two pieces of 8 pips, figuring the breath of harmony, which pervades the eight divisions of the year. The other combinations had each their names. There were four players having eight cards apiece for their hand, and the cards won or lost according as the number of the pips was less or in more the winner being rewarded with counters. In-the time of Kao-tsung [高宗 1127-1163] pattern packs were issued by imperial edict. They were known throughout the empire as Ku p'ai, 'bone p'ai;' [骨牌] but it does not follow that this class of games, po-sai [博塞], Ko-wu [格五], and the rest originated in the reign of Hsüan-ho. Ming author Xie Zhaozhe (1567–1624) also records the legend of dominoes having been presented to Emperor Huizong but in the year 1112. The Ming sources may be early by half a century as Li Qingzhao (1084 – c. 1155) made no mention of dominoes in her compendium of games. The oldest confirmed written mention of dominoes in China comes from the Former Events in Wulin (i.e. the capital Hangzhou) as recorded by Zhou Mi (1232–1298), who listed dominoes as items sold by peddlers during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong (r. 1162–1189). Relation to Pai Gow The partition game of Pai Gow borrows most of its tile ranking from the pairings in Playing Heaven and Nine. However, the suits have been merged into a single sequence: Supreme, Civil, Military, Nines and Heaven, Nines and Earth, Eights and Heaven, Man and Heaven, Eights and Earth, Man and Earth Below these are unlisted pairs that use modular arithmetic like in Tau Gnau or Baccarat. Notes References External links French Rules Tien Gow rules Chinese dominoes Trick-taking domino games Dice games