Want in on a Mid-Autumn tradition? Check out our easy guide to the Mooncake Dice Game—also known as 'Pua Tiong Chiu'—a fun and traditional Chinese game played during the Mid-Autumn Festival.
You're welcome to print our cheat sheet for easy reference! Download the PDF here.
Looking for mooncake dice sets? We've got you covered:
https://geekboxph.com/products/traditional-style-dice-for-mooncake-dice-game
Prize Cost Calculation
Budgeting for a mooncake dice game generally depends on the number of participants and the buy-in amount per person. Once those are set, the rest can be easily calculated.
Multiply the number of participants by the buy-in amount per person.
For example, if you have 10 participants and the buy-in amount is Php500, then the total would be: 10 participants × Php 500 = Php 5,000.
In this case, Php 5,000 is the total budget. To determine how much can be allocated to each prize tier, divide the total by 6 (for 1st to 6th prize). This gives you the ideal budget per tier, which is Php 833.33.
The Php 833.33 is further divided by the number of prizes allocated per tier. For the 1st prize, since only one prize is needed, the budget is Php833.33. However, for the 4th prize, you will need to divide this budget by eight, since eight prizes are needed, which comes to about Php 104.17 per prize.
As a refresher, the prize count per tier is listed below:
| 1st Prize | 1 pc. | divide by 6 | divide by 1 |
| 2nd Prize | 2 pcs. | divide by 6 | divide by 2 |
| 3rd Prize | 4 pcs. | divide by 6 | divide by 4 |
| 4th Prize | 8 pcs. | divide by 6 | divide by 8 |
| 5th Prize | 16 pcs. | divide by 6 | divide by 16 |
| 6th Prize | 32 pcs. | divide by 6 | divide by 32 |
This is just a guideline. Feel free to adjust the budget as needed. But it gives you a clear idea of how much to spend on each prize for every tier. Happy gaming and goodluck!
FAQ
1st Prize - Rolling Five of a Kind: Why is the remaining die used to determine the rank, rather than the value of the five matching dice?
Because all Five-of-a-Kind combinations have the same probability of being rolled. To break the tie, the remaining die is used to determine the rank.
1st Prize - Rolling Six of a Kind: If you roll all fours, do you take all other players' prizes?
This combination is extremely rare. According to the original rules, if a player rolls six of a kind with fours or ones (the dice face with red dots), they may claim all the prizes — including those already won by other players. However, this rule is often omitted to ensure that everyone has a chance to win a prize. Players may choose to include or exclude this rule by mutual agreement before the game begins.
1st Prize - 1st Prize – Determining the Ranking: Why are fours and ones ranked higher than higher numbers?
In Chinese culture, the color red is regarded as highly auspicious, which is why the dice face with fours and ones marked in red are believed to take precedence over other numbers.
2nd Prize - Rolling Two sets of Three of a Kind: Why do some rules not recognize this as a valid 2nd prize combination, and instead only accept a straight?
There have been many rule changes over the years, and this is a rule that players can agree on before starting the game. Allowing the two sets of Three of a Kind as a valid combination may make it easier to achieve 2nd prize.
General – Setup: Why can't we use wooden or steel bowls? Why does it have to be a glass bowl?
The idea is to have the dice bounce well, so you can shake up your luck! Wooden or steel bowls don't allow for this, which is why we use ceramic or glass bowls for the game.
General – Gameplay: We've been playing for hours, and it seems like no one can roll the right combinations for some of the prize tiers. Is there a way to speed up the game?
Generally, you need to roll the correct combination to win a prize from a given tier. However, there are many reasons why you might want to speed up the game. One option is to agree on demoting or promoting prize tiers to make them easier to win. For example, if you keep rolling a 2nd prize combination but there are no 2nd prizes left—and plenty of 3rd prizes—you may agree to take a 3rd prize instead.
If you choose to apply this rule, it should be agreed upon by all players at the start of the round to ensure fairness and give everyone an equal chance.