Play it East Asian style
Map
East Asia
Your Guides
Ni hao! I’m Ping and this is my best friend Xiongmao. Let’s tour East Asia, our home.
Some of the games we play in East Asia were invented thousands of years ago. We play lots of modern games too, but I think these two games are the most interesting because they’ve stayed popular for such a long time.
Pull-Bell
Have you ever seen someone play with a yo-yo, or have you tried it yourself? The yo-yo you used was based on a toy invented thousands of years ago right here in China. We aren’t sure of the exact date the pull-bell was created, but it was probably about 500 years ago!
The pull-bell string is held by two sticks, which you move to control the yo-yo, instead of hooking it to your finger.
p(pullquote). Did you know that kites were also invented in ancient China?
Mahjong
is China’s most popular board game.
Mahjong (pronounced mah-jawng)
This is an ancient Chinese board game that’s popular all over the world. It’s played by adults and kids using a game board and a pile of painted or carved stones. The player’s goal is to clear the board of all stones by finding matching pairs.