02-008 Hoo Hey How

02-008
Hoo Hey How

A while ago, I have written a post about the traditional game of Mexico, the Lotería. You may wonder if there is anything similar around my area. The answer is certainly yes. It is called Hoo Hey How, or Fish-Prawn-Crab (魚蝦蟹).

Hoo Hey How, or Fish-Prawn-Crab

I have no idea who first invented this game. I think the idea came from the sea. Hongkong and nearby areas, from Fujian in the north to Ho Chi Minh City in the south, people are traditionally fishermen.

Fishing boats in Hongkong

Imagine you throw a net into the sea. What can you catch? Fish, prawns and crabs of course. Or maybe some lobsters if you are lucky. Yes, Fish-Prawn-Crab is a gambling game.

Although the nearby Macau is themed as Las Vegas in the East, gambling isn’t exactly legal in Hongkong. Only limited gambling activities are allowed here. Horse racing, football betting, and the local lottery “Mark Six” are the only gambling options offered by the Jockey Club. Due to Chinese tradition, one can also gamble on Mahjong and Chinese Dominos, either play at home between friends or in some authorized premises. Anything other than these are illegal. Offenders are subjected to fine or jail.

You can see that Fish-Prawn-Crab is not in the list. Selling Fish-Prawn-Crab gambling set falls into the gray area. Chinese New Year is a traditional time for family gathering. Law enforcement is more relaxed around that period. Some shops will start selling Fish-Prawn-Crab around that time. I decided to buy a pack and show you what exactly are inside.

Hoo Hey How gambling sets selling
in 7-Elevens during Chinese New Year

Fish-Prawn-Crab game set can be found in some 7-Elevens on a special shelf, together with other new year consumables like Red Pockets & Fai Chuns. 7-Elevens only sell those around new year time. Even the shelf itself is temporary, made by cardboards. It was selling at HK$10 per pack. I bought it way after the new year and price has dropped to only HK$6 (less than 1 US).

Let me make this game more international

To make the game a bit “international”, I paid by Visa.

Hoo Hey How in basic packing

The packing is very simple. It looks very like the Mexican Lotería. Everything is put inside a plastic bag and stapled to a cardboard. Inside, you can find a double side playing mat and 2 sets of d6 dice. 3 are standard Chinese dice in around 13.5mm in size. The other 3 in bigger size are 16mm with special patterns for playing the game Fish-Prawn-Crab. And that’s all inside the pack. There are no instructions!

The Hoo Hey How betting mat

On the Fish-Prawn-Crab mat, there are 6 squares. Apart from the 3 common ocean catches, there are other 3 squares for coins, calabash and chicken. Since it is a gambling game, those 3 items have meanings. Needless to say, coins mean wealthy. Calabash is frequently made into wine bottle and in old Chinese legends, the God of Longevity uses calabash bottle to hold the wine. Calabash is a symbol of long life. I have no idea why a chicken is here. Maybe chicken is a common food in new year dinner?

Hoo Hey How is a game of pure luck, with absolutely no strategy. Or maybe, the best strategy is not to play at all!

The other side printed the Sic Bo betting mat

Other side of the mat is for Sic Bo, another traditional Chinese gambling game. The 3 standard dice use there. Sic Bo is a more common game than Hoo Hey How and can be found in many casinos worldwide. But I am not going to cover Sic Bo in this post.

General Information

Player	2 to 99
Playing Time	1 min
Age	8+
Year Released	(Public Domain)
Designer	(Public Domain)
Publisher	Sun Hing Toys
Family	Dice Rolling
Score	4.4 (Board Game Geek)

Specifications

Dice size	16mm, for Hoo Hey How 13.5mm, for Sic Bo
# of dice	3, for Hoo Hey How 3, for Sic Bo
Faces	6
Details	On the Hoo Hey How dice, each side is marked with symbol of Fish, Prawn, Crab, Coins, Calabash & Chicken. Dice for Sic Bo is just standard Chinese dice.

