Promotion Games
A game known as the 'Dice Selection Game', or cai xuan is known as early as 827 CE. These games tended to focus on promotion through the Chinese bureaucracy, often having all the different positions one might hold in life enumerated on the board, and you would try to advance as quickly as possible. The oldest extant rules (and we don't have an actual board) is for Han guan yi, official bureacracy of the Han Dynasty, by Liu Bin (1022-88). One interesting deviation from the snakes and ladders type game is that at each point on the board there were instructions on what to do, depending on your next throw of the dice, rather than simply counting the total of the dice throw. You could be either promoted or demoted, depending on your dice throw, and double fours were the most auspicious roll (rather than double sixes).
E-Sugoroku
The Japanese race game is called E-Sugoroku, or 'picture sugoroku', to distinguish it from ban-sugoroku, or backgammon. Eventually, in the Edo period and later, this became just 'sugoroku'. The earliest version we know if is 'Pure Land Sugoroku' or Jodo Sugoroku in 1474. Like snakes and ladders, the goal was to get from Hell to Heaven. In the Edo period and later this turned into much more fanciful board games, with players 'travelling' along the Tokaido, or through a Kabuki play, etc.
Backgammon
It seems unclear who came up with Backgammon. It is interesting to note that the Smithsonian claims that the Japanese version used the same starting positions that we do in the west, and those (legend has it) come from a particular game played by a Roman emperor, and became the classic starting point. However, it is unclear if this legend is true or not, and the only thing we know for sure is that Backgammon spread across the world.
Tabula
Making a quick digression here, Tabula is a Roman game that appears to come from an early version of Backgammon. In Tabula, you have the same number of spaces, and the rules are generally the same for capturing and bearing off. The difference is that no pieces start on the board, and both players go the same direction. I don't know whether the Romans invented this game, and it became backgammon, or if they just had a similar game, or something else entirely.
Nard
This is the name of Backgammon in Persia, a shortened version of nardshir, or 'block lion'. It can be traced to at least the Sasanian dynasty (224-651), and there is a 9th century tale of its invention during the reign of Khusraw I (521-579). In it, the wise Wuzurg-Mihr meets an Indian sage, who challenges him on how to play chess, and Wuzurg-Mihr figures it out. Then, to retaliate, he creates nardshir.
Shuang lu
China had many backgammon games since the sixth century. It is hard to say what they all were, as we only have literary references or boards and pieces, but no rules. Earliest example of backgammon-type of game comes from a Sui period (581-618) saira tomb.
The name Shuang lu means 'double sixes' and probably refers to the layout of the board, with two rows of six positions on each side.
Wo Shuo
Another Chinese backgammon variant, it is the earliest, appearing during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (265-589). Very few details exist. The name means 'Holding Spears', and it is related to chang xing, which is another backgammon-type game. In fact, by the Tang dynasty it appears that the two were considered interchangeable terms, and by the 9th century it had either died out all together or been subsumed into the rules for chang xing.
Chang Xing
Although the details are still sketchy, we have evidence that chang xing was related to both wo shuo and shang lu. It can be traced back to the early 8th and 9th centuries. The pieces appear to have started out in columns of six, rather than eight.
Ban-Sugoroku
When backgammon game to Japan, the Chinese characters shang lu were read sugoroku. Ban means 'board', to distinguish it from e-sugoroku. It is the oldest board game in Japan, and the fact that the pieces start in the same position as backgammon indicates that they were related. The Nihon Shoki mentions that Emperor Jito banned sugoroku in 689. The government also tried to ban it in 754. However, the game continued to be played. Throughout history, the government tried to get a handle on it, as it appears to have been a favorite of gamblers.
To be continued.....
Tools
Dice
Dice appear to have originally been oracular in nature. In India since before the first millenium BCE, and back to at least the Han Dynasty in China. They are all sorts--cubed, 'stick', eighteen siders, etc. In Japan, 8th century dice have been found at Heijokyo, the mansion of Prince Nagaya, and the Dazaifu. Ban-sugoroku used dice, and by the 11th century they were throwing dice when children were born, hoping for an auspicious throw.
Race Games
Race games are your basic board games, where you throw the dice and move your pieces around the board, one person trying to get to the finish line before the other.
