Pieces, hands and points

Names of the pieces

Pieces (called zuo1, pronounced soo-OH) are small pieces of wood that each player moves.

Vessel (fel-KAH-nah / pea-YOU-may / moo-AHK / noo-AHK)

(Denotes a ship.)

Pawn (EL-may / EL-meh / COWK)

(Denotes a soldier.)

Archer (GOOSE-two-ay / KOOSE-two / goo-AH)

(Denotes an archer.)

Chariot (vah-DEWED / SHE-yay / COUN, rhymes with "noun")

(Denotes a chariot.)

Tiger (stee-STEWST / SOO-sit / DOW)

(Denotes a tiger.)

Horse (DOE-doe / MOUN)

(Denotes a horse.)

Officer (QUAH)

(Denotes a Secretary.)

Shaman (TAIRSK / TAHN-sook / TOOK)

(Denotes a clergy.)

General (VARSH-lay / SHAHN / WYE)

(Denotes a General.)

King (AH-les / SOWP-lah / YO)

(Denotes a King.)

Minds (TAHM / TAHN)

(Denotes the collection of spirits that exist in everyone and everything. Commonly referred to as tam2 even in English.)

Hands and Points

A hand (dat2) is a certain collection of captured pieces, or a certain situation that arises in the game. A player can receive / lose points based on the hand the player has.

Normal hands

A hand that is composed by certain sets of pieces.

50-point hand

The Unbeatable (OUS, rhymes with "mouse" / moo-mahk-MO-kay / moon-mahk-MOKE-whey)

Every kind, except Minds

10-point hand

The Social Order (QUAH-aht-EL-may / KAH-cowk-MOO-noun / QUAH-cowk-MOON-OUM)

A Pawn, an Archer, a General, an Officer and a Shaman

7-point hand

The Culture (MO / KEPP-kah / WHEP-here)

An Officer, A Shaman and A General

5-point hand

The Cavalry (BAY-pea-say-EL-may / MOUN-kah-cowk / MOUN-goo-ah-COWK)

A Pawn, an Archer and a Horse

The Attack (two-day-TWO-day / MOCK-MOCK）

A Vessel, a Chariot and a Horse

3-point hand

The King (SOWP-lah / SOWP-lah-lay-tee-DAHT)

A King

The Animals (SOO-sit-DOE-doe / SOWP)

A Tiger and a Horse

The Army (EL-may-set / KIKE-daht)

A General and two Pawns

The Comrades (MAY-nah / WIPE-key / WIPE-hee)

A Chariot and two Pawns

The Deadly Army (KAH-pah-NIP-mole / KET-kite-ah-DAHT)

Five Pawns

Situational hands

A situational hand is a hand that takes place when a certain situation happens during the game. All the situational hands in the standardized rule have negative points.

(The reason why these 'situations' are not outright banned but are rather defined as situational hands with negative points is because of the cultural background: in tam2 zui1, the Paige people's native religion, suppressing behaviors is some sort of a religious taboo, known as hia1 bet2.

Negative-5-point-hand

The Stepping (say-MO-co-it-TAHN / coo-TAHN / goot-TAHM)

When a piece steps over the Minds

Negative-3-point-hand

The Futile Move of the Minds (mahk-KEY-lay / tahn-TWO-mock / TAHM-tea-oo-ZAHK)

Moving the Minds immediately after the opponent has moved it is a hand worth negative three points. Using the Minds to effectively pass also is.

Bonus to the normal hands

When a normal hand satisfies an additional condition, there are some bonus points.

2-point-bonus hand

The flash (PAHN-lay-tee-DESS / BAH-pock / BAHP-pock)

When all the colors of the pieces that make up a hand are the same, you get a two-point bonus. Note that The King always satisfies this criterion; therefore, The King is effectively a 5-point hand.

King as a wildcard (bup2 sit1)

In calculating the normal hands, a King can stand for another piece of the same color. For example, having a Red King and a Black Horse is worth eight points: five from The King (since The Flash and three from The Animals (which requires a Horse and a Tiger, but the King can stand for the Tiger).

Multiple hands

A single piece can be a component of multiple hands. For example, having a Tiger, a Horse, a Vessel and a Chariot means you have The Attack (Vessel-Chariot-Horse) and The Animals (Tiger-Horse).

Counting the same hand twice

You cannot count the same hand twice, except for The Flash. For example, if you have a General and two Pawns, taking another Pawn does not change the fact that you have one and only one instance of The Army, thus worth three points. However, if you have captured a Red King and a Red Horse, you get ten points: three from The King, two from The (automatic) Flash due to The King, three from The Animals, and two from The Flash due to The Animals.

Previous: The Tools for the Game

Next: Initial configuration

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