Embassy of the Republic of Korea to Norway

Traditional Korean Games

Cheryl Hagen

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Gongginori (공기놀이)

Gongginori is similar to the Western game, Jacks. Children play this game with round stones called "gonggi". The player tosses one stone in the air; and before it lands, he or she picks up the stones from the ground, and then catches the stone in the air with the same hand. Usually, 5 stones are used. However, more stones can be used for a more challenging game. There are five levels; one’s, two’s, three’s, and so on. If you fail to catch the stone or if you touch the nearby stones while picking up the stones in play, you forfeit your turn to the next player. At level five, kkeokgi (꺾기), you toss all five stones in the air to see how many of them you can catch on the knuckle side of your hand. The number of stones caught is how many points you get. The one with the most points or who reaches a certain amount of points first, wins the game. Nowadays it is common to purchase short cylindrical shaped plastic stones filled with fine iron pieces inside.

Yutnori (윷놀이)

This board game originates from the Three Kingdoms period. Ancestors used the sticks to predict their fortune for the year and prayed for a good harvest. These days, it is popular to play the game during Seolnal (설날) when the family gathers. Wooden sticks, called “yut”, are used as a dice and each player/team moves all of their four pieces around the board. Depending on how the sticks land after a throw, face up or face down, determines how many spaces the pieces can advance. With do/도 the pieces move one space forward. With gae/개, geol/걸, yut/윷 and mo/모 the pieces move two, three, four and five spaces respectively. The player gets another turn when they get yut or mo consecutively. This rule is called “sari”. If a piece lands on an opponent’s piece, the piece can be captured. In this case, the capturing player gets another throw. The captured piece must return to the starting point. If a piece lands on a player’s own piece, the pieces can be moved together. The game ends when a player/team has managed to have all the pieces go around the board.

Ttakji (딱지)

This game is similar to the game of bottlecaps. The game pieces are called “ttakji/딱지”. The shape varies from square, triangle, or circle. There are different ways to play depending on the region. In the “neomgyeomeokgi” (flipping) version, ttakji pieces are placed on the ground. Each player has one ttakji in one hand and throws it down on the pile to see how many they can flip over. The player collects the ones that are flipped over. In the “mireonaegi” (pushing out) version, a circle is drawn on the ground and each player places one or more ttakji pieces inside it. The player collects the ttakji pieces that are pushed out of the circle. By folding papers (jongi jeopgi/종이접기), you can make your own ttakji pieces or you can choose to purchase round plastic or metal discs that last longer.

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Sources:

- https://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/1467

- Arirang Issue > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llOZtodTmZk

- https://folkency.nfm.go.kr/en/topic/detail/1510