The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1894-12-06
IMPLEMENTS OF GAMING.
Curious Origin of Playing Cards,
Dice and Dominoes.
India and China the Source of These PEI
culIar PIaythings - Some of the
Games Played by the
HIongolIans.

cards were originally derived from the
lSnuckle bones of sheep? Yet such is
the fact. If you do not believe it, ask
Stewart Culin, ethnologist, attached
to the University of Pennsylvania, who,
according to the Washington Star, has
made the study of games, from the
scientific point of view. his speciality.
The so-called knuclzle bones are famiI-
lar enough, being used to this day by
children in various parts of the world.
They are the ankle bones of the sheep,
and are four-sided. 1t seems odd to
find that dice in Arabic are called by
name which means ankle bones. No
body knows how long they were first
employed for playing games. One day
it occurred to somebody that cube
was better adapted to the purpose.
That must have happened in very an
cient times, for the Romans of old had
dice which were just like our own,
even to the arrangement of the num-
bers on the faces. e., the six opposite
the one, the five opposite the two, and
the four opposite the three.
1t will be observed that the sum of
any two opposite numbers is always
seven. This may have something to
do with the fact that seven used to be
regarded as magical number. OF the
respect accorded to it there is evidence
in many passages of the Bible. The
most ancient cubical die known dates
back to 600 b. C.-that is, twenty-five
hundred years ago. 1t was found at
Naucratus, Greek colony in Egypt.
The earliest dice were made in pairs,
right and left, like l1nuckle bones, one
of which was always from the right
leg and the other from the left leg of
IL ! H.
employed, because they were two
knuckle bones. Mr. Culin says that
dice probably originated in India.
From that country they were carried
to China, whence they have been dis
tributed all over the world. The Chi
nese are great gamesters: they invent
ed modification of the dice, which is
called the domino. Put two dice faces
side by side and you have the domino.
Dominoes are said to have been
devised in the year 1120 of the Chris
tian era by Chinese emperor for the
amusement of his wives. 1t is more
likely. however, that they merely OBJ
tanned the imperial approval at that
date.
There are twenty-one possible throws
with two dice, so twenty-one dominoes
may be regarded as natural dominoes-
However the Chinese have doubled up
some of the numbers so as to make a
full set for playing thirty-two in all.
All over eastern Asia the customary
outfit of dominoes is thirty-two. Our
dominoes, obtained by way of Europe,
are only twenty-eight and are modified
by the introduction of blanks. The
domino game of Europe and America is
the match game. 1t 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. Dominoes are
also used in China, like dice, for for
tune telling. That system of divina-
ton has an extensive literature of its
own. The Chinese do1ninoes all have
astrological names
In China cosmica7 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 Cnites heaven, earth
and man. The throw of double five is
called the ''plum flower" five and six
is the ''tiger's head,'' four and six is
''red-head ten," one and six is ''long-
legged seven," and one and five is ''red
mallet six" These terms remind one
of those given by negroes TO various
throws at the game of ''craps." On
Chinese dice the s'one" and -four are
always red, while the dots on the other
faces are BLACK. Mr.. Culin cannot as
sign 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. 4 The only possibility for
him to win was that the dice should
turn up '.fours." They did so, and he
was so gratifed that from that time
forth the Efours" on all dice were
marked in red.
Take an ordinary domino of bone or
wood, enlarge it, make it of paper, and
it becomes playing card. Mr.. Culin'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 knucl1le bone, which became a
cubical die; the latter was transformed
into domino, and the domino, in its
turn, was metamorphosed into a card.
A domino. with two 'sfves' on it repre-
sents the '.tenspot'' of the pack. The
origin of king queen" and Jack"
is unknown. Possibly a little light
may be thrown upon the mystery by
the fact that the four sides of the.
knuckle bone are called in Arabic the
I /''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 America, get all our games from
Europe; we invent no games. Poker is
an old English game modified. Mr..