Muk-chi-ba
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Muk-chi-ba is a variant of the two-player game rock-paper-scissors. It originated in Korea. (The game rock-paper-scissors itself is called gawi-bawi-bo (pronounced "kai-bai-bo") in Korean.) This game starts with the usual game of gawi-bawi-bo. Once both parties have presented their hands, the hands are kept presented and the person who wins the gawi-bawi-bo match plays the offense for the first round. The player in the offense either changes or maintains his hand while simultaneously saying the corresponding name of the new hand. In this game, muk is bawi (rock), chi is gawi (scissors), and ba is bo (paper). The opponent also changes or maintains his hand at the same time. The goal of the offense is to get the opponent's hand to be the same as his/her own. e.g. he/she would win if both players end up with a muk. After one round, if the offensive player didn't succeed, the offense/defense is redetermined from the hands resulting from the previous round and the next round begins.
In real play, each round proceeds very fast, often one or two rounds a second.
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[edit] Multi-Player variant
In Korea, multi-player variants are unknown, but muk-chi-pa may be played by more than two players in a single match. The premise of determining who wins is based on the fact that two or more people playing the same symbol "cancel each other out," so to speak. A few examples will demonstrate this.
- Ashley: Pa.
- Bob: Pa.
- Carlos: Muk.
Carlos now has highest value because the two pas cancel each other.
- Dominique: Muk.
- Erica: Chi.
- Fred: Pa.
- Gerald: Chi.
The two chis cancel each other, so only a muk and a pa remain. Fred wins with his pa.
- Heather: Pa.
- Ike: Chi.
- James: Muk.
In this scenario, nothing cancels out, so the special rule applies that muk has highest value.
When the winner cannot be determined during the face-off, the face-off is repeated. When the winner cannot be determined in the course of the game, the player who previously had highest value retains it.
When someone changes to the same symbol as the player with highest value, the game isn't over (as it would be in two-player muk-chi-pa) but rather the opponent is "out". Play continues until all players but one have been eliminated. That one player is the winner of the whole game.
In large games (5+ players), it is customary for players to say "___ has highest value" (where ___ is one of muk, chi or pa), to help the other players follow along. Games larger than eight players are usually very frustrating, because it is very likely that all the hands will cancel out.
[edit] Structured play
The multi-player game is a casual way for multiple people to enjoy muk-chi-pa at the same time. For more formal play, there are tournaments which provide opportunities for one-on-one matches as well as multi-player matches.
[edit] Elimination rounds
The purpose of an elimination round is to reduce the player pool until a single loser remains. An elimination round comprises a number of matches equal to the number of participants less one. After each match, the winner of that match escapes, such that all the losers advance to the next match. After all matches have been played, the loser of the last match becomes the loser of the entire elimination round, and becomes subject to public humiliation.
[edit] Tournaments
The purpose of a tournament is to rank each participant (e.g., first place, second place, and so on). A tournament comprises a number of elimination rounds equal to the number of participants less one. (When discussing tournaments, their elimination rounds are simply called "rounds"; they function as described above.) The loser of each round is eliminated until only the first-place champion remains. The subsequent ranking order is the reverse of the order in which players were eliminated.
Tournament play has quite a different dynamic than ordinary multi-player game play. It is known to be very forgiving: in a four-player tournament, the only way for a player to rank in 4th place is for him/her to lose every single match. On the other hand, it is possible for a player to rank in first place having lost three matches (depending on which three matches). The forgiving nature of tournament play helps the balance of the game; it does its part to separate the unlucky from the genuinely lousy.
