Yut
| Korean spelling | |
|---|---|
| Korean alphabet : | 윷 / 윷놀이 |
| Revised Romanization : | yut / yunnori |
| McCune-Reischauer : | yut / yunnori |
Yut ( 윷 ) or Yutnori ( 윷놀이 , literally: Yut game, often written Nyout or Nyout-nol-ki ) is a traditional board game from Korea . It comes from the time of the 3 kingdoms (57 BC to 668 AD). It is considered the predecessor of the Indian game Pachisi and thus also the predecessor of the games Mensch ärgere dich nicht und Heit mit while . The different spellings stem from the fact that the Korean characters cannot be clearly mapped to Latin. The revised spelling is Yut or Yutnori.
Rules of the game
During the game, four marked sticks are thrown. The aim is to move your own stones across the playing field as quickly as possible. First the sticks are thrown into the air; the way they come to rest decides the number of moves.
According to legend, the historical background is the breeding of five different animals: pigs, dogs, chickens, cows and horses.
Components of the game
The reason for the game ( mal-pan , 말판 ): It usually consists of clothes sewn together, but can also be painted on the floor, a sheet of paper or a base plate and is square or rectangular in shape. There are four straight and two diagonal connecting paths, each with five playing fields. The diagonal connections cross in the middle and thus share the playing field, so that you get a total of 30 playing fields (29 without the starting field)
The throwing sticks: The four round, 15–17.5 cm long, each flattened on one side Yut sticks ( yussem , 윷셈 ) with a diameter of 1–3 cm fulfill the function of dice.
Game pieces: Both opponents (or opposing teams) have four times ( 말 ) named game pieces. There are no general rules about the nature of the pieces, except that they must be clearly distinguishable. In addition to the flat, round plastic stones in black and white, coins, buttons, pebbles or chess pieces (from Western or Korean chess) are also frequently used. mal literally means horse, which is why many players believe that after choosing faster game pieces (horses) they will also advance faster in the game.
Throw the yut sticks
The number of fields that a piece can move forward in a round results from the throwing of the sticks, depending on how many with the round or flat side facing up. Each combination of round and flat bar sides has its own name:
- 1 flat side + 3 round sides = do ( 도 , pig) = 1 space in front
- 2 flat sides + 2 round sides = gae ( 개 , dog) = 2 fields in front
- 3 flat sides + 1 round side = geol ( 걸 , chicken) = 3 fields in front
- 4 flat sides = yut ( 윷 , cow) = throw 4 fields in front and again
- 4 round sides = mo ( 모 , horse) = throw 5 fields in front and again
Since there are four two-sided sticks, there are different probabilities of the throw value. For example, there are six ways to throw two flat and two round sides - out of a total of sixteen. The probability of throwing a gae is 37.50%. A yut or mo contrast to throw only 6.25%. These are probabilities that assume the throwing sticks are ideal. This means that the chance of throwing a flat side is exactly the same as that of landing a round side. But this is not the case either, and so it can be assumed that a mo is thrown less often than a yut .
| Litter | value | probability |
|---|---|---|
| do ( 도 , pig) | 1 | 25.00% |
| gae ( 개 , dog) | 2 | 37.50% |
| geol ( 걸 , chicken) | 3 | 25.00% |
| yut ( 윷 , cow) | 4th | 6.25% |
| mo ( 모 , horse) | 5 | 6.25% |
Course of the game
The game can be played by two people or two teams, in the latter case the players in the teams take turns throwing the yut sticks, whereby the total number of players is unlimited.
Each player / team throws the yut sticks once at the beginning. The player / team with the higher value throw begins. Then the game is played alternately, and the players move the pieces on the field according to the number of points thrown. You can throw a second time with yut and mo . If several yut or mo occur in a row, the player continues to throw. There is no limit to the number of repetitions that the player can throw , provided the player continues to throw yut or mo . The token can either be drawn directly after the throw, or the points achieved are accumulated and at the end of the row the corresponding number of fields is moved forward. If a piece comes to lie on a field that is occupied by an opposing piece, it must go back to the start. However, if he hits a piece from his own team, these two pieces can be moved together from now on. In the event that a token lands on a field on which there are several opposing stones, these are all thrown out of the game.
The pieces can only be moved forward. If a piece comes up directly on one of the large fields in the corners or in the middle, shortcuts can be chosen depending on the strategy. In total there are four possible ways.
The game is won by the player (or team) who first brings all four stones to the finish. The goal corresponds to the starting field. Often the game is played in several rounds (e.g. until one player has won three rounds).
Social importance
Yut is a popular family game in Korea and is traditionally played primarily on Seollal , Korean New Year's Day.
When playing in large groups, those players whose turn it is not to throw and pull take part in the action by loudly discussing the game strategy. Spectators and team members cheer the players on loudly or wish them certain throw combinations. The rare litters yut and mo trigger - especially if they are thrown several times in a row - violently expressed excitement or enthusiasm. The losers have to buy food or drink.
Europeanized version
The game is also available in Europeanized forms, especially with a round game board. The game is called Nyout and is based heavily on the ancient version of the game. It thus has a simple appearance.
It consists of a game board with 29 black circles. Nine form a cross and twenty are arranged around it. The playing figures are small coins with engraved horses and are called Males . The dice are called Pam-Nyout , are made of wood and have two sides. The two sides are designed differently, for example one black, the other white or one with an asterisk and the other without.
This is a variant. There are different versions of the Nyout with game boards on wood, leather or paper. The pieces and dice are also worked out differently. There are dice in the shape of sticks, half cylinders or coins.
The rules of the game are practically identical. The only difference is that the Europeanized version starts on a field after a corner. This starting field is often designed differently and is called a chut .
The terms are based on the Korean terms, although many are incorrectly translated.
