Gambling has a long history, and there have been written records of gambling as early as the Zhou Dynasty.
It can be said that since money appeared in human society, the "money-worshipping trend" has run through the entire history of mankind, and under the influence of this trend of thought, some non-enterprising people will not choose the formal way of labor production in order to obtain wealth, but will place all their hopes on gambling and trying to get rich overnight.
If you want to rely on gambling to make a trace of ancient times, then, what kind of gambling methods will ancient gamblers usually use?
In ancient times, casinos were serious business and were protected by law. From some film and television works, we can often see such a bridge section, that is, the casino business is booming, the gamblers who come and go to the casino are endless, and the gamblers are gathered around the table, staring at the dice and drinking five or six. In ancient mainland china, the dice were one of the most popular gambling utensils.
In fact, dice were not only used for gambling in ancient times, but also in divination and liquor orders, there were also dice figures. Modern dice are mostly regular hexahedrons, and each side digs holes representing numbers, and the sum of the opposite two face holes must be seven. Depending on the way to play, the combination of dice points is very different, and ordinary people cannot predict the result at all. Because of this, the dice become the representative of "luck" and have a deep relationship with gambling.
The ancients had many gambling projects that modern people had never heard of, and "throwing pots" was one of them.
Throwing pots is a representative of technical gambling, in which participants throw arrows into a pot at a certain distance, and the winner wins. Perhaps because of the lack of luck in this game, the way to throw pots is almost lost.
In ancient mainland China, many game movements were closely related to dice, and dice had to be used in some links. For example, some chess and cards need to use the dice to determine the order of hands in advance. Whether it is a high-ranking official or a pawn of a peddler, the dice game tool is elegant and popular, and it is suitable for all classes.
Why did the ancients like dice, a gambling tool whose luck component is far greater than the technical component?
From a theoretical point of view, the dice are "hanging in the vote", and the contingency of this game is very large, and it is difficult for manpower to influence the result. When gambling with dice, intelligence and skill have little effect, and the biggest impact on the result is luck.
At the end of the Han Dynasty, there was a game called "Fan Pu" on the mainland.
In the Book of Jin, we will find that the "appearance rate" of The Tree Pu is high, and people at that time would do a game called "Fan Pu" as long as they drank alcohol. In fact, The Tree is the predecessor of "Flying Chess", but it is much more complicated. Usually, the cattails are carved from wood, and each set has a total of five, so it is called "five woods" by people at the time.
The shape of the catalpa is a bit like an apricot core, with sharp sides and a cube in the middle, and the corners are polished to an arc for easy throwing. The details of the gameplay of Higashiki have now been restored, and interested friends can consult the relevant information. For aesthetic reasons, the cattails are painted in a variety of bright colors. Because this game is difficult to get started, it has not been popularized in later generations.
Until the Republic of China, Pai Gow was a very popular gambling tool.
Pai Jiu originated in the folk and is a toy used by ordinary people for recreation. Since the earliest Pai Jiu material is mostly aggregate, the early Pai Jiu is also called dominoes. This card game combines the competition of intelligence and luck, so it is very popular with the public. Because the game of Pai Gow has an element of luck, with the development of time, Pai Gow is gradually used as a gambling tool by gamblers and puts on the table.
In terms of material, Pai Jiu is mostly made of bone, ivory, bamboo or wood. In terms of shape, Pai Gow is similar to Mahjong, but it is longer and narrower than Mahjong. On the front of Pai Gow, there are engraved "pips" from two to twelve, referring to the numbers. The number of people participating in the Card Nine game varies from two to four people, and the play methods are varied.
When it comes to gambling, it is often impossible to avoid mahjong.
Nowadays, mahjong has become a worldwide game, and there are related events in Asia and even Western countries. Some scholars say that the origin of mahjong is also dominoes. At that time, in order to enrich the entertainment of Pai Jiu, the mainland royal family and dignitaries expanded the gameplay of Pai Jiu and integrated many elements of intellectual competition, so that this game gradually had the prototype of modern mahjong.
According to historical records, the earliest mahjong has a history of 4,000 years, and from the perspective of time nodes, the history of mahjong is no less than that of dice. In the long-term evolution process, Pai Jiu spread to the court to evolve into mahjong, and mahjong was gradually spread to the people and became a spice in the lives of ordinary people. However, the early form of mahjong was simple, and there was no such thing as "ten thousand pieces of cake".
It is said that mahjong also has the ancient play of cards, so it can be said that mahjong is a combination of dominoes and cards. Unlike other card games, Mahjong is more playable, but it is more difficult to get started. In fact, in ancient times, chess was also often used as a gambling tool, such as the familiar go chess. However, board games test not luck, but IQ.
Therefore, most gamblers do not like to use chess as gambling equipment.
Resources:
【Book of Jin" and "Book of Xishu"】