Bo Bing

On Tuesday we celebrated the Mid-Autumn Festival, always celebrated during a full moon. An explanation of the holiday from one of our friends: "On Monday we welcomed the moon, on Tuesday we enjoyed the moon, and on Wednesday we said good-bye to the moon."

A tradition is Xiamen (though not in other places in China) is to play a game called Bo Bing. It's a game where, depending on the roll of the dice, you can win various items for daily use. We played with the teachers in the program.

Roll no fours, get nothing.
Roll one four, get a small carton of milk.
Roll two fours, get a pack of tissues.
Roll three fours, get a bottle of body wash.
Roll a straight 1-6, get a box of laundry detergent.
Roll four fours or more, qualify for the grand prize, a bed quilt.
Roll four fives, and you beat four fours, unless the four fours were accompanied by two ones.
Roll six sixes and take home ALL of the prizes, yours AND everyone elses!
Roll so that one or more dice don't stay in the bowl, lose that turn and the next.
Roll away until all prizes have been claimed.

Here are some pictures from the excitement!


















I won some laundry detergent for this roll!


















Five fives! Our grand prize winner!


















Here is our collection of prizes that we won during Bo Bing at the orphanage, and that Matt won while playing at his company. He won the grand prize, the blanket!