Recreational Activity Unit 3 PDF

**BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY** CITY OF MALOLOS, BULACAN COLLEGE OF SPORTS, EXERCISE AND RECREATION **RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY UNIT 3** **LESSONS COVERED** 1. Chinese Checkers 2. Games of the General 3. Dominoes **Introduction** **Recreational games are activities of varied nature carried out...

**BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY** CITY OF MALOLOS, BULACAN COLLEGE OF SPORTS, EXERCISE AND RECREATION **RECREATIONAL ACTIVITY UNIT 3** **LESSONS COVERED** 1. Chinese Checkers 2. Games of the General 3. Dominoes **Introduction** **Recreational games are activities of varied nature carried out by an individual or a group of people with the aim of having fun, being entertained and enjoying the activity itself. Thus, it is about playful activities, without an established useful or practical purpose, but that exercises and satisfies physical, social and mental aspects of the personality.** **Objectives/Competencies** At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to: 1\. familiarize themselves to some recreational games. 2\. know the rules of Chinese Checkers, Games of the Generals, and Dominoes. 3\. play the recreational games with their colleagues. **3.1 Chinese Checkers** **Sternhalma**, commonly known as **Chinese checkers** (U.S. and Canadian spelling) or Chinese chequers (UK spelling), is a strategy board game of German origin that can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners. The game is a modern and simplified variation of the game **Halma**.  The objective is to be first to race all of one\'s pieces across the hexagram-shaped board into \"home\"---the corner of the star opposite one\'s starting corner---using single-step moves or moves that jump over other pieces. The remaining players continue the game to establish second-, third-, fourth-, fifth-, and last-place finishers. The rules are simple, so even young children can play. **3.1.1 History of Halma** Halma was invented by an American professor from Boston (Massachusetts), Dr. George Howard Monks (1853-1933) between 1883 and 1884. Monks was a thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. George\'s brother Robert Monks was in England in 1883 or 1884 and Robert wrote to his brother and described the British game of Hoppity. G.W. Monks took a couple of suggestions from Hoppity and developed Halma. Knowledge about Hoppity is scarce and it is not clear how strong the connection is between Hoppity and Halma regarding gameplay and game board design. But Halma is not supposed to infringe on Hoppity\'s copyright. Dr. Thomas Hill (1818-1891), a mathematician, teacher and preacher, apparently helped in the development of the game, and it was he who named the game \"Halma\"; which is Greek for \"Jump\". Halma was first published in the United States in 1885 by E.I. Horsman Company (which called themselves \"The Halma Company\"). There was controversy surrounding Halma in the US as Milton Bradley Company also laid claim to the rights. It is unclear wherever there were any legal battles; but later Milton Bradley either lost the battle or backed down. They then produced and marketed a modified version as Eckha in 1888-1889. Parker Bros.\' claim that George H. Monks sold the patent for Halma to them are unverified. In England Spears Co. was definitely producing Halma games in July, 1893, the earliest date for which there exists records of individual product. Halma is the only 19th Century internationally-known classic game to have originated in the United States. It is also the only 19th Century American game still played in many countries around the world. Halma was last manufactured in the U.S. by Parker Bros in 1961 and has almost disappeared and been replaced by its successor Chinese Checkers. Halma is a game for 2 or 4 players (some rare, early versions of the game also explain rules for three players) and played on a flat square game board with 256 spaces (16x16). 19 pieces each in a two-player game, 13 pieces each in a four-player game. In the rare three player game, each player has 15 pieces. In board games terminology, Halma (and Chinese Checkers) is part of the traversal branch of space games. Two things make Halma unique: 1\) The number of pieces used at the start depends upon the number of players 2\) Jumped pieces are never captured or removed from the board **3.1.2 History of Chinese Checkers** Chinese Checkers is based on Halma and the only difference is that it is played on a six-pointed star-shaped game board and then can be played by 2 to 6 players. Each player has only 10 pieces each and the distance to the opponent's home arena is fewer spaces away than in standard Halma. In some modern versions for children the board is smaller and the player have only six pieces each. In a two-player game many prefers to play with 15 pieces each. The first game of Chinese Checkers was published and patented