Chinese dominoes
Chinese dominoes originated from dice throws and evolved into diverse games.
Chinese dominoes are tile-based gaming pieces used in several traditional games, including tien gow, pai gow, tiu u, and kap tai shap. In Cantonese they are called gwāt pái (骨牌), meaning 'bone tiles,' which is also the name of a northern Chinese game with rules distinct from the southern version of tien gow. The tiles originated in China, with early versions functionally identical to playing cards, and an identifiable form developed in the 12th or 13th century.
- origin
- China
- earliest_mention
- 12th century (reign of Song Emperor Xiaozong, r. 1162–1189)
- earliest_written_source
- Former Events in Wulin by Zhou Mi (1232–1298)
- earliest_manual
- Manual of the Xuanhe Period by Qu You (1341–1427), possibly a later forgery
- typical_set_size
- 32 tiles
- typical_material
- Chinese ebony
- typical_dimensions
- 2+5⁄8 in long, 7⁄8 in wide, 3⁄8 in thick
Lore & Background
Chinese dominoes are derived from the 21 possible outcomes of throwing two six-sided dice. Each tile pattern corresponds to one such outcome, and eleven of these patterns are duplicated to create a 32-tile set. The set is divided into two suits: civil and military, with no markings to distinguish them; players must memorize the groupings. Civil tiles have names based on Chinese cultural symbolism, such as 'heaven' (6-6) and 'earth' (1-1), while military tiles are ranked by total pip count.
Reader's Guide
Chinese dominoes have a long history, with the oldest confirmed written mention appearing in the 13th-century work Former Events in Wulin by Zhou Mi, who listed 'pupai' (gambling plaques or dominoes) as items sold during the reign of Song Emperor Xiaozong. The Ming author Lu Rong later explicitly defined pupai as dominoes. The earliest known manual, the Manual of the Xuanhe Period by Qu You, is considered by some scholars to be a later forgery. During the Qing dynasty, the suits originally called 'Chinese' and 'barbarian' were renamed 'civil' and 'military' to avoid offending the ruling Manchus. Tiles with blank ends, similar to Western double-six dominoes, existed in the 17th century and may have influenced European sets, though the standard Chinese set of 32 tiles (with no blank faces) differs from the 28-tile Western set. Chinese dominoes are longer than typical European ones and feature red and white pips, following the coloring scheme of traditional Chinese dice. Variant sets exist, including those with Xiangqi characters for dual use, Digging Flowers sets with additional mahjong tiles, and Korean sets with different military suit pairings. The games played with Chinese dominoes—such as Tien Gow, Pai Gow, Che Deng, and the northern game of Bone Tiles—have distinct rules and rankings, reflecting the tiles' enduring cultural and recreational significance.
Did You Know?
- Chinese dominoes are based on the 21 possible outcomes of throwing two six-sided dice.
- The 32-tile set includes 11 duplicated patterns, with 11 civil tiles and 10 military tiles.
- The 6-6 tile is called 'tin' (heaven) and is the highest-ranking civil tile.
- The 2-4 and 1-2 military tiles form a special pair called 'gi jun' (supreme), the highest-ranking pair in Pai Gow.
More in Chinese inventions 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record