Our mission is to provide resources and support for the local Asian, South Asian, Pacific Islander American community, and increase the visibility and representation of the Asian American diaspora in Evanston’s civic, cultural and community spaces through the arts.
The Origins of Games
There are many games that we play not knowing where they were came from. Did you know that Chess was invented in India around the 6th century AD? It is said that Dominoes has origins in China between the 1st and 12th century. Mahjong is another game that originated in China.
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We share some information about the history and origins of Chess, Mahjong and Reversi below but check out this list of different boards games from various Asian countries!
Chess
​Chess is one of the oldest board games in the world. It originated in India around the 6th century AD as a game called Chaturanga. "Chaturanga" is a Sanskrit word which means "four divisions of the army". This refers to the four main units of the Indian army: infantry (pawns), cavalry (knights), elephants (bishops), and chariots (rooks).
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Below are some links to read more about the history and origins of Chess and videos to learn how to play!
If you want to learn how to play Chess, you can read the rules of the game of Chess here or check out these videos.
Here's a beginner's video for kids!
What is Mahjong?
Mahjong is a game that was invented in China in the late 19th century. The game is played by four people, with 136 or 144 rectangular pieces called tiles. The object is to collect winning sets of these tiles, just like in card games such as gin rummy.​ Mahjong came from China to the US in the 1920's and actually plays a fascinating role in US cultural history. The game was played not only by Asians and Asian Americans here in the States, it also became popular in the Jewish community. Today there are two many versions of Mahjong played around the world, but here in the US many know about Chinese Mahjong and Jewish Mah Jongg, also called American Mahjong. They have different rules, scoring and cultural significance.
Below are some links to read more about the origins and history of Mahjong and videos to learn how to play!
Here are some links to instructions on how to play Mahjong:
Here's a video of Chinese Mahjong basics.
Here's a video of American or Jewish Mahjong basics.
Sungka
Sungka is a traditional Filipino game that dates back to the 17th century. It is a type of Mancala game which can be found in many different cultures throughout Asia and Africa. The game is played on a wooden board with two carved rows of holes filled with pebbles or shells. The objective of Sungka is to outsmart your opponent by developing strategies to collect more pebbles or shells than them. The game is usually played outdoors because there is a Filipino superstition that a house will burn down if it's played indoors.
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Below are some links to read more about the history and origins of Sungka and videos to learn how to play!
Here's a video of how to play Sungka.
