Do you know what sugoroku is? Have you heard about those board games where you roll a die to move forward several spaces and reach the end? There isn’t a specific name for this type of game, but some refer to the name of the first Western game invented called Snakes and Ladders.
In Japanese, this game is called Sugoroku [双六], in this article we will see some curiosities about this game in Japan and the West. The word sugo-roku [双-六] literally means pair [双] of six [六], probably referring to the 2 dice used to play (it can also be written as 雙六).
The word can be used to refer to any classic style game of rolling dice, moving spaces, and performing what is written on each space landed on. This word can also be used to refer to the traditional Japanese board game similar to the classic backgammon (ban-sugoroku).
The history of Sugoroku
The first bansugoroku game is similar to backgammon, with few differences, just like the rules invented or cut each time we play something with someone different. It is believed that the game was introduced in China and brought to Japan in the 6th century. Like backgammon, the game was banned for becoming a gambling game.
Soon the betting game called chouhan [丁半] appeared and killed the traditional ban-sugoroku. By the end of the 13th century, the traditional game of rolling dice and moving spaces on the board emerged in Japan using the name esugoroku. Thousands of boards were made with different themes involving religion, politics, and even adult themes.
In the Meiji era and other later periods, this style of game became so popular that it was frequently released in children’s magazines. With ban-sugoroku obsolete, the word sugoroku is almost always used to refer to board games of rolling dice and moving spaces.
Different boards in sugoroku
There are thousands of current games that revolutionized the style of board games of rolling double dice to move spaces, among them are the famous real estate bank games like Monopoly or the Game of Life.
Elementary school children often create sugoroku boards with challenges on each space where the unlucky one who lands needs to do (episode 8 of asobi asobase). There are countless different ways to play, it can be just with one die, it can be endless boards, there are no rules! You make up your own rules!
In addition to the traditional board games of rolling and moving dice, even video games have used this luck scheme to create their own board games like Mario Party, Kiteretsu Daihyakka, and many Japanese spin-off games from different franchises that carry the name sugoroku.
What do you think about board games of rolling dice and moving pieces? If you liked the article, share it with friends and leave your comments.
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