KC Elbows
09-06-2007, 12:11 PM
One simple, one more complex.
Cai Bao
This is an easy one. Two people play, one tears off a bit of napkin and rolls it into a ball, behind their back they either place the piece in their fist or hide it in their other hand, they hold out their fist, the other person says either "you" or "mei you", which means, roughly, "have" or "don't have", if they're right, the other guy drinks(xiao beizi- a small cup of beer), if they're wrong, they drink.
Variation: often, people will hold out both hands, the goal being to guess the hand it's in. Oddly, they will often stipulate whether or not they will be the one drinking if they're right.
Hua Chuan/Hua Quan
This one's got a huge amount of regional variations, I will be sure to fill anyone in on my further "research". The name in Henan is Hua Quan, hua as in rowing a boat, quan as in taijiquan. It is my understanding that in Beijing, it is called flower boat, huachuan, which is amusing for other reasons(since its the sort of game one might play on a flower boat).
Two players. Each player holds out one hand a la rock-paper-scissors. Each turn, each player holds out between zero and five fingers at the same time as the other player. Simultaneously, they call out another number equal to or greater than the number of fingers they are holding out. If the sum of the two players fingers equals the number one player calls out, the other player drinks(yi xiao beizi pijiu). If both are correct, they continue playing.
Now, that's the very basic version, and there's lots of variations. One common variation has a rule where a player can hold out one finger and call out "two good friends", if the other player does the same, they both toast their friendship, if not, no one drinks that turn. Additionally, when calling out numbers, there are often sayings related to the numbers, like "seven beautiful women", etc. Using the sayings makes the game more interesting and fosters an air of friendliness, especially if you are not a native speaker.
It is my understanding that there is a dice version of hua quan, but the person who told me this could not relate the rules. Additionally, one friend in Henan explained to me that there is a version that deals with numbers larger than ten, but I've never had the chance to see it.
When playing such games, it is best to have a group of friends; often, if one friend has a bad run, other friends will jump in and play, mutually helping keep anyone from getting too drunk, if that's not the night's intention. Additionally, if one player keeps losing, their opponent will often drink a cup for them as a show of friendship.
Feel free to share other chinese drinking games, interesting non-chinese drinking games, or obscure but good beer worth trying.
Cai Bao
This is an easy one. Two people play, one tears off a bit of napkin and rolls it into a ball, behind their back they either place the piece in their fist or hide it in their other hand, they hold out their fist, the other person says either "you" or "mei you", which means, roughly, "have" or "don't have", if they're right, the other guy drinks(xiao beizi- a small cup of beer), if they're wrong, they drink.
Variation: often, people will hold out both hands, the goal being to guess the hand it's in. Oddly, they will often stipulate whether or not they will be the one drinking if they're right.
Hua Chuan/Hua Quan
This one's got a huge amount of regional variations, I will be sure to fill anyone in on my further "research". The name in Henan is Hua Quan, hua as in rowing a boat, quan as in taijiquan. It is my understanding that in Beijing, it is called flower boat, huachuan, which is amusing for other reasons(since its the sort of game one might play on a flower boat).
Two players. Each player holds out one hand a la rock-paper-scissors. Each turn, each player holds out between zero and five fingers at the same time as the other player. Simultaneously, they call out another number equal to or greater than the number of fingers they are holding out. If the sum of the two players fingers equals the number one player calls out, the other player drinks(yi xiao beizi pijiu). If both are correct, they continue playing.
Now, that's the very basic version, and there's lots of variations. One common variation has a rule where a player can hold out one finger and call out "two good friends", if the other player does the same, they both toast their friendship, if not, no one drinks that turn. Additionally, when calling out numbers, there are often sayings related to the numbers, like "seven beautiful women", etc. Using the sayings makes the game more interesting and fosters an air of friendliness, especially if you are not a native speaker.
It is my understanding that there is a dice version of hua quan, but the person who told me this could not relate the rules. Additionally, one friend in Henan explained to me that there is a version that deals with numbers larger than ten, but I've never had the chance to see it.
When playing such games, it is best to have a group of friends; often, if one friend has a bad run, other friends will jump in and play, mutually helping keep anyone from getting too drunk, if that's not the night's intention. Additionally, if one player keeps losing, their opponent will often drink a cup for them as a show of friendship.
Feel free to share other chinese drinking games, interesting non-chinese drinking games, or obscure but good beer worth trying.