Hobak Gonu (“the pumpkin game”) is a traditional children’s board game from Korea.
"Hidden History" is a diary series that explores forgotten and little-known areas of history.
History
Gonu (also written as Konu or Kono) is a varied family of Korean games. The name means “small gameboard”. They vary widely in the shape of the board and the gameplay. The first mention of Gonu games comes in 19th century manuscripts, though it is not clear which specific versions those refer to, and the games may themselves be much older.
The name Hobak Gonu means “Pumpkin Game”, referring to the circular game board. Since pumpkins are a New World discovery, this may date the origin of Hobak Gonu to sometime after the beginning of the 16th century. It may be a variant of the Chinese Xi Gua Qi “Watermelon Chess”.
Equipment
The game board consists of a circular area with vertical and horizontal lines and an additional two horizontal lines projecting at the top and bottom. The intersections and endpoints of the two lines give a total of eleven game spaces, though all of the actual gameplay happens on the five spaces on the circle and its center.
Each Player has three game pieces.
To Play
The game begins with each Player's pieces lined up on the Home row on his side of the board.
Players take turns moving one of their game pieces one space along the marked lines. They can move in any direction with some exceptions: once a Player's piece has entered onto the circle from Home, it cannot return to Home, and a Player's piece cannot enter the opponent's Home. Also, once a Player’s piece has moved from the endpoints of his Home to the center line, it cannot move back to the endpoints.
A Player wins when he blocks all of the opposing pieces so they cannot make a legal move.
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