What are Korean Jacks?

Answer 1

Korea's version of the game commonly known in Western cultures as "Jacks", is called Khongi. Khongi can be played by one person or as a group, where people will play a round after the previous person loses. The basics of khongi are as follows..

a player is given 5 little hollow, plastic shapes (usually shaped as cartoon animals), which are filled with some sand for weight. They are about the size of one's thumbnail.

The person rattles them up in his or her hand like dice, and tosses them onto the floor. Then they have to pick one up and throw it in the air and pick one up from the floor with the same hand before catching the airborne one again with the same hand. once all 5 have been picked up through this process, the player starts over, but now moves on to throwing one up in the air, and picking two up. The same process happens. Then they move on to 3 and 4. After four, the person holds all five in a fist, tosses them in the air, and tries to catch all of them on the back of their hand. If all 5 are caught, the person wins technically. If fewer are caught, or none, the person is not considered to have lost, but, they haven't won either. I guess all that you get when you "win" is a sense of accomplishment, just as in most other childrens' games. There are some people who are extremely skilled at this game and move faster than the speed of light. But again, they just end up with that same sense of accomplishment. It's quite an addicting game though.