The game play

Hoo Hey How is a gambling game in Macau casinos. The way of playing is defined as a law in Macau. The “official” way of playing is very complicated and similar to Sic Bo. The gambling mat also provides more gambling options. However, in Hongkong, we only use the simple way of playing as described in this video. 

Where to buy?

You can buy from Amazon or drop me a message if you want a local copy.

Go back to the Lobby ...

02-007 Zombie Dice (Horde Edition)

02-007
Zombie Dice (Horde Edition)

Released in 2010, Zombie Dice is a simple “push your luck” dice rolling game, published by Steve Jackson.

Steve Jackson is famous in creating role-playing and strategy games in science fiction themes. I first heard of Steve Jackson was from their Illuminati card game. Conspiracists said that the game, published in 1994, can predict future and has successfully predicted the 911 attack. Munchkin is another great hit from Steven Jackson and spurred a number of spin-offs. But as mentioned before, I am never a card game nerd. I have only heard of Steven Jackson but never owned any of their games, not until Zombie Dice.

Zombie Dice (Horde Edition)

Like other Steve Jackson games, Zombie Dice also has a controversial theme. You are not playing as a survivor, trying to escape from zombies. In the game, you are a zombie and you are hungry. You need to eat as much as human brains to win the game.

Zombie Dice Horde Edition contains the original Zombie Dice set, the Zombie Dice 2 “Double Feature” expansion pack, and the Zombie Dice 3 “School Bus” expansion pack. If you have not owned any Zombie Dice game before, Horde edition is the one you should look for. It also comes with a nicely made dice bag, some tokens and some scoring sheets. Otherwise, just look for the expansion packs will do. Other versions, like the Zombie Dice Deluxe, are just gimmicks.

Let me go through the original set and the expansion packs with you one by one.

Zombie Dice, the original set

The original Zombie Dice set contains 13 specialty marked dice. Each die represents a victim. Just as real humans, all victims have brains. They know how to run and they will fight back. And just like in real life, there are weaker people, moderate people and tougher people. These are represented by dice marked in green, yellow and red respectively.

On every die, there are brain (which means you catch them), feet (which mean your victim has escaped) and shotgun (which means the victim fights back). Depends on the power of your victim, dice maeked in green got more brains and less shotguns. Dice marked in red have more shotguns and less brains.

It is a game of luck. Every time, the player pulls out 3 dice and rolls. There will be a combinations of dice in different colours. A brain means 1 point. Getting 3 shotguns or more loses the round. The player then score nothing. Feet mean the victim has escaped and the player can choose to reroll.

So for example, after the first roll, if a player got 1 brain, 1 shotgun and 1 feet, he can choose to pull out 2 new dice from the bag and roll them together with the “feet” die in the previous roll. He then got a chance of getting more brains but also risking his life of getting a total of 3 shotguns and earn nothing in that round. Or, he can choose to stop and collect only 1 point.

The first player getting 13 brains ends the game. Other players have one more round to push their luck. Player with the most brains wins. Simple and easy.

Zombie Dice 2 “Double Feature” Expansion Pack

Zombie Dice 2 gives some twists to the game. In this expansion pack, 3 new dice are introduced, the two Heroes and the Santa Claus. Heroes include the Hunk and the Hottie. The Hunk got a double-shotgun icon, but if you eat his brain, you score double. The Hottie has two shotguns and three feet icons, making her fast AND dangerous. Santa Claus has three special gift icons – a helmet, an energy drink, and a double brain! Or, of course, you could eat Santa's brain. He will also run or shot you.

Zombie Dice 3 “School Bus” Expansion Pack

Zombie Dice 3 contains only 1 big yellow colour 12-sided die called the “School Bus” and some tokens for score keeping. Since the “School Bus” die will be rerolled in the same round, the tokens are used to keep track of any brains or shotguns received.