by the German game company Ravensburger (Otto Robert Maier) under the name Stern-Halma (stern means star in English; Star-Halma) in 1892. Spears & Sons introduced the star board to England in 1909. The first Chinese Checkers game to be published in the United States was \'Hop Ching Checkers\' in 1928 by J. Pressman & Co. This was exact the same game as the 1892 Star-Halma. The brothers Bill and Jack Pressman made up the name \'Chinese Checkers\' during or shortly after 1928. The game was given a Chinese name and theme in keeping with the current interest in all things oriental (among them the discovery of King Tut\'s tomb in 1922 and the \'mah jongg\' game that was introduced in 1923). In the 1930s a craze for Chinese Checkers swept across America. Several other manufactures started to make the game. Many were given other names; but since no one seemed to own the rights to the name; many were just called Chinese Checkers. Why this happened is unanswered. The Milton Bradley Company got a patent on Chinese Checkers thirteen years later (1941). This is also very odd. An interesting question is why Halma is still favored in many European countries (especially in Germany) while almost disappeared in others and replaced with Chinese Checkers? Remember also that Chinese Checkers is called Halma many places (again especially in Germany). Note how many of the Chinese Checkers computer games on this site who comes from Germany are always named Halma. According to some sources the game is called is called \'Tiao4 Qi2\' or \'Tiau-qi\' (Jump Chess, Jumping Chess or \'the jumping-game\') in China. The game board is a six-pointed star like the Star of David, but it is unrelated to Judaism. It is not likely that the layout of the board is inspired by the six-pointed star on the Chinese flag. It has no relationship to either China or Checkers (Draught). David Parlett\'s (The Oxford history of Board games, 1999, pg. 133) claim that Halma 'has also been known as Hoppity, in hopes of appealing to a classically uneducated market\' are wrong according to the research of Bruce Whitehill. **3.1.3 Rules/How to Play Chinese Checkers** The aim is to race all one\'s pieces into the star corner on the opposite side of the board before the opponents do the same. The destination corner is called home. Each player has 10 pieces, except in games between two players when 15 pieces are used. (On bigger star boards, 15 or 21 pieces are used.) In \"hop across\", the most popular variation, each player starts with their colored pieces on one of the six points or corners of the star and attempts to race them all home into the opposite corner. Players take turns moving a single piece, either by moving one step in any direction to an adjacent empty space, or by jumping in one or any number of available consecutive hops over other single pieces. A player may not combine hopping with a single-step move -- a move consists of one or the other. There is no capturing in Sternhalma, so pieces that are hopped over remain active and in play. Turns proceed clockwise around the board. In the diagram, Green might move the topmost piece one space diagonally forward as shown. A hop consists of jumping over a single adjacent piece, either one\'s own or an opponent\'s, to the empty space directly beyond it in the same line of direction. Red might advance the indicated piece by a chain of three hops in a single move. It is not mandatory to make the most hops possible. (In some instances, a player may choose to stop the jumping sequence part way in order to impede the opponent\'s progress, or to align pieces for planned future moves.) **Starting layouts** **Six players** Can be played \"all versus all\", or three teams of two. When playing teams, teammates usually sit at opposite corners of the star, with each team member controlling their own-colored set of pieces. The first team to advance both sets to their home destination corners is the winner. The remaining players usually continue play to determine second- and third-place finishers, etc. **Four players** The four-player game is the same as the game for six players, except that two opposite corners will be unused. **Three players** In a three-player game, all players control either one or two sets of pieces each. If one set is used, pieces race across the board into empty, opposite corners. If two sets are used, each player controls two differently colored sets of pieces at opposite corners of the star. **Two players** **In a two-player game, each player plays one, two, or three sets of pieces. If one set is played, the pieces usually go into the opponent\'s starting corner, and the number of pieces per side is increased to 15 (instead of the usual 10). If two sets are played, the pieces can either go into the opponent\'s starting corners, or one of the players\' two sets can go into an opposite empty corner. If three sets are played, the pieces usually go into the opponent\'s starting corners.