{"id":386,"date":"2023-04-03T20:15:49","date_gmt":"2023-04-03T20:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/?page_id=386"},"modified":"2023-04-05T15:25:13","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T15:25:13","slug":"liubo","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/liubo\/","title":{"rendered":"Liubo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Why Liubo?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The ancient Chinese board game Liubo (\u516d\u535a, c. 500 BCE?) was once very popular but is now only known from limited artifacts and texts. Its boards are often found buried in tombs, along with playing pieces. Scholars have argued for centuries about how the board game was actually played, and several methods have been proposed. Recently, archaeologists exploring the tomb of a disgraced Han emperor (\u6d77\u660f\u4faf\u5893) found the most extensive written description of Liubo ever discovered \u2013 including lists of moves that record sessions of play. For the first time, this potentially allows reconstructed rulesets for Liubo to be tested against records of play, to see if they are accurate or make sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

History<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The ancient Chinese board game Liubo <\/em>(\u516d\u535a\u68cb) was popular around 500 BCE to 500CE. It was a gambling and strategy game that also used for divination. But the actual rules are lost and what remains are the historical artifacts discovered from ancient tombs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Pair of Seated Figures Playing Liubo, Han dynasty (206 B.C.\u2013A.D. 220)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A board <\/strong>divided into roads, and twelve pieces (six for each players)<\/strong> and dice <\/strong>thrown to determine moves, constitute the basic equipment for the game. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n
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A lacquered<\/a> Chinese liubo board game set excavated from Tomb No. 3 of Mawangdui site<\/a>, Changsha<\/a>, Hunan province, China, dated to the 2nd century BCE during the Western Han dynasty<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we know about Liubo<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
    \n
  • 2 Players<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • 6 Pieces Each<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Theme: Birds Catching Fish<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Special Piece called \u201cOwl\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Board Shape<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Sticks\/Dice<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Bargaining Sticks<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    What we don’t know<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
      \n
    • Movement Rules<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Variations of Boards\/Props<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Win Condition<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Why Liubo? The ancient Chinese board game Liubo (\u516d\u535a, c. 500 BCE?) was once very popular but is now only known from limited artifacts and texts. Its boards are often found buried in tombs, along with playing pieces. Scholars have argued for centuries about how the board game was actually played, and several methods have been proposed. Recently, archaeologists exploring the tomb of a disgraced Han emperor (\u6d77\u660f\u4faf\u5893) found the most extensive written description of Liubo ever discovered \u2013 including lists of moves that record sessions of play. For the first time, this potentially allows reconstructed rulesets for Liubo to\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-386","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":5}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441,"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/386\/revisions\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.etc.cmu.edu\/liubo-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}