Play the ancient game of Pai Sho and see if you can be the reigning champion. Remember Uncle Iroh’s words—Pai Sho is more than just a game.
Showing posts tagged pai sho
Pai Sho
The game pai sho does not have a real world counterpart, but seems to be an amalgam of several games:
weiqi, xiangqi, koi koi and mahjong.
As far as I know there is no offical transliteration for pai sho. The first thing that comes to mind (to me that is) with the same sound is 拍手 - to clap your hands.
The board resembles the board of the Chinese game weiqi.
Go (圍棋 weiqi in Chinese, 囲碁 igo in Japanese, 바둑 baduk in Korean, is an ancient board game for two players that originated in China more than 2,000 years ago. The game is noted for being rich in strategy despite its relatively simple rules.
Rules: The game is played by two players who alternately place black and white markers, called “stones,” on the vacant intersections (called “points”) of a grid of 19×19 lines (beginners often play on smaller 9×9 and 13×13 boards). The object of the game is to use one’s stones to surround a larger portion of the board than the opponent. Once placed on the board, stones can only be moved if they are captured. When a game concludes, the controlled points (territory) are counted along with captured stones to determine who has more points. Games may also be won by resignation.
The tiles itself seem to be a mixture between xiangqi (Chinese chess) and mahjong or koi koi.
The tile shape resemble:
Xiangqi, also known as Chinese chess, is a Chinese two-player strategy board game It is one of the most popular board games in China.
The game represents a battle between two armies, with the object of capturing the enemy’s general (king). Distinctive features of xiangqi include the cannon (pao), which must jump to capture; a rule prohibiting the generals from facing each other directly; areas on the board called the river and palace, which restrict the movement of some pieces; and placement of the pieces on the intersections of the board lines, rather than within the squares.
The name xiangqi means “elephant game”, a reference to the bishops:
象 xiang means “elephant”, and is a stylized sketch of an elephant;
棋 qi means “game”.
The pictures on the tiles resemble the flower tiles from mahjong and possibly koi koi.
Mahjong tiles have themes similar to the ones we see in pai sho i.e. season, winds, flowers and dragons. And the way Uncle, and later Katara, play a version of solitaire, resembles mahjong solitaire.
Mahjong is a game that originated in China. The four-player table version is not the same as the single player tile matching game Mahjong solitaire. Similar to the Western card game rummy, mahjong is a game of skill, strategy and calculation and involves a certain degree of chance.
The game is played with a set of 136 tiles based on Chinese characters and symbols, although some regional variations use a different number of tiles.
There are two different honor suits: the winds and the dragons. The winds are east, south, west and north, and the dragons are Red, Green and White. They have no numerical sequence and there are four tiles of each honor (e.g. four Red Dragon tiles). There are also eight bonus tiles: four flowers and four seasons.
The few glances we get of people playing pai sho also imply that there is some kind of point system. The way pai sho seems to have suits, reminds me a lot of koi koi, or hanafuda.
Koi-Koi(こいこい?) is a popular card game in Japan played with Hanafuda cards.
The object of the game is to form special card combinations called “yaku” from cards accumulated in a point pile. Players can gain cards in their point piles by matching cards in their hands, or drawn from the draw pile, with cards on the table. Once a yaku has been made, a player can stop to cash in points, or keep going (referred to as “koi-koi”, hence the name of the game) to form additional yaku for more points. The point values assigned to individual cards have no effect on the score, but they are helpful to judge their value in forming yaku.
Image sources: One, all further images were taken from the respective wiki page.
The Order of the White Lotus
Sometimes a lotus is just a cigar! Or how Uncle did not found the Triads.
ATLA’s Order of the White Lotus shares a name with the White Lotus Sect. Please note that this is utterly coincidental, if not amusing :D
White Lotus (白蓮教 Pinyin: báiliánjiào ) was a type of Buddhist sectarianism that appealed to many Han Chinese, who found solace in worship of the “Unborn or Eternal Venerable Mother”* ( 无生老母), who was to gather all her children at the millennium into one family.
The first signs of the White Lotus Society came during the late thirteenth century. Mongol rule over China, known also by its dynastic name, the Yuan dynasty, prompted small, yet popular demonstrations against its rule. The White Lotus Society took part in some of these protests as they grew into widespread dissent.
The Mongols considered the White Lotus society a heterodox religious (contrary to the orthodox view) sect and banned it, forcing its members to go underground. Now a secret society, the White Lotus became an instrument of quasi-national resistance and religious organization.
Uncle’s pai sho tiles show two Buddhist symbols.
The bhavacakra is a symbolic representation of samsara (or cyclic existence) found on the outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indo-Tibet region. In the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, it is believed that the drawing was designed by the Buddha himself in order to help ordinary people understand the Buddhist teachings.
The bhavacakra is popularly referred to as the wheel of life. This term is also translated as wheel of cyclic existence or wheel of becoming.
and the Lotus
The roots of a lotus are in the mud, the stem grows up through the water, and the heavily scented flower lies pristinely above the water, basking in the sunlight. This pattern of growth signifies the progress of the soul from the primeval mud of materialism, through the waters of experience, and into the bright sunshine of enlightenment.