Traditional Korean Games
Korean traditional games are a big part of Korean cultural heritage and even modern-day Korean culture. Some of these games include 제기차기(Jegichagi), 윷놀이(Yutnori ), and 투호(Tuho).
제기차기(Jegichagi), also known as Korean footbag, is a game where players have to kick a shuttlecock-looking bag as many times as possible. It is very similar to keep-ups when you kick a soccer ball in the air as many times as possible. This game can be played either individually or in teams. The winner is decided based on who kicked the bag the most times. Jegichagi requires intense focus, skill, coordination, and balance. This game has been around for centuries and is often played at festivals, cultural events, or just on the playground at school.
윷놀이(Yutnori) is a game played with four sticks called Yut, a game board, and game board pieces. The yut are basically like dice and the game board acts just like any other game board like monopoly or life. The yut sticks are round but flat on one side. The flat side shows 4 x’s or dots depending on what sticks you have. The sticks can either roll on the flat side with the four x’s or they can roll on the opposite side rounded side with no marking. The combination of rolls you can get determines how many spaces you can move your pieces. For example, if you rolled four sides all showing the x markings that is called a yut and you get to move 4 steps. If you rolled four sides all showing no x markings then you get to move 5 spaces. The game board is in the shape of a square with an x in it. And the game board pieces can be whatever you want. They can be pebbles, buttons, or pieces of candy. The objective of the game is to move all of your game board pieces around the whole board back to the starting place before your opponent does. One of the unique aspects of Yutnori is that it is not just a game of chance - players can strategize and work together to block their opponents or gain an advantage. For example, landing on certain spaces can allow a player to knock their opponent's game piece back to the starting point, or move their own game piece ahead several spaces. Yutnori is another popular game played during festivals.
투호(Tuho) is a game played with sticks and any narrow tubes like a vase or a basket. The object of the game is very simple. You have to throw more sticks into the narrow tube than your opponent. It’s kind of like darts where you want to aim for the middle. The scoring system can be manipulated to whatever the players want to do. For example, instead of staying in the same place and throwing a stick players can say each stick they throw must take one step back. Thus making the game more difficult. Another popular addition players make to the game is by adding additional holes next to the main hole. These other holes make it so the hole in the middle is worth more points and the holes on the side score the player fewer points. This game again requires skill, concentration, and hand-eye coordination. Again, this game is another popular game played at festivals.
A lot of Korean traditional games such as these are very simple but require lots of physical and mental skill in order to be successful. These games show how underdeveloped Korean people were centuries ago. They did not have much other than what they had around them and made use of what they had and turned them into fun games that can still be enjoyed to this day.
제기차기(Jegichagi)
윷놀이(Yutnori)
투호(Tuho)
Links
Comments
I still remember when I played Yutnori as a kid with all of my family and relatives during big family events. I think Yutnori is one of the best traditional Korean games to play with anyone because it is safer and easier to enjoy compared to other games. Since Jegichagi is easy to setup, there are Korean TV shows that use it as a game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Aha9swQItE&t=2s