8 combinations of playing

If you own the Horde Edition or both expansion packs, there are 8 combinations of playing:

1. The original Zombie Dice;
2. “Big Summer Action Movie”, i.e. Original Zombie Dice + the Heroes;
3. “Santa Claus Meets the Zombies”, i.e. Original Zombie Dice + the Santa Claus;
4. “The Direct-to-Video Sequel”, i.e. Original Zombie Dice + the Heroes + the Santa Claus;
5. Original Zombie Dice + “School Bus”;
6. “Big Summer Action Movie” + “School Bus”;
7. “Santa Claus Meets the Zombies” + “School Bus”;
8. “The Direct-to-Video Sequel” + “School Bus”.

Zombie Dice 2 and Zombie Dice 3 are expansion packs. They cannot be played alone.

I tell you what. Kids don’t like to be survivors and just keep running. They love to be zombies and threaten others of eating their brains. They are all excited when I told them that I have ordered this game from Amazon. After it arrived, we played the game for almost every night for the first 2 weeks. But then, they got bored of the game.

The reason is, although the theme of the game is attractive to kids, the game play is too simple. In Zombie Dice, the only decision that a player can make after each roll is whether to go on or not. Compare to Farkel or Poker Dice, apart from deciding whether to go on or not after each roll, the player can also decide which dice to keep and which to reroll. There is not much of strategy in Zombie Dice. Now the game becomes another dust collector on my bookshelf. 

General Information

Player	2 to 8
Playing Time	10 - 20 mins
Age	10+
Year Released	2017
Designer	Steve Jackson
Publisher	Steve Jackson Games
Family	Dice Rolling, Push Your Luck
Score	6.8 (Board Game Geek)

Specifications

Dice size	Zombie Dice & Zombie Dice 2 – 16mm Zombie Dice 3 -
# of dice	Zombie Dice – 13 Zombie Dice 2 – 3 Zombie Dice 3 – 1
Faces	Zombie Dice & Zombie Dice 2 – 6 Zombie Dice 3 – 12
Details	The original Zombie Dice game contains 13 specialty marked d6 dice. In which 6 of them are marked in green, 4 of them are marked in yellow and 3 of them are marked in red. For the dice marked in green, three of the faces are marked with brain, two of the faces are marked with feet, and the remaining face is marked with shotgun. For the dice marked in yellow, there are two brains, two feet and two shotguns. Dice marked in red represent tough humans. They have shotguns on 3 of the faces, feet on 2 of the faces, and only one brain. Zombie Dice 2 contains 3 specialty marked d6 dice. In which one of them is marked in white, which represents the Hunk. Another die is marked in pink, which represents the Hottie. The third die is red and is the Santa Claus. The “Hunk” die contains 2 shotguns, 1 double shotgun, 2 feet and 1 double brain. The “Hottie” die contains 3 feet, 2 shotgun and 1 brain. The “Santa Claus” die contains 1 double brain, 1 brain, 1 “feet”, 1 "energy drink", 1 helmut and 1 shotgun.   Zombie Dice 3 contains only 1 yellow colour d12 die.  The first two faces are “Brain”. The remaining ten faces include “Double brain”, “Triple brain”, “Shotgun”, “Double shotgun”, 1 brain and 1 shotgun, 2 brains and 1 shotgun, “Stop Sign”, “Yield Sign”, “Dead End Sign” and “Run Over”.   There are also 10 Brains counters, 4 Shotgun counters, 1 Score pad and 1 Dice bag.

The game play

Where to buy?

Amazon.

Go back to the Lobby ...

01-022 Kung Tsai Ji

01-022
Kung Tsai Ji

Last week, I took my wife and kids to the Hong Kong Heritage Museum. It is my first time visiting there.

The museum sits on a beautiful river bank in Shatin. It is in between 2 metro stations and is quite far away from my home. For me, going there is not as convenience as going to other museums. And that is why I have never been to there before even though the museum has been opened for more than 2 decades.

As its name tells, the museum mainly focuses on the heritage of Hong Kong. And as an essential part of every culture, there is a section about toys inside. I found many old toys that I have been playing during my childhood. Good old memories came back. I have forgotten most of them. Most of the exhibits are not possible to find now. And among them is a very special card game called “Kung Tsai Ji” (公仔紙).

