Pua Tiong ChiuThe Mid-Autumn Festival celebrated in Chinese and Vietnamese cultures takes place this Thursday, September 19th. One of the traditional Festival activities, at least among Filipino-Chinese, is the dice game, Pua Tiong Chiu.

Pua Tiong Chiu is a simple push-your-luck dice game generally played for mooncake prizes. Six dice are rolled in a bowl, with certain combinations (e.g., four-of-a-kind or two sets of three-of-a-kind) qualifying for larger cakes. Rolling fours is especially good. To qualify for the largest piece requires rolling at least four fours or five-of-a-kind (if not fours). The largest piece, however, isn’t taken right away. Other players can try to beat the previous winner’s roll, though if they choose to roll again, their new roll counts whether better or worse.