Pachisi, aka 'chaupat'
This is the 'national game of India', some say. I don't believe there is any set date for the start, but we know that it was popular enough that Akbar (1542-1602), a Moghul ruler, had a board laid out on the flagstones of his palace, where people were used as the pieces. Cloth boards seem more common, often in 'X' or cross shapes. It comes from the basic 'race' game.
Promotion Games
Promotion games are a variety of race games where one works their way from some start point to an end point that is an elevated state.
Snakes and Ladders
It is hard to say whether or not this is period, as we don't know how old it is. It came out of India, from a basic race game. It originally had religious and moral precepts written on the various squares, and was a morality tool. The goal was to work up through life through base human nature to enlightment, at the top.
Chinese Promotion Games
A game known as the 'Dice Selection Game', or cai xuan is known as early as 827 CE. These games tended to focus on promotion through the Chinese bureaucracy, often having all the different positions one might hold in life enumerated on the board, and you would try to advance as quickly as possible. The oldest extant rules (and we don't have an actual board) is for Han guan yi, official bureacracy of the Han Dynasty, by Liu Bin (1022-88). One interesting deviation from the snakes and ladders type game is that at each point on the board there were instructions on what to do, depending on your next throw of the dice, rather than simply counting the total of the dice throw. You could be either promoted or demoted, depending on your dice throw, and double fours were the most auspicious roll (rather than double sixes).
E-Sugoroku
The Japanese race game is called E-Sugoroku, or 'picture sugoroku', to distinguish it from ban-sugoroku, or backgammon. Eventually, in the Edo period and later, this became just 'sugoroku'. The earliest version we know if is 'Pure Land Sugoroku' or Jodo Sugoroku in 1474. Like snakes and ladders, the goal was to get from Hell to Heaven. In the Edo period and later this turned into much more fanciful board games, with players 'travelling' along the Tokaido, or through a Kabuki play, etc.
Backgammon
It seems unclear who came up with Backgammon. It is interesting to note that the Smithsonian claims that the Japanese version used the same starting positions that we do in the west, and those (legend has it) come from a particular game played by a Roman emperor, and became the classic starting point. However, it is unclear if this legend is true or not, and the only thing we know for sure is that Backgammon spread across the world.
Tabula
Making a quick digression here, Tabula is a Roman game that appears to come from an early version of Backgammon. In Tabula, you have the same number of spaces, and the rules are generally the same for capturing and bearing off. The difference is that no pieces start on the board, and both players go the same direction. I don't know whether the Romans invented this game, and it became backgammon, or if they just had a similar game, or something else entirely.
Nard
This is the name of Backgammon in Persia, a shortened version of nardshir, or 'block lion'. It can be traced to at least the Sasanian dynasty (224-651), and there is a 9th century tale of its invention during the reign of Khusraw I (521-579). In it, the wise Wuzurg-Mihr meets an Indian sage, who challenges him on how to play chess, and Wuzurg-Mihr figures it out. Then, to retaliate, he creates nardshir.
Shuang lu
China had many backgammon games since the sixth century. It is hard to say what they all were, as we only have literary references or boards and pieces, but no rules. Earliest example of backgammon-type of game comes from a Sui period (581-618) saira tomb.
The name Shuang lu means 'double sixes' and probably refers to the layout of the board, with two rows of six positions on each side.
Wo Shuo
Another Chinese backgammon variant, it is the earliest, appearing during the Northern and Southern Dynasties (265-589). Very few details exist. The name means 'Holding Spears', and it is related to chang xing, which is another backgammon-type game. In fact, by the Tang dynasty it appears that the two were considered interchangeable terms, and by the 9th century it had either died out all together or been subsumed into the rules for chang xing.
Chang Xing
Although the details are still sketchy, we have evidence that chang xing was related to both wo shuo and shang lu. It can be traced back to the early 8th and 9th centuries. The pieces appear to have started out in columns of six, rather than eight.
Ban-Sugoroku
When backgammon game to Japan, the Chinese characters shang lu were read sugoroku. Ban means 'board', to distinguish it from e-sugoroku. It is the oldest board game in Japan, and the fact that the pieces start in the same position as backgammon indicates that they were related. The Nihon Shoki mentions that Emperor Jito banned sugoroku in 689. The government also tried to ban it in 754. However, the game continued to be played. Throughout history, the government tried to get a handle on it, as it appears to have been a favorite of gamblers.
To be continued.....