Hye-Mi Cho: Traditional Game In Korea

This is a traditional game in Korea. There are four sticks, each one made of wood and about 15 centimeters in length. The sticks have two sides, the upside is rounded and the downside is flat. Before the game starts, people have to divide into teams, usually two to four teams works best. The we draw a very simple game board on a white paper. It's easy to draw. Just draw 7 small circles or points so it looks like an x-shaped square. A point on the lower right side of the game board is the starting point and a point at the opposite lower left side is the end point.

To win this game, you have to get the most points and arrive at the end point first.Suppose two people play the game. One of them throws the sticks to the ground first. If the flat side comes up, you get two point. If four flat sides come up, you get five points because it's difficult to do that. If you get one point, your stone can go four steps. In Korea, we play this game on New Year's Day. On that day, all of the family and relatives get together and play this game. Usually, we divide into three teams and the oldest grand mom is the judge. We bet some money for whom as winner.

We enjoy the game. If one team wins, that team gets the money, but they have to buy some food or drinks for everybody. I think playing this game is a very good way for people to stick together without considering the differences in people's ages.