Hoo Hey How
Chinese dice game
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hoo Hey How (Chinese: 魚蝦蟹; pinyin: yú xiā xiè; lit. 'Fish-Prawn-Crab') is a Chinese dice game played with three identical six-sided dice. It is related to Bầu cua cá cọp in Vietnam, Klah Klok (Khmer: ខ្លាឃ្លោក, romanized: khlaa khlook, lit. 'leopard') in Cambodia,[2] and similar to Crown and Anchor in the West Indies and the American game chuck-a-luck.[3][4][5]
| Face | Hoo Hey How (Yu Xia Xie) | Alternate | Bầu cua cá cọp | Klah Klok |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fish | Fish | Fish | |
| 2 | Calabash | Stag | ||
| 3 | Prawn | Cock | Tiger | Prawn |
| 4 | Crab | Prawn | Crab | |
| 5 | Coin | Prawn | Calabash | |
| 6 | Cock | Crab | Cock | Cock |
 | ||||
| Hoo Hey How | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hoo Hey How dice | |||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 魚蝦蟹 | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鱼虾蟹 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | fish-shrimp-crab | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 魚蝦鱟[1] | ||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 鱼虾鲎 | ||||||||||
| Literal meaning | fish-shrimp-horseshoe crab | ||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||
| Vietnamese | Bầu cua cá cọp | ||||||||||
| Khmer name | |||||||||||
| Khmer | ខ្លាឃ្លោក | ||||||||||
Rules of play
The game is played between a player and a banker. A canvas or felt mat marked with the six symbols is used for play.
The player places bets on one or more symbols and then throws the three dice. If there is a bet on any symbol which comes up on one or more of the dice, the banker returns the player's stake on that symbol and additionally pays out the value of that stake for each die showing that symbol: even money if one, 2:1 if two, and 3:1 if three. If the symbol does not come up, the player's bet is lost.
Per the calculations for Crown and Anchor, the probability of a player losing their bet due to no dice showing their chosen symbol is 57.9%. The likelihood of them winning their bet is 34.7%, 6.9%, and 0.5% for the probability of their symbol showing up on one, two, and three dice respectively. For every 100 yuan wagered, a player is expected to lose 7.87 yuan to the banker. When Hoo Hey How is played at a casino, the house acts as banker, while when played with friends, the role of banker rotates between the players.
