China has a rich history and culture that many of us in the west do not necessarily appreciate. Many things that we gave come to accept as common place were actually invented in ancient China, for example, fireworks or ice cream. This love of invention, creation and innovation also led the Chinese to make some wildly popular games. We will focus mostly on traditional and ancient Chinese Board Games, but we will also add some honourable mentions of modern Chinese board games at the end.
Table of Contents
- Xiangqi
- Wei Qi, Also Known as The Board Game Go
- Pai Gow
- Mahjong
- Tiaoqi, Chinese Checkers – An Undercover Spy!
- Honourable Mention: Modern Chinese Board Games
- Honourable Mention: A Board Game by A Chinese Publisher
- Chinese Board Games A Gift From East to West
Xiangqi
Xiangqi is also known as Chinese Chess. During the first few hundreds of years of the game we now know as Chess, it spread to many different countries, China being one of them. In all these countries the rules changed slightly reflecting the cultural and societal interests of the new peoples that it had encountered.
The themes of Xiangqi are similar to Chess, but also different. Examples of this include:
- A Cannon piece, that can only capture by jumping over other pieces
- Rules prohibiting from the Generals (Kings) from facing each other
- Different areas of the board representing a palace and river that limits the moments of some pieces, but improves others.
While having been first recorded in the first century BC, Xiangqi still remains played today. The Chinese Xiangqi association, for example, holds multiple tournaments each year all around the globe.
Sanguo Qi
Is also a popular version of Xiangqi, but played in three players. While not unique enough from its parent game to deserve a section of its own, Sanguo Qi still remains interesting. It keeps to the general and army-like theme of Xiangqi as it represents a battle between the armies of the Three Kingdoms period: Wei, Shu and Wu. The game has also been called Three Kingdoms Chess, or Three-Handed Xiangqi as a homage to this.
Wei Qi, Also Known as The Board Game Go
Wei Qi is an extraordinarily old game dating to around 500 BC. The objective of the game is to capture the most number of stones as possible and the game itself is incredibly simple. It is played with 2 players, white or black, and player may place a stone at any empty intersection.
To capture a stone it must be surrounded. Stones in the middle of the board need four stones to captures as they have four free spots around them (liberties), on the side they need 2 stones and in the corners they need only two.
The real strategy in this game comes about by stringing stones together and attempting to make multiple captures. It is a classic example of quick to learn, but difficult to master.
Pai Gow
Pai Gow is a Chinese tabletop game played with Chinese dominos, note that this is different from Pai Gow poker – played with cards. The 32 domino tiles in Pai Gow are specially made for the game, each with their own name. Pai Gow is a popular casino game, in this sense, it is you against the house, rather than another player.
The object of the game is to create the most valuable hands possible. There are two different types of hand, a high hand, where you will try to get the most points, and a low hand. The aim is to try and match pairs for the most possible points. If you do not have a pair you must try to combine your dominoes to get the highest sum. If your hand is higher than the dealer’s, you win.
Mahjong
Mahjong is perhaps the most famous game on this list and certainly the most well-known in the West by name at least. This has been helped by the many digital copies we can find on computers and various app stores. It is also the most recent of the traditional Chinese games on this list having been established in the 19th century. However, the true game of Mahjong is very different to the one you play on your PC – this is typically what we would call “Mahjong Solitaire”.
The original version of the game is played with 144 based on Chinese symbols and characters such as bamboo, dots and honours.
To start, players take 13 tiles from the tile pool in the middle of the table. The play is in a similar vein to the card game Rummy, players take turns to draw and discard tiles from the tile pool and can pick up previously discarded tiles from other players. Winning is also similar, however, in Mahjong you must form 4 suits of three and a pair.
- A Pair is two of the same tile
- A Suit is any four tiles from one of the following sequences:
It is worth highlighting that there are a vast number of different rules, variations and scoring methods. In this game, for example, it is first to have winning hand, others have points and bonus tiles.
Tiaoqi, Chinese Checkers – An Undercover Spy!
Tiaoqi is also sometimes known as Chinese checkers, but was actually created in Germany in 1892 -Do not be tricked by this one! In any case “Chinese Checkers” is a pretty simple game targeted at children. Your aim is to get your tokens to the other side of the board. You can do this by going straight or jumping over opposing pieces
Honourable Mention: Modern Chinese Board Games
Gùgōng
Gùgōng is a modern board game based on Chinese history. It places you in the 16th century during the Ming Dynasty’s rule of China. In this time, the Emperor of China, residing in the Forbidden City, was all powerful and so it was certainly worth being on their good side. As such, players are tasked with gaining the Emperor’s favour.
A round of the game sees players exchanging gifts with the Emperor. If you want to take a gift from the Emperor you must try to give him a more valuable card in return. if you do this you may take an action, if you cannot, but still want to take an action, you must discard a gift card from your hand and some servants – otherwise you cannot take any actions that turn.
Actions are important: they can help you gain more influence with the Emperor (the ultimate aim of the game), they can get you Jade for bonus points, more servants, or help construct the Great Wall.
It is an interesting theme and a good attempt at historical accuracy phrased in a way that is fun for players.
Honourable Mention: A Board Game by A Chinese Publisher
Silk Road
Gameland are amongst the forefront of the modern board game publishing scene in China. They have many popular western games and Chinese localisations of them, however, they have also published their own games, through their subsidiary – Yaofish. While not widely played outside of China, Silk Road sees you build a mercantile empire across a gorgeously styled Eastern Map.
Playing as one of 16 ancient civilizations, players must trade between cities to get the most possible silver. Players may move their merchants, open business channels and trade amongst themselves to promote prosperity on the Silk Road.
Chinese Board Games A Gift From East to West
Traditional Chinese Board Games certainly have had clear influences on the West, Mahjong especially is now widely played outside China. It is quite amusing that games like Tiaoqi are marketed as Chinese, when they are actually European in origin, but perhaps this is a testament to the quality of Chinese Board Games and the reputation that they carry in the West. It is actually exceedingly difficult to find Chinese created and published games outside of China. Silk Road, for example, had no western retailers at the time of writing, yet it belongs to one of China’s biggest publishers. Mechanically the game is very interesting and hopefully we will get to see more board games from China in coming years.
