Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-09-01

A
N\}Fk#eMSm has made the study
xXNMNX u of games. from the
SN&W I I scientific point o {
view. ms specially The so-called knuckle
bones are familiar enough. being used to
this day by children in various parts of tine
world. They are the ankle bones of the
sheep, and are four-Si3ed. 1t seems odd to
find that dice liz Arabic called by a
name which means ankle bones. Nobody
knows how lonS they were first employed
for playing games. One day il occurred to
somebody that a cube was better adapted
10 the purpose. That must have happened
in very ancient tunes. for the Romans of
Old had dice, which were just like our own,
even to the arrangement of the numbers on
the faces-L e.. the six opposite the one, the
five opposite the two, aud the four oppo-
site the three.
1t VIII be observed that the sum OF any
two opposite numbers is always Se.en This
may nave something TO do with the fact
that seven used to be regarded a magical
runIber, OF the respect accorded to il there
is evidence IN many passages of the bible.
The asst ancient cuDical die known dates
hack to 600 Il. Chat is, 100 years ago.
II was found at Naucratis. d Greek q. lony
IN ESybt. The earliest dice We're made in
Pairs. rights and iefts, like knuckle bones,
one of which was always from the right leg
and the other from the left leg of the ami
mai. Two dice We're usually employed be-
cause they were two knuckle bones. Mr.
Culn says that dice probably originated in
mia. trJ I'M that country they were car
lied 10 China, whence they have been dis
rlbuted all over the world. The Chinese
are great gamesters; they invented a modi-
fication of The dice, which is called the
domino. Put two dice faces side by side
ard you have domino, as the accompany
ing illustration will show. Dominoes are
said 20 have been devised in the year ITO
or the Christian era by a Chinese emperor
Tor the amusement of his wives. 1t is more
likely, however, that they merely obtained
the imperial approval at that date
Dice i'm China.
As there are twenty-one possible throws
with two dice. so twenty-one dominoes may
he regarded as natural domir oes. However,
the Chinese have doubled up some Of the
numbers SO as TO make full set for play
irg thirty-two in all. All over eastern
Asia the custom AIRY outfit of dominoes is
thlrty-two. Our dcminoes. Obtained by way
CT Europe are only twenty-eight and are
modified by the introduction OF blanks
The domino game of Europe and America
is the match gene. Ii is played in China
but Is an unimportant one among the many
Chinese games of dominoeS. The Chinese
domino games are all of them dice games
elaborated. Dcmiroes are also used in
China, like dice for fortune telling That
system of divination has an extensive lit
Oh It's own. Inc ChlneSe dDminDeS
all have astrological names
In China cosmical names are given to
the numbers on the dice. Six is the throw
OF heaven, ace Is the throw of earth four
is the throw of man. while one and three
are chosen to represent the harmony that
unit"s heaven, earth and man. The throw
of double five is called the plum flower"
hve and six is the tigers head" four ana
six is ''red-head ten," one and six is long
legged seven" and one and five is red
mai1et six. These terms remind one of
those given by negroes to various throws
at the game of craps" On Chinese dice
the one and -four are always red. while
me dots on the other faces are black Mr.
Culin cannot assign any reason for this
with certainty. There is a legend TO the
effect that on one occasion an emperor of
the Ming dynasty was almost defeated in
a game by his queen. The only possibility
Tor him to win was that the dice should
turn up "fours." They did So and he was
SO sratified that from that time forth the
Tours on all dice were marked in red.
OnicfaI Promotions.
Many games are played in China on
boards and diagrams, the moves be-
Ing thrown by throwing dice. In one of
these. called the table of the promotion of
officials" a large sheet Of paper is used, on
which are printed the titles of various Off
Gals and dignitaries of the Chinese govern
nent. Players are advanced or set back
according to their throws. The story told
about the Invention Of this game Is that
the Emperor Kienling. AID. 1850, was walk
Ing at nightfall among the houses occupied
by candidates for a triennial examination
at Peking. Hearing the sound of dice
throwing in one of the dwellings,, he sent
for the offender. The latter, as an excuse
told the monarch that he had constructed a
chart on which were written the titles be-
longing to all the official positions in the
government. He said that he and his
friends threw dice, traNersed the board ac-
pDr1ipp their throws and i'm
pressed with the knowledge of the various
ranks and steps leading to official advance
m ent
The emperor commanded him to bring the
chart for his inspection. That night the
unfortunate student, whose excuse was a
fiction created on the spur of the moment
sat pencil in hand until daybreak and made
chart. which he carried to the emperor.
The latter was pleased with the diligence of
the scholar, who improved his mind even
while amusing himself. and dismissed him
with many concentrations.
Evolution of Cards.
Take an ordinary domino of bone or
wood, enlarge 1t, make it of paper. and it
becomes a playing card. Mr.. Culn's study
of the subject has led him to the conclusion
that this is the way in which the playing
card was originally evolved The evolution
began with the knuckle bone. which became
a cubical die; the latter was transformed
into a domino. end the domino, in its turn,
was metamorphosed into card. A domino
with two "fives" On 1t represents the ten
spot" Of the pack. The origin of king"
queen" and "jack'' is unknown. Possibly
a little light may be thrown upon the mys-
terry by the fact that the four sides Of the
knuckie bone are called. in Arabic the
"shah," ''vizier," peasant" and slave"
The same names are given to the numbers
on the cubical die. the six being the SHAH"
One of the games played with dominoes in
China is apparently the prototype Of whist.
Nobody knows when dominoes and cards
were introduced into Europe. We. in Ameri-
ca. get all our games from Europe; we in