**  **Strategy** A basic strategy is to create or find the longest hopping path that leads closest to home, or immediately into it. (Multiple-jump moves are obviously faster to advance pieces than step-by-step moves.) Since either player can make use of any hopping \'ladder\' or \'chain\' created, a more advanced strategy involves hindering an opposing player in addition to helping oneself make jumps across the board. Of equal importance are the players\' strategies for emptying and filling their starting and home corners. Games between top players are rarely decided by more than a couple of moves. Differing numbers of players result in different starting layouts, in turn imposing different best-game strategies. For example, if a player\'s home destination corner starts empty (i.e., is not an opponent\'s starting corner), the player can freely build a \'ladder\' or \'bridge\' with their pieces between the two opposite ends. But if a player\'s opponent occupies the home corner, the player may need to wait for opponent pieces to clear before filling the home vacancies. **Variants** **Fast-paced or Super Chinese Checkers** While the standard rules allow hopping over only a single adjacent occupied position at a time (as in checkers), this version of the game allows pieces to catapult over multiple adjacent occupied positions in a line when hopping. In the fast-paced or Super Chinese Checkers variant popular in France, a piece may hop over a non-adjacent piece. A hop consists of jumping over a distant piece (friend or enemy) to a symmetrical position on the opposite side, in the same line of direction. (For example, if there are two empty positions between the jumping piece and the piece being jumped, the jumping piece lands leaving exactly two empty positions immediately beyond the jumped piece.) As in the standard rules, a jumping move may consist of any number of a chain of hops. (When making a chain of hops, a piece is usually allowed to enter an empty corner, as long as it hops out again before the move is completed.) Jumping over two or more pieces in a hop is not allowed. Therefore, in this variant even more than in the standard version, it is sometimes strategically important to keep one\'s pieces bunched in order to prevent a long opposing hop. An alternative variant allows hops over any symmetrical arrangement, including pairs of pieces, pieces separated by empty positions, and so on. **Capture** In the capture variant, all sixty game pieces start out in the hexagonal field in the center of the gameboard. The center position is left unoccupied, so pieces form a symmetric hexagonal pattern. Color is irrelevant in this variant, so players take turns hopping any game piece over any other eligible game piece(s) on the board. The hopped-over pieces are captured (retired from the game, as in English draughts) and collected in the capturing player\'s bin. Only jumping moves are allowed; the game ends when no further jumps are possible. The player with the most captured pieces is the winner. The board is tightly packed at the start of the game; as more pieces are captured, the board frees up, often allowing multiple captures to take place in a single move. Two or more players can compete in this variant, but if there are more than six players, not everyone will get a fair turn. This variant resembles the game Leap Frog. The main difference being that in Leap Frog the board is a square board. **Diamond game** Diamond game is a variant of Sternhalma played in South Korea and Japan. It uses the same jump rule as in Sternhalma. The aim of the game is to enter all one\'s pieces into the star corner on the opposite side of the board, before opponents do the same. Each player has ten or fifteen pieces. Ten-piece diamond uses a smaller gameboard than Sternhalma, with 73 spaces. Fifteen-piece diamond uses the same board as in Sternhalma, with 121 spaces. To play diamond each player selects one color and places their 10 or 15 pieces on a triangle. Two or three players can compete. Usually there are one \"king piece\" and 14 common pieces on each side. The king piece is the piece at the apex of each area and can jump over the common pieces but the common pieces cannot jump over the king piece. **Yin and Yang** In Yin and Yang, only two players compete and as in Chess, Go and Othello, only the black and the white marbles are used. For more interesting play, at the start of the game, the triangle placement of the opponents\' marbles does not have to be 180 degrees in opposition. **Order Out of Chaos** Two or more players select their colored marbles and then those marbles are randomly placed in the center of the board. The object of the game is then for the players to move their marbles out of the chaos to their home corners creating order; the reverse of half a traditional game. **3.2 Games of the Generals** The **Game of the Generals**, also called **GG** or **GOG** as it is most fondly called, or simply The Generals, is an educational war game invented in the Philippines by Sofronio H. Pasola Jr. in 1970. Its Filipino name is \"Salpakan.\" It can be played within twenty to thirty minutes. It is designed for two players, each controlling an army, and a neutral arbiter (sometimes called a referee or an adjutant) to decide the results of \"challenges\" between opposing playing pieces, that like playing cards, have their identities hidden from the opponent. The game simulates armies at war trying to overpower, misinform, outflank, outmaneuver and destroy each other. It optimizes the use of logic, memory, and spatial skills. It simulates the \"fog of war\" because the identities of the opposing pieces are hidden from each player and can only be guessed at by their location, movements, or from the results of challenges. The game allows only one side\'s plan to succeed, although a player may change plans during the course of the game. In addition, there are two different ways of winning the game (see below). Certain strategies and tactics, however, allow both sides the chance of securing a better idea of the other\'s plan as the game progresses. Players can also speak or gesture to their opponents during matches, hoping to create a false impression about the identity of their pieces or their overall strategy. **3.2.1 History** This game was invented by Sofronio H. Pasola, Jr. with the inspiration of his son Ronnie Pasola. The Pasolas first tried the Game of the Generals on a chessboard. Even then, the pieces had no particular arrangement. There were no spies in the experimental game; but after Ronnie Pasola remembered the James Bond movies and Mata Hari, he added the Spies. Making the pieces hidden was the idea of the Pasolas after remembering card games. The Game of the Generals\' public introduction was on February 28, 1973. After the game was made, it angered many Filipino chess players thinking that Pasola was trying to denigrate or supplant chess. **3.2.2 Objective and Victory Conditions** The objective of the game is to eliminate or capture the Flag of the opponent, or to maneuver one\'s Flag to the far edge of the board (the opposing back rank), subject to the following conditions. The Flag, if challenged, is eliminated by any opposing piece, including the opposing and challenging Flag. If a player\'s Flag is eliminated by a challenge, that player loses the game. The Flag that challenges the opponent\'s Flag wins the challenge and thus also wins the game. When the Flag successfully reaches the opponent\'s back rank, it has to survive one more turn without being challenged before it can declare a victory. If a Flag reaches the opposing back rank and there is no adjacent opposing piece that can challenge it, the Flag wins the game immediately. If a Flag reaches the opposing back rank directly adjacent to an opposing piece, and that piece does not challenge the Flag immediately on the opponent\'s subsequent turn, then that Flag wins the game. Any player may reveal his Flag at any time and for any reason; play can then continue; most often, a player reveals his Flag after it has already secured victory at the opposing back rank. Most games end in a victory for one of the players. One player may have lost so many pieces or his pieces are impractically positioned on the board that he feels he can no longer win the game so he decides to resign. However, any player may propose a draw at any time; the opponent can either decline, so play continues, or agree, and thus the game ends in a tie. At the end of a match, whether as a draw or as a victory for one player, it is courteous but not required to allow the opposing player a view of the surviving pieces before they are taken off the board, as well as of the eliminated pieces. **The Gameboard and the Playing Pieces** The player\'s set of pieces represent 21 soldiers (combatants) with a hierarchy of ranks and functions. A higher-ranking piece (usually the officers) will eliminate any lower-ranking piece, with the exception of the 2 Spies; the Spies eliminate all pieces except the 6 Privates. Apart from the Flag (the Philippine Flag) and the Spy (a pair of prying eyes), the rank insignia of the pieces used in the game are those used in the Philippine Army. The playing pieces are identical-sized plastic or metal flat rectangles that are bent or molded at a 90-degree or 80-degree angle. The rank insignia are printed on the rear side to keep them hidden from the opposing player; the game requires that the front side of the pieces should have no distinguishing marks that will help identify the pieces. In plastic sets, the colors commonly used in the pieces are black and white. There are also sets composed of wooden boards and aluminum pieces. Those pieces have rank insignia that are printed either red or blue. In metal sets, the color of the board is commonly brown and the pieces are aluminum colored. Some of the cheaper game sets consist of just a rolled-up sheet printed with the squares instead of a rigid board, as well as plastic pieces with ranks printed on cardboard. **Pieces** **No. of Pieces** **Function** ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [General of the Army](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_of_the_Army) (Five Stars) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General) (Four Stars) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Lieutenant General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_General) (Three Stars) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Major General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_General) (Two Stars) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Brigadier General](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigadier_General) (One Star) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Colonel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonel) (Three Magdalo 7-Ray Suns) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Lieutenant Colonel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Colonel) (Two Magdalo 7-Ray Suns) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Major](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major) (One Magdalo 7-Ray Sun) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [Captain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_(land_and_air)) (Three Magdalo Triangles) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [1st Lieutenant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Lieutenant) (Two Magdalo Triangles) 1 Eliminates any lower-ranking officer, the Private, and the Flag. [2nd Lieutenant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Lieutenant) (One Magdalo Triangle) 1 Eliminates the Sergeant, the Private, and the Flag. [Sergeant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergeant) (Three Chevrons) 1 Eliminates the Private, and the Flag. [Private](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_(rank)) (One Chevron) 6 Eliminates the Spy, and the Flag. [Spy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy) (Two Prying Eyes) 2 Eliminates all officers from the rank of Sergeant up to 5-Star General and the Flag. [Flag](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag) (Philippine Flag) 1 Eliminates the opposing Flag as long as it takes the aggressive action against the enemy Flag. Note: If both soldiers are of equal rank, both are eliminated (colloquially termed as a \"split\"). **Board layout, initial placement, moves, and gameplay** The game is played on a rectangular board with 72 plain squares arranged in 8 ranks and 9 files. The 21 pieces are placed in various locations within the nearest three rows to each player\'s home side (a total of 27 squares).  A player can consider the half of the board nearest him to be \"friendly territory\" while the other side\'s half is the \"enemy territory,\" though this is not an actual requirement of the game. The two middle rows (fourth rank from each player\'s edge of the board) are initially empty at the start of the game and represent \"no man\'s land\" or \"unconquered territory\" that the contending pieces can occupy or leave vacant, depending on each player\'s strategy. Although not specifically marked, each player\'s side of the board can be grouped into three amorphous battle zones: these zones are the \"left flank,\" the \"center,\" and the \"right flank,\" but the boundaries are variable or may be considered psychological in nature. All pieces have the same move: one square forward, backward, or sideways, as long as it is not blocked by the board\'s edge or by another friendly piece. A piece cannot move into a square already occupied by a friendly piece. A piece cannot move diagonally nor can it move two or more squares away from its original position. A piece can threaten to eliminate (via a challenge) an enemy piece located on a square that it can move to. Unlike chess or its variants, there is no predetermined initial layout for placing the pieces, allowing each player to place the pieces in different squares to his advantage or according to his strategy. The allocation of spaces (6 vacant squares) is important for the tactical movement of the individual pieces in the first three ranks, because a piece that has friendly pieces in front, behind, and on each side is effectively immobilized until a space opens up on these adjacent squares. Spaces within the formation should be allocated to provide maneuver room for certain pieces. Beginners often put these six vacant spaces on the rearmost rank (because they don\'t think these are important) whereas an experienced player sometimes uses this arrangement to try to deceive the opponent into thinking he is a beginner. There is also no predetermined order of play. The players can decide who goes first; afterward, the players take their turns alternately. Each player can move only one piece per turn. **Challenges and arbitration** Each piece can challenge an opposing piece that is directly adjacent in front, behind, or to either side of it (identical, in effect, to the way it moves). Thus, a piece does not directly threaten an opposing piece that is situated diagonally to it. However, a piece that is known or thought to be stronger can restrict the movement of a weaker opposing piece that is situated diagonally to it by threatening to eliminate it if it moves to a square adjacent to that of the stronger piece. A player initiates a challenge by placing his/her piece on the adjacent square where an opposing piece is located. The arbiter then examines the ranks of the opposing pieces, removes the lower-ranked piece off the board, and returns it to the owner regardless of who initiated the challenge. The eliminated pieces are not revealed to the opposing player until the game ends. The arbiter must take care not to reveal the ranks of the pieces to the opposition; nor can he give any verbal or non-verbal clues about the rest of the board layout. The game can also be played without an arbiter. In this case, when a challenge is made, both players must state the rank of their piece after which the lower-ranked piece is eliminated. Therefore, the presence of the arbiter, though not compulsory, is especially important to ensure secrecy until the game is over. Official games are conducted with an arbiter. **Determining the results of a challenge** Regardless of which piece initiated the challenge, their ranks determine which piece is to be eliminated and removed from the board. - Any one of the player\'s pieces can capture the opposing Flag. This includes the player\'s own Flag. - Any piece eliminates the Private except the Spy and the Flag. - Officers eliminate other officers that are lower in rank (e.g., a Four-Star General eliminates a Lieutenant Colonel). - A Spy eliminates all officers (including the Five-Star General). Only the Private can eliminate the Spy. - If both pieces are of the same rank, both are removed from the board (often called a \"split\" by most players and arbiters). - If a Flag challenges the opponent\'s Flag, the challenging Flag prevails and wins the game. If a Flag reaches the opposite edge or farthest rank of the board, the opponent has one turn left although it is not announced. After the turn, the player reveals the Flag. If the Flag was not challenged, the player wins the game. If it was challenged, the player loses.  **3.3 Dominoes** Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ends. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called pips or dots) or is blank. The backs of the tiles in a set are indistinguishable, either blank or having some common design. The gaming pieces make up a domino set, sometimes called a deck or pack. The traditional European domino set consists of 28 tiles, also known as pieces, bones, rocks, stones, men, cards or just dominoes, featuring all combinations of spot counts between zero and six. A domino set is a generic gaming device, similar to playing cards or dice, in that a variety of games can be played with a set. Another form of entertainment using domino pieces is the practice of domino toppling. A boxed domino set dating from the late 19th or early 20th century. The earliest mention of dominoes is from Song dynasty China found in the text Former Events in Wulin by Zhou Mi (1232--1298). Modern dominoes first appeared in Italy during the 18th century, but they differ from Chinese dominoes in a number of respects, and there is no confirmed link between the two. European dominoes may have developed independently, or Italian missionaries in China may have brought the game to Europe. The name \"domino\" is probably derived from the resemblance to a kind of carnival costume worn during the Venetian Carnival, often consisting of a black-hooded robe and a white mask. Despite the coinage of the word \"polyomino\" as a generalization, there is no connection between the word \"domino\" and the number 2 in any language. The most commonly played domino games are Domino Whist, Matador, and Muggins (All Fives). Other popular forms include Texas 42, Chicken Foot, Concentration, Double Fives, and Mexican Train. In Britain, the most popular league and pub game is Fives and Threes. **3.3.1 History** In China, early \"domino\" tiles were functionally identical to playing cards. An identifiable version of Chinese dominoes developed in the 12th or 13th century. The oldest written mention of domino tiles in China comes from the Former Events in Wulin (i.e., the capital Hangzhou) written by the Yuan Dynasty (1271--1368) author Zhou Mi (1232--1298), who listed 譜牌 pupai (gambling plaques or tiles), as well as dice as items sold by peddlers during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song (r. 1162--1189). It isn\'t entirely clear that pupai here means domino tiles, but Andrew Lo (2000) argues that it plausibly does, as the same term is used two centuries later by the Ming author Lu Rong (1436--1494) in a context that clearly describes domino tiles (in regard to a story of a suitor who won a maiden\'s hand by drawing out four winning pupai from a set. The earliest known manual written about dominoes is the Manual of the Xuanhe Period (《宣和牌譜》) written by Qu You (1341--1427), but some Chinese scholars believe this manual is a forgery from a later time. In the Encyclopedia of a Myriad of Treasures, Zhang Pu (1602--1641) described the game of laying out dominoes as pupai, although the character for pu had changed, yet retained a similar pronunciation. Traditional Chinese domino games include Tien Gow, Pai Gow, Che Deng, and others. The 32-piece Chinese domino set, made to represent each possible face of two thrown dice and thus have no blank faces, differs from the 28-piece domino set found in the West during the mid-18th century. Chinese dominoes with blank faces were known during the 17th century. Each domino originally represented one of the 21 results of throwing two six-sided dice (2d6). One half of each domino is set with the pips from one die and the other half contains the pips from the second die. Chinese sets also introduce duplicates of some throws and divide the tiles into two suits: military and civil. Chinese dominoes are also longer than typical European ones. **3.3.2 Rules** **The most popular type of play are layout games, which fall into two main categories, blocking games and scoring games.** - **Most domino games are blocking games, where the objective is to empty one\'s hand while blocking the opponents. In the end, a score may be determined by counting the pips in the losing players\' hands.** - **In scoring games, the scoring is different and happens mostly during game play, making it the principal objective.** - **A popular version played predominantly in Singapore, referenced as Hector\'s Rules, allows for playing double tiles on opponents\' hands and awards a bonus play of an additional tile immediately after playing a double tile.** - **If an opponent lays all their tiles on their turn, the game is a tie.** **Blocking Game** **The most basic domino variant is for two players and requires a double-six set. The 28 tiles are shuffled face down and form the stock or boneyard. Each player draws seven tiles from the stock. Once the players begin drawing tiles, they are typically placed on-edge in front of the players, so players can see their own tiles, but not the value of their opponents\' tiles. Players can thus see how many tiles remain in their opponents\' hands at all times.** **One player begins by downing (playing the first tile) one of their tiles. This tile starts the line of play, in which values of adjacent pairs of tile ends must match. The players alternately extend the line of play with one tile at one of its two ends; if a player is unable to place a valid tile, they must continue drawing tiles from the stock until they are able to place a tile. The game ends when one player wins by playing their last tile, or when the game is blocked because neither player can play. If that occurs, whoever caused the block receives all of the remaining player points not counting their own.** **Scoring Game** **Players accrue points during game play for certain configurations, moves, or emptying one\'s hand. Most scoring games use variations of the draw game. If a player does not call \"domino\" before the tile is laid on the table, and another player says domino after the tile is laid, the first player must pick up an extra domino.** **Draw Game** **In a draw game (blocking or scoring), players are additionally allowed to draw as many tiles as desired from the stock before playing a tile, and they are not allowed to pass before the stock is (nearly) empty. The score of a game is the number of pips in the losing player\'s hand plus the number of pips in the stock. Most rules prescribe that two tiles need to remain in the stock. The draw game is often referred to as simply \"dominoes\".** **Adaptations of both games can accommodate more than two players, who may play individually or in teams.** **Line of Play** **The line of play is the configuration of played tiles on the table. It starts with a single tile and typically grows in two opposite directions when players add matching tiles. In practice, players often play tiles at right angles when the line of play gets too close to the edge of the table.** **The rules for the line of play often differ from one variant to another. In many rules, the doubles serve as spinners, i.e., they can be played on all four sides, causing the line of play to branch. Sometimes, the first tile is required to be a double, which serves as the only spinner. In some games such as Chicken Foot, all sides of a spinner must be occupied before anybody is allowed to play elsewhere. Matador has unusual rules for matching. Bendomino uses curved tiles, so one side of the line of play (or both) may be blocked for geometrical reasons.** **In Mexican Train and other train games, the game starts with a spinner from which various trains branch off. Most trains are owned by a player and in most situations, players are allowed to extend only their own train.** **Scoring** **In blocking games, scoring happens at the end of the game. After a player has emptied their hand, thereby winning the game for the team, the score consists of the total pip count of the losing team\'s hands. In some rules, the pip count of the remaining stock is added. If a game is blocked because no player can move, the winner is often determined by adding the pips in players\' hands.** **In scoring games, each individual can potentially add to the score. For example, in Bergen, players score two points whenever they cause a configuration in which both open ends have the same value and three points if additionally one open end is formed by a double. In Muggins, players score by ensuring the total pip count of the open ends is a multiple of a certain number. In variants of Muggins, the line of play may branch due to spinners. In the common U.S. variant known as Fives players score by making the open ends a multiple of five.** **In British public houses and social clubs, a scoring version of \"5s-and-3s\" is used. The game is normally played in pairs (two against two) and is played as a series of \"ends\". In each \"end\", the objective is for players to attach a domino from their hand to one end of those already played so that the sum of the end tiles is divisible by five or three. One point is scored for each time five or three can be divided into the sum of the two tiles, i.e., four at one end and five at the other makes nine, which is divisible by three, three times, resulting in three points. Double five at one end and five at the other makes 15, which is divisible by three five times (five points) and divisible by five three times (three points) for a total of eight points.** **An \"end\" stops when one of the players is out, i.e., has played all of their tiles. In the event no player is able to empty their hand, then the player with the lowest domino left in hand is deemed to be out and scores one point. A game consists of any number of ends with points scored in the ends accumulating towards a total. The game ends when one of the pair\'s total score exceeds a set number of points. A running total score is often kept on a cribbage board. 5s-and-3s is played in a number of competitive leagues in the British Isles.** **Card Games using Domino Sets** **Apart from the usual blocking and scoring games, also domino games of a very different character are played, such as solitaire or trick-taking games. Most of these are adaptations of card games and were once popular in certain areas to circumvent religious proscriptions against playing cards. A very simple example is a Concentration variant played with a double-six set; two tiles are considered to match if their total pip count is 12.** **A popular domino game in Texas is 42. The game is similar to the card game spades. It is played with four players paired into teams. Each player draws seven tiles, and the tiles are played into tricks. Each trick counts as one point, and any domino with a multiple of five dots counts toward the total of the hand. These 35 points of \"five count\" and seven tricks equals 42 points, hence the name.** **\ ** **REFERENCES** Parlett, David: The Oxford history of Board games, Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0-19-212998-8 Whitehill, Bruce: American Games: a historical perspective. In: Board Game Studies 2, 1999, p.125 Whitehill, Bruce: Halma & Chinese Checkers: Origins and Variations, pg. 37-47. In: Step by Step: proceedings of the 4th Colloquium, Board Games in Academia, Editions Universitaires Fribourg Suisse, 2002. ISBN: 2-8271-0934-4 Whitehill, Bruce: Americanopoly. America as seen through its games, ed. by the Swiss Museum of Games, 2004, pp.50-51 Pasola, Ronnie (April 1976). \"Game of the Generals\' History\". Times Journal: 6. Lo, Andrew. \"The Game of Leaves: An Inquiry into the Origin of Chinese Playing Cards,\" Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 63, No. 3 (2000): 389-406. Rodney P. Carlisle (2 April 2009). Encyclopedia of Play. SAGE. p. 181. ISBN 978-1-4129-6670-2. Retrieved 5 October 2012. [**http://chinesecheckers.vegard2.net/history.html**](http://chinesecheckers.vegard2.net/history.html) [**https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/315883/game-generals**](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/315883/game-generals) [**https://www.geekyhobbies.com/game-of-the-generals-aka-salpakan-review-and-rules/**](https://www.geekyhobbies.com/game-of-the-generals-aka-salpakan-review-and-rules/) [**https://ggsalpakan.weebly.com/rules.html**](https://ggsalpakan.weebly.com/rules.html) [**https://www.dominoes-book.com/how-to-play-dominoes**](https://www.dominoes-book.com/how-to-play-dominoes)