Kung Tsai Ji

“Kung Tsai Ji” literally means picture cards. It is organized from cigarette cards. In the early 20^th century, competition between tobacco factories was fierce. To attract more customers, manufacturers started to include a small piece of cardboard in each cigarette pack. Original cigarette cards measure 3.7 cm × 6.7 cm. “Kung Tsai Ji” circulating here are usually smaller in size, at around 3cm x 5cm approximately.

Theme of cigarette cards can be anything from animals to plants and to Hollywood stars. All are colourfully printed. Like stamps, cigarette cards are intended for collection only. People smoked more simply because they want to collect more cards. Some became loyal to a certain cigarette brand because they wanted to collect the whole set. Manufacturers are very smart in marketing!

Then somehow those cards ended up in children’s hands. And instead of just collecting, children created a way to play with them. “Kung Tsai Ji” then became a popular “card game” among boys. Actually, instead of calling it a card game, “Kung Tsai Ji” is more a dexterity and coordination game.

From the 60s, the cards and the cigarettes divorced. Newspaper kiosks started selling standalone sheets of “Kung Tsai Ji”. A sheet is around A5 in size and normally printed with 15 to 25 pictures on it. Pictures are normally characters from Chinese folk legends. But sometimes Hollywood stars or Japanese animes are featured.

Parents bought the whole sheet back home and cut them into many smaller cards. Children would get a piece from their parents if, for example, they got good grade in exam.

Kung Tsai Ji exhibits in the Hong Kong Heritage Museum

According to the museum, “Kung Tsai Ji” was popular until early 80s. But I have no memory of playing them. My mum did, but cannot remember how to play. Luckily, the museum told me how.

"Official" ways of playing

Like many traditional games, the ways of playing vary. But the museum is run by the government, I considered rules published by them are the official ways of playing.

Will I play “Kung Tsai Ji” with my kids?

No way! “Kung Tsai Ji” does not belong to this age. Some people are still printing them but you can hardly find anyone playing. Children all stick their eyes on Nintendo Switch nowadays.

General Information

Player	2+
Playing Time	5 to 10 mins
Age	5+
Year Released	1950s?
Designer	(Public Domain)
Publisher	(Public Domain)
Family	Dexterity and coordination
Score	?

Specifications

Card size	Not specific, down to the printer.
Deck size	Not specific, down to the printer.
# of suits	n/a
Details	Not specific, down to the printer.

The game play

Game for Two

1. Each person puts a printed card in his palm, then raises it and hits the other person’s hand with it.
2. When the cards fall from their palms onto the table, whoever’s card that lands upward would win and the winner can take the opponent’s card.

Game for many

1. All participants take out an equal number of picture cards. One of the cards is designated as the “king”.
2. The “king” is put on the table. The other cards are placed on top of it to form a stack.
3. One by one, the players clap their hands to form an air current to displace the cards. Those that are blown off the stack would go to the player each time.
4. The one who blows away the “king” out of the stack wins and can take away the rest of the cards.

Where to buy?

In the Hong Kong Heritage Museum, you can get a sheet of “Kung Tsai Ji” for free. Drop me a message if you are interested.

Go back to the Lobby ...

02-006 Twisted Farkel

02-006
Twisted Farkel

If the most expensive part of a game is its design, the cheapest way to publish your own game is to get something from the public domain and remake it under your own brand. There are plenty of titles available to grab, Chess, Chinese Checkers, Go, Domino, Poker Dice, just to name a few.

If you like tabletop games, you should have come across many of this kind of publishers. They mainly publish games under public domain, with almost none of their games are designed by themselves.

The only problem is, if you can make it, others can also make. How to make sure people buying your product but not the other’s is always a challenge.

Some people go a bit further. They grab a traditional game from public domain, twist it a little bit, register a new name for it, and publish it under their own brand. Then people cannot copy. “Those people just try to make money from nowhere.” That is what I used to think about them. “I will never pay to buy their games.” Not until I watched the story of “Mr. Farkel”.

I have not heard of this game in my area. But Farkle is popular in America. It is a traditional dice game with only a few components. It is easy, fun and fast pace. However, just like you can’t find a rope designated for “Tug of War”, it is sometimes difficult to find a dedicated copy of a traditional game. And this is why Charlie Potter decided to become “Mr. Farkel”.

Story started in the mid-90s when Charlie Potter found that, as such a popular game, no one in America was actually manufacturing Farkle. So he decided to make his own. He gave up his farming career and changed his chicken shed to the world’s first “Farkel” factory. He had no experience in game making, no equipment, and no connection at all. Everything was started from sketch. I was impressed by his passion. As a man with a family, this act is a real adventure. I decided to get a copy of Farkel from him.

Charlie did added some twists to the original game. He changed some of the game play and registered it with a new name “Farkel”. Yes, Farkle is a traditional game. But Farkel is copyrighted. You can’t copy, although many people are doing.

Now, many people are making Farkle, including some big manufacturers. But if you would like to get a copy of Farkle, I would recommend you to get one from “Mr. Farkel”, The Legendary Games Inc.

Twisted Farkel

The Farkel I got is a family version called “Twisted Farkel”. Unlike the original pocket version, it comes with six standard 16mm dice and a 19mm special “determinator” die. It is much easier to read the number of pips from large dice. Twisted rules are also included.

So, what are the differences between Farkel and Farkle?

There are only 2 difference. First, “Mr. Farkel” has brought down the score of 3 ones from 1000 point to 300. Also, he has introduced a “High Stack” mode described as follow:

PLAYING THE HIGH STAKES™ VERSION

After all players are in the game, you may pick up any dice left unrolled by the previous player and roll those dice. If you roll any scoring dice, you receive the same score that the previous player rolled plus the points you have rolled. In High Stakes, stopping after you make all six dice count for score will leave all six dice eligible for the next player.

Can I play Farkle with Farkel?

Yes, sure. The components are the same. Just stick to the original rules will do.

What are the differences between Farkel and Twisted Farkel?

Twisted Farkel is different from Farkel in 3 parts:

1. There is no fixed point for entering the game. Instead, all player roll a die at the beginning of the game and start the game with 100 times their roll, i.e., “1” = 100 points, “2” = 200 points, etc. Players who tie for high score must re-roll to determine who starts the game.
2. There is a penalty of 500 points per Farkel.
3. [The main difference] The introduction of the Determinator die. At the end of each roll, player will roll the Determinator die. According to the outcome of the roll, player will pass their points to the “determinated” player as follow:

• “RIGHT ONE”: The player immediately to your right
• “RIGHT TWO”: The player two places to your right
• “LEFT ONE”: The player immediately to your left
• “LEFT TWO”: The player two places to your left
• “HIGH SCORE”: The player with the highest score
• “LOW SCORE”: The player with the lowest score

Yes, the rule of the game is totally twisted. In Farkel, player gets the highest point wins. In Twisted Farkel, player gets the lowest point wins.

Can I play Farkel with Twisted Farkel?

Sure, just stick to the original rule and ignore the “Determinator” die.

General Information

Player	2 to 6
Playing Time	15 mins
Age	8+
Year Released	2011
Designer	?
Publisher	Legendary Games, Inc.
Family	Dice Rolling, Paper and Pencil
Score	5.1 (Board Game Geek)

Specifications

Dice size	16mm and 19mm
# of dice	7
Faces	6
Details	The game contains 6 standard 16mm dice and 1 specialty marked 19mm “determinator” die. The “determinator” die is a d6 die with its six faces marked as “LEFT ONE”, “LEFT TWO”, “RIGHT ONE”, “RIGHT TWO”, “HIGH SCORE” & “LOW SCORE” respectively. In additional, there are 20 pieces of scorepad and a dice cup.

The game play

 

Where to buy?

Amazon.

Hacking

Farkle is a traditional game and can be played with 6 standard d6 dice. Scorepad is widely available on internet.

Farkel is very similar to Farkle with the same components. Farkel scorepad is also widely available on internet.

Twisted Farkel requires a special die and cannot be hacked.

Go back to the Lobby ...