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Zuì Lǜ (醉綠, ‘drunken green’) was a very old Chinese drinking game from the late Ming period that is played with five dice. At a later stage it was known as 合歡 Héhuān ‘happy union’.A[p. 42]

Pages from a book with four diagrams of dice rolls in pictorial form and Chinese writing around each diagram indicating the name and outcome of the roll.Pages from a book with four diagrams of dice rolls in pictorial form and Chinese writing around each diagram indicating the name and outcome of the roll.

Diagrams from the instruction manual.

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Rules for the game appear in the book 醉緑圖 Drunken Green Diagrams by a 張光 Zhāng Guāng, and this work is included in the 1646 edition of the 說郛 Shuōfú collection, first compiled during the Ming period (1368–1644).B This (very short) instructional text is available transcribed on WikiSource:

  • 醉緑用五箇骰子擲先以一色相賽得一點者先擲得六點者㝡後擲不必賽其餘復賽如前
  • 擲色以三同為主除三同外但以餘二色計之得么么二二三三四四五五點為賞采賞二杯么六二六三六四六五六為罰采罰一杯六六罰二杯得么二二三三四四五之類為賽色得三同六點為罰色罰一杯不賽獨三同六點么么二二三三四四五五為賞采賞二杯擲者罰一杯
  • 擲出五星聚奎者賞依金谷酒數
  • 賽色點數相同者罰賽者二杯多一點二點賞一杯少一點二點罰一杯
  • 賞色在手仍即自擲如擲出賽色方許下次人賽擲出散色方許下次人擲不限擲數

I am unable to translate the rules,Yet! Any assistance would be appreciated. but the scoring combinations are listed below.

The general scheme is that rolling 5-of-a-kind gives out 5 drinks, 4-of-a-kind 3 drinks, rolling a 6 means you are penalized 1 drink. However each of these outcomes has its own name, so they fill up the majority of the table. A summarized table follows the main one.

Rolling the ‘competition’ outcome means that there is some comparison done involving the ‘point’ of the roll (the sum of the two dice that are not part of the triple). However, I am not sure at the moment how this works.

Roll Name Translation Outcome
12345 群英入轂 Give out 5 glasses of wine
11111 五星聚奎 5 Star Alignment Give out 5
11211 兩儀四像 Give out 3
11311 七曜麗空 Give out 3
11411 丹露聮珠 Give out 3
11511 四方歸極 Give out 3
11611 六化四時 Give out 3, drink one
22222 十道同風 Give out 5
22122 八荒一體 Give out 3
22322 麟閣功臣 Give out 3
22422 瓊樓十二 Give out 3
22522 五行八字 Give out 3
22622 八柱擎天 Give out 3, drink one
33333 陶柳三眼 … three eyes Give out 5
33133 月夜南飛 Give out 3
33233 夢合巫山 Give out 3
33433 落紅飛鷰 Give out 3
33533 花壓玉欄 Give out 3
33633 霜空鴈字 Give out 3, drink one
44444 丹鳳聮飛 Give out 5
44144 蔡蕚向陽 Give out 3
44244 雙蝶穿花 Give out 3
44344 落霞飛鶩 Give out 3
44544 梅飄花徑 Give out 3
44644 六女踏花 Six Girls Trampling Flowers Give out 3, drink one
55555 江城梅落 Give out 5
55155 五雲捧日 Five Clouds Lifting the Sun Give out 3
55255 合璧連珠 Give out 3
55355 三弄梅花 Give out 3
55455 紅英綴翠 Give out 3
55655 雪㸃隴梅 Give out 3, drink one
66666 六魔降世 Six Demons Come to Earth Give out 5, drink one
66166 麗日中天 Fair Sun in the Midst of Heaven Give out 3, drink one
66266 二雄逐鹿 Two Men Fight for the Throne Give out 3, drink one
66366 碧天劍氣 Give out 3, drink one
66466 二十八宿 Twenty-Eight Mansions Give out 3, drink one
66566 月值朔虛 Give out 3, drink one
===+== (no 6) Give out 2
666+== Give out 2, drink one
666+qq Give out one, drink one
===+66 Drink 2
===+6q Drink one
===+qq Competition

Here is a summarized version without the names:

Roll Outcome
12345 Give out 5 glasses of wine
===== Give out 5, drink one if any 6
====+q Give out 3, drink one if any 6
===+== (no 6) Give out 2
666+== Give out 2, drink one
666+qq Give out one, drink one
===+66 Drink 2
===+6q Drink one
===+qq Competition

References

  1. (). ⁨⁩. PhD thesis, Washington University⁩: St. Louis, MO, USA.

  2. (). ⁨⁩ [Zuì Lǜ Tú]; 說郛⁩ [Shuōfú] volume 104, series editor ⁩ [⁨Táo Tǐng⁩].

  3. (). ‘⁨⁩’. Pages 400–468 in ⁩, edited by Hans Ulrich Vogel and Günter Dux; volume 1. Brill⁩. ISBN: 978-90-04-18751-1.