Pong Hau K'i
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Pong Hau K'i ( zh, s=裤裆棋, p=kùdāng qí,
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
: Pong Hau K'i/bong1 hau2 kei4 崩口棋) is a Chinese traditional
board game A board game is a type of tabletop game that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned game board, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the ...
for two players. In Korea, it is known as Ou-moul-ko-no or Umul
Gonu Gonu (고누) or kono refers to a group of Korean traditional boardgames which are played by two players on diagrams, each taking turns to move their pieces, with the general objective to block or capture the other player's pieces. Although Gonu ...
(우물고누) or as Gang
Gonu Gonu (고누) or kono refers to a group of Korean traditional boardgames which are played by two players on diagrams, each taking turns to move their pieces, with the general objective to block or capture the other player's pieces. Although Gonu ...
(강고누). "Umul" translates as "a spring", and the appearance of the board is like that of a spring in the center, with water running out in all directions. "Gang" translates as "river", and has a similar interpretation. Equivalent games are also played in Thailand (Sua tok tong) and in northern India ( Hindustani?: Do-guti). The board consists of 5 vertices and 7 edges. Each player has two pieces. Players take turns to move. At each turn, the player moves one of their two pieces into the adjacent vacant vertex. If a player can't move, they lose. Only one type of position can make a player lose. If both players play perfectly, the game continues endlessly with no winner. It is a children's game in both China and Korea, and is often used for childhood education. Image:褲襠棋1.png, One kind of board. Image:褲襠棋2.png, One kind of board, esp. for Pong Hau K'i. Image:褲襠棋3.png, One kind of board. Image:褲襠棋4.png, One kind of board, esp. for Umul Gonu.


Gameplay


Analysis

This game has been analyzed by P. Straffin, who showed that it is a draw so long as both players can see 2-ply ahead, i.e. see the results of their move and of what their opponent would do in response. Thus with "2-ply lookahead", player Red can see the result of a potential bad move of the bottom piece (the first ply, choice 2), realize that Blue then has a winning move (choice 2A of the second ply), and hence choose to not make that move.


References

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See also

In China, there are some traditional board games like Pong Hau K'i. * 鋤棋 * 牛角棋 * 擠樓梯 * 趕羊旦 * 斜方棋 In Korea, there are some traditional board games like Unul Gonu *
Gonu Gonu (고누) or kono refers to a group of Korean traditional boardgames which are played by two players on diagrams, each taking turns to move their pieces, with the general objective to block or capture the other player's pieces. Although Gonu ...
( 고누) Abstract strategy games Chinese ancient games Korean games Traditional board games