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Pai Sho

Please read the WikiRules before submitting.

NOTE: The wiki rules have changed (as of May 22nd, 2011 to clarify the copyright issues of the content here, (i.e. it's released to CC, and no one can "own" it, or profit from it)

This page is devoted to the decoding of the ancient wisdoms of the game of Pai Sho, as seen in the world of Avatar: the last air bender. Please feel free to share any ideas or comments for this game. I've laid down some basic ideas, but nothing's really written in stone. The password is "AangAvatar". You don't need anyone's permission to edit, if you have an idea, go right ahead! (The front page has been cleaned up some; no worries though, any information it contained has simply been rejiggered to one of the pages linked here. The Wiki Pai Sho page will be almost a photocopy of the old FrontPage, but I wanted to open some room for more Variant formats.)

The content of this site is released under creative commons non commercial share alike licence. Please visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/us for more

What is Pai Sho?

Pai Sho is an ancient game that stretches in popularity among many nations. It is unknown where Pai Sho first originated, as all of the four nations claim that it originated in their respective countries, naming specific villages and historical persons as originators or major reformers to what eventually became known as Pai Sho. The first mention of Pai Sho in writing is around -850 in a fire nation historical book. Over the next 1,000 years more writings appeared in a greater quantity throughout the four nations.

Pai Sho was played in air temples, and is played in the earth king's palace, the water tribe villages and fire nation cities and on the fire nation war barges. Pai Sho is somewhat inspired by oriental flower arranging (Ikebana). The game is commonly played with two players, though a larger number could play.

Archaeologists discovered Pai Sho boards, pieces and diagrams in an ancient air temple and have pieced together a "lost" variation of Pai Sho dubbed Tei Setsu Pai Sho (Air Temple Pai Sho). The game was played in the squares, but it is unknown whether this is the original game, or a variant brought from one of the other nations, click Tei Setsu Pai Sho for more details.

Playