Juryeonggu (주령구) is a 14-sided Korean drinking game dice from the Unified Silla period, about 668 to 935 AD. The hanja, or Chinese characters with Korean pronunciation, for the name ju-ryeong-gu are 酒令具, meaning “liquor”, “command”, and “tool”. A die made of oak was found in a pond in Gyeongju, South Korea in 1975, but was accidentally destroyed while drying in a dehydrator. However, since there were photos taken of the die before it was lost, replicas could be made. Below are the Korean pronunciation, hanja characters and rule translations from the original die:
- Sam-jan-il-geo (三盞一去) : Drinking three glasses of liquor at one time
- Jung-in-ta-bi (衆人打鼻) : Having one’s nose struck by many companions
- Ja-chang-ja-eum (自唱自飮) : Singing and drinking all on one’s own
- Eum-jin-dae-so (飮盡大笑) : Finishing an entire cup and laughing loudly
- Geum-seong-jak-mu (禁聲作舞) : Dancing alone, with no music
- Yu-beom-gong-gwa (有犯空過) : Staying still without flinching, even when being charged at
- Nong-myeon-gong-gwa (弄面孔過) : Staying still without flinching, even when one’s face is tickled
- Gok-bi-jeuk-jin (曲臂則盡) : Finishing an entire cup while interlocking arms with a companion
- Chu-mul-mak-bang (醜物莫放) : Drinking from a cup without removing something dirty from it (presumably placed there by a companion)
- Weol-gyeong-il-gok (月鏡一曲) : Singing the song “Weolgyeong”
- Gong-yeong-si-gwa(空詠詩過) : Reciting a poem
- Im-eui-cheong-ga (任意請歌) : Asking a companion to sing a song of one’s choice
- Ja-chang-Goe-rae-man (自唱怪來晩) : Singing the song “Goeraeman”
- Yang-jan-jeuk-bang (兩盞則放) : When you receive two cups, drain them immediately.
Players presumably would take turns rolling the die and follow the command. The discovery of the die sheds light on the types of games people played to pass the time during Silla.
The die has Chinese characters on it because hangul, the Korean alphabet, wasn’t invented until the 15th century. Up until then, Koreans were using Chinese characters for their writing but had their own way of pronouncing them.
Making my Juryeonggu
Plain dice 
Painted die 
Painted die
I wanted to make my own juryeonggu to use at SCA events and revels. I found some premade wooden 14-sided dice from https://www.etsy.com/listing/782992025/medium-14-sided-tetradecagon-wooden and ordered two. They were a bit larger than I was expecting, but they are a comfortable size, especially for painting the numbers. The seller also has a larger and smaller size of 14-sided dice if you want bigger or smaller dice.
I mixed up some acrylic paints to get a color I liked and painted the whole die in two coats, then used black acrylic paint for the numbers. I sprayed the die with matte finish varnish to help protect the paint. I didn’t use gloss finish in case the shine made the numbers hard to read in certain lights.
I chose to use Chinese numbers 1-14 instead of writing out the rules straight on the dice since I wanted to change the rules but keep the same look. This also will allow me to create different sets of rules for different audiences. I assigned some rules to certain numbers to help me remember them. Here are my revised rules for my die:
- 一 (1) il : Sing a song and drink by yourself.
- 二 (2) ee : Pick someone to take a drink.
- 三 (3) sam : Take three drinks.
- 四 (4) sa : Finish your drink and laugh loudly.
- 五 (5) o : Dance alone without music.
- 六 (6) yuk : Tell a joke. If no one laughs, drink.
- 七 (7) chil : Bow to the person with the highest precedence. If it’s you, take a drink.
- 八 (8) pal : Finish your cup while interlocking arms with a companion.
- 九 (9) gu : Make a toast to someone in the circle, everyone drinks to the toast.
- 十 (10) ship : Recite the oath of fealty. If you mess up, take a drink.
- 十一 (11) ship il : Pick someone to play rock-paper-scissors. Loser drinks. Both drink on ties.
- 十二 (12) ship ee : Boast about something you’ve done recently, everyone drinks to you.
- 十三 (13) ship sam : Spin three times and then take a drink.
- 十四 (14) ship sa : Finish your cup.
I’ve included the Korean pronunciations for the Chinese numbers after the number.
Feel free to make your own juryeonggu and rules!
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Sources:
https://historicandtraditionalgames.com/2016/12/31/juryeonggu-a-14-sided-korean-die/
https://gyeongjulove.blogspot.com/2011/06/casting-14-sided-juryeonggu-anapji.html