Rules for the Moon Cake Game
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/09/10 13:13 厦门日报
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar. Focusing on the harvest moon, it originally involves outdoor reunions where friends and relatives gather together to eat moon cakes and watch the moon. Its perfect round shape forms the symbol of familial harmony and unity。
Unique to Xiamen is the Festival custom of playing the Moon Cake Game（中秋搏饼） in which players roll six dice（骰子）for six kinds of prizes. Traditionally the prizes were moon cakes created especially for this game. Recently however, people have begun to prefer other prizes such as soap, towels, candies, shampoo, cameras, etc。 The moon cake game, legendarily invented by Zheng Chenggong to keep his troops from nostalgia（乡愁）, is found only in southern Fujian and parts of Taiwan. The evening around Mid-Autumn Festival every year are punctuated by the ringing of dice in large porcelain bowls（瓷碗） as families, friends and colleagues gather together to compete for moon cakes. (Or, in recent years, other prizes.)
There are altogether 63 gambling moon cakes, large or small, in a set. The different sizes of cakes represent different official positions won by taking the imperial examinations of yesteryear. The grand prize, called Zhuangyuan（状元）, represent No. 1 scholar. Duitang（对堂） is No. 2 scholar. San hong（三红） is No. 3. Then there are Sijin（四进）, Erju（二举） and the smallest cookie Yixiu（一秀）。
Once everyone is seated around the table, one player tosses two dice into the bowl. Then, using the total of the two dice, count clockwise（顺时针方向） from him/herself around the table to determine who will be first to play. Players take turns rolling six dice into the bowl until all the cakes are gone. Take care no dice bounce out, for then you lose a turn！
Four fours with two ones is considered the luckiest Zhuangyuan。
The Moon Cake Game in Mid-Autumn
Mooncake Game's Origins and Rules. Mooncake Game was started about 1500 years ago by scholars craving success in imperial exams. The total of 63 prizes, based on various dice combinations, was named after imperial titles earned from the exam:
One prize for #1 Scholar (Zhuangyuan) The seven prize levels:
Highest 1. Zhuangyuan with Gold Flower
2. Hongliubo (6 fours)
3. Yaodianliubo (6 ones)
4. Heiliubo (6 of the same, except fours)
5. Wuhong (5 fours)
6. Wuzi (5 of the same, except fours) Lowest
7. Sihong (4 fours)
Two prizes for No. 2 Scholar (Duitang) A straight.
Four prizes for No. 3 Scholar (Sanhong) Throw 3 fours
Eight prizes for No. 4 Scholar (Sijin) Throw 4 of the same, except fours
Sixteen prizes for No. 5 Scholar (Erju) Throw 2 fours
Thirty two prizes for No. 6 Scholar (Yixiu) Throw 1 four
Rules and names of dice combos have changed little over the centuries, but chips have changed, from common coins to Zhuangyuan chips and Zhuangyuan cakes (Gulangyu's are most famous). Oddly, some people in N.E. Fujian's Fuding County speak S. Fujian dialect, and still use
Koxinga's officers adapted dice game rules to create the mooncake gambling game in order to preoccupy the homesick soldiers. And according to many Qing Dynasty writers (like
Zheng Dajiu, in
Today the mooncake game is found not only in S. Fujian and Taiwan but also, it appears, wherever you find overseas Chinese of Xiamen ancestry. But only in Xiamen is the game preserved virtually unchanged. Even during the
In 2003, Gulangyu's first annual Mooncake Game Cultural Festival attracted crowds of locals, as well as domestic and overseas visitors and the media, and since then the game has become more popular than ever - though mooncakes are no longer the prize of choice (mooncakes, like fruitcake in America, are traditional but not necessarily all that tasty). Prizes today are usually more practical, like shampoo, towels, thermoses, blankets, or cutlery
Rules for the Moon Cake Game
http://www.sina.com.cn 2003/09/10 13:13 厦门日报
The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15th day of the 8th month on the lunar calendar. Focusing on the harvest moon, it originally involves outdoor reunions where friends and relatives gather together to eat moon cakes and watch the moon. Its perfect round shape forms the symbol of familial harmony and unity。
Unique to Xiamen is the Festival custom of playing the Moon Cake Game（中秋搏饼） in which players roll six dice（骰子）for six kinds of prizes. Traditionally the prizes were moon cakes created especially for this game. Recently however, people have begun to prefer other prizes such as soap, towels, candies, shampoo, cameras, etc。 The moon cake game, legendarily invented by Zheng Chenggong to keep his troops from nostalgia（乡愁）, is found only in southern Fujian and parts of Taiwan. The evening around Mid-Autumn Festival every year are punctuated by the ringing of dice in large porcelain bowls（瓷碗） as families, friends and colleagues gather together to compete for moon cakes. (Or, in recent years, other prizes.)
There are altogether 63 gambling moon cakes, large or small, in a set. The different sizes of cakes represent different official positions won by taking the imperial examinations of yesteryear. The grand prize, called Zhuangyuan（状元）, represent No. 1 scholar. Duitang（对堂） is No. 2 scholar. San hong（三红） is No. 3. Then there are Sijin（四进）, Erju（二举） and the smallest cookie Yixiu（一秀）。
Once everyone is seated around the table, one player tosses two dice into the bowl. Then, using the total of the two dice, count clockwise（顺时针方向） from him/herself around the table to determine who will be first to play. Players take turns rolling six dice into the bowl until all the cakes are gone. Take care no dice bounce out, for then you lose a turn！
Four fours with two ones is considered the luckiest Zhuangyuan。
The Moon Cake Game in Mid-Autumn
Mooncake Game's Origins and Rules. Mooncake Game was started about 1500 years ago by scholars craving success in imperial exams. The total of 63 prizes, based on various dice combinations, was named after imperial titles earned from the exam:
One prize for #1 Scholar (Zhuangyuan) The seven prize levels:
Highest 1. Zhuangyuan with Gold Flower
2. Hongliubo (6 fours)
3. Yaodianliubo (6 ones)
4. Heiliubo (6 of the same, except fours)
5. Wuhong (5 fours)
6. Wuzi (5 of the same, except fours) Lowest
7. Sihong (4 fours)
Two prizes for No. 2 Scholar (Duitang) A straight.
Four prizes for No. 3 Scholar (Sanhong) Throw 3 fours
Eight prizes for No. 4 Scholar (Sijin) Throw 4 of the same, except fours
Sixteen prizes for No. 5 Scholar (Erju) Throw 2 fours
Thirty two prizes for No. 6 Scholar (Yixiu) Throw 1 four
Rules and names of dice combos have changed little over the centuries, but chips have changed, from common coins to Zhuangyuan chips and Zhuangyuan cakes (Gulangyu's are most famous). Oddly, some people in N.E. Fujian's Fuding County speak S. Fujian dialect, and still use
Koxinga's officers adapted dice game rules to create the mooncake gambling game in order to preoccupy the homesick soldiers. And according to many Qing Dynasty writers (like
Zheng Dajiu, in
Today the mooncake game is found not only in S. Fujian and Taiwan but also, it appears, wherever you find overseas Chinese of Xiamen ancestry. But only in Xiamen is the game preserved virtually unchanged. Even during the
In 2003, Gulangyu's first annual Mooncake Game Cultural Festival attracted crowds of locals, as well as domestic and overseas visitors and the media, and since then the game has become more popular than ever - though mooncakes are no longer the prize of choice (mooncakes, like fruitcake in America, are traditional but not necessarily all that tasty). Prizes today are usually more practical, like shampoo, towels, thermoses, blankets, or cutlery