Ô quan
From Wikimanqala
Ô quan
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| Played in: Vietnam |
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| One cycle |
| Pussa-kanawa lap |
| Stores are sown into |
| 5 holes per row |
| Two rows |
Ô quan is a game played in Vietnam by boys and girls.
The only known source is Ngo Qui Son, and some rules are not really clear. More data are needed.
Contents |
Game Rules
The board is an oval with 5 squares per side, plus a bigger one on each end. The small ones are called "farmer squares" or "ricefields" (ô dân or ruông) and the big ones "mandarin squares" (ô quan). The board is drawn on the ground.
Each of the two players has a mandarin square and five farmer squares.
Each player puts his pebbles in his squares (10 in the great one and 5 in each of the small ones, it is 35 pebbles for a series and 70 pebbles for the two series).
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| Initial position |
Each turn, a player takes the contents of one of his ricefields and distributes the pebbles, one by one, on the following squares, in a counterclockwise direction.
He lifts the contents of the square immediately behind the last one where a pebble was dropped and keeps on distributing its contents.
- However, if a mandarin square follows, he takes only one pebble and puts it on the next ricefield.
The movement ends when the last pebble falls on a square which is followed by an empty one.
- If there are two or more empty squares, the turn passes.
- If the empty square is followed by a non-empty one, he captures its contents, and if it is followed by another empty square and another non-empty one, he captures the contents of this one, and so on.
If at any moment all the ricefields of one player are empty he must put one pebble on each ricefield. (It seems these are captured ones, but maybe from the mandarin...). This is called "to release the fish" (thá cá).
The game ends when the two mandarin squares are empty, which is called "fall of the mandarins" (hêt quan).
The pebbles that remain in the ricefields are distributed equally among the two players. This is called "disappearance of the farmers" (tàn dân).
The winner is the player who has more pebbles.
Match rules
Usually you don't play just a game, but rather a match.
Before the next game starts, the loser asks the winner to give him as many pebbles he needs to reach the number of 35. Then the players put their pebbles in their old place and the game is played again under the same conditions as previously.
If the loser asks his companion for five pebbles for example, he owes to him provisionally one square of his series. This is called "to give provisionally a ricefield" (câm ruông). At the end of the game, the pebbles that the square thus given up contains will be divided equally among the two players.
But if the loser asks his colleague for ten pebbles, he must give him one of his squares definitively. He says then bán ruông "to sell a ricefield". In that case, the pebbles that remain in the sold ricefield at the end of the game are won by the new owner of the square.
The game continues until three or four squares of the same series are sold. The player of this series holds out his hands to the winner who beats them.
Dubious details
- Who owns each mandarin square?
- You put pebbles on both mandarin squares, don't you?
- If I loose by 20 pebbles, do I sell 2 ricefields altogether?
- If I have sold a ricefield, and I win by 10 pebbles, do I get back my sold ricefield or do I buy one from the opponent?
- Do you have to refill your ricefields at ANY moment they get empty or only if they get empty after a completed movement?
- How do I refill them? With captured pebbles or with those on my Mandarin square?
- In the former case, what if I have captured no pebbles?
- In both cases, what if I don't have enough pebbles?
References
- Ngo Qui Son
- (1985) Jeux d'enfants du Vietnam, Paris: Edition Sudestasie. ISBN 2858810192
 | This article is in need of improvement: All the dubious details must be clarified |
