Prinola

Last updated: .

Prinola is a simple staking game that used to be played in the Philippines. The name is derived from the Spanish pirinola, a spinning-top or teetotum.

The only source I have found for the game is that of Stewart Culin. He also states that the same game is played in China under the name 車咩 (‘teetotum’, Cantonese: ce¹ me¹).A (p. 496)Transliterated as ch’é mé in the original work.

Equipment

🅮

Full Size (2567 × 1123 pixels)

Implements for Prinola, from Culin (1900, p. 646).

🅮

Prinola is played using a staking layout containing symbols for the dice results ⚀ through ⚅, and a six-sided teetotum. The teetotum is usually spun in a shallow dish.

Alternately, the teetotum can also be decorated with animals or other images, in much the same way as the Chinese versions of Crown & Anchor.

🅮

Full Size (2583 × 2063 pixels)

A photograph of implements for Prinola, from Chinese Games with Dice and Dominoes (pl. 2).

🅮

Play

Players place their stakes on any of the partitions on the layout. The banker then spins the teetotum. Any players who selected the square that the teetotum shows win 4× their stake. All other stakes are lost.

Dadu Putar

A wooden dice cover and six-sided teetotum.

© Arjan Verweij, used with permission

Full Size (516 × 664 pixels)
A wooden dice cover and six-sided teetotum.

Equipment for Dadu Putar.

© Arjan Verweij, used with permission

In Indonesia the game has been called Dadu Putar (‘spinning die’), and was popular amongst Javanese labourers and miners.C (p. 330) The top would be covered with a coconut shell or specially-made wooden cover whilst it was spinning. Evidence found online shows that the game is still played in this manner today.

A black-and-white photo of a group of people, mostly men, standing and seated around a mat on the ground. One man is spining a teetotum in a dish, other players are placing coins on the mat inside squares marked with dice symbols.

NMVW, 🅮: TM-10018006_REPRO

Full Size (1794 × 1222 pixels)
A black-and-white photo of a group of people, mostly men, standing and seated around a mat on the ground. One man is spining a teetotum in a dish, other players are placing coins on the mat inside squares marked with dice symbols.

A group of people playing Dadu Putar (or a game very similar to it) in Bengkulu, Sumatra (1910–1930).

NMVW, 🅮: TM-10018006_REPRO

Chobo-Ichi

The Japanese game of Chobo-Ichi (樗蒲一) is the same but played with a single die instead of a teetotum. The name means something like “gamble on one outcome”.

In 1784 this game had become so popular that gambling sheds running the game lined the street for a whole ri (里) — nearly 4 km — from Asakusa to Senju in Tokyo.D

The players place their bets upon the staking layout, then the banker rolls the die. Any players who bet upon the side that comes up win, and are paid 4× their stake. All other players lose their bets.

References

  1. (). . Government Printing Office: Washington.

  2. (). ‘’. American Anthropologist (New Series) vol. 2 (4), : pages 643–656.

  3. (). volume 4: ‘Games and Dances in Celebes’; Ethnographical Studies in Celebes.

  4. (). ‘’ [archived]. The Japan Times, .