@The History of Sugoroku

ĦOrigin of Dice

A hungry mankind must have had a serious alternative when mushroom, globefishes or young green plums were in his/her sight.
A pleasure of taste, or a dreadful poison? Here comes the Dice in existence with such historical inevitability.

Isn't it natural to think that a dice in early days was thus a decision support tool for the mankind, and then has been organized in the decision making system of "Fortune Telling"?

There has been dices excavated in Cameroon, Africa, which had only 2 faces, front and back, cracked from nuts. American Indians seem to have used such various formed dices as rods, crescents, circles, chairs, animals and so on. In China and Korean Peninsula, people played a game called Yunnori with 4 wood pieces, cut into two pieces from a cylinder, which is able to make 5 choices. Cubed dice, first excavated in the Mohenjo-Daro remains of Indus Civilization differs in the number order of modern ones. It has 2 on the back of 1, 4 on the back of 3 and 6 on the back of 5.

The oldest dice in Japan is found in remains of Dazaifu, Kyushu. It has 4 chips of wood, 5 x 1 cm each with 1 to 4 lines. It is still not known how to have used them up to now. The oldest cubed dice is assumed to have been made in about 700 DC. in remains Tagajo in Miyagi-ken, whose face numbers are read only from 1 to 4.

The dice's contingency guarantees the equality and fairness for the game participants, also contributes the dream and excitement on the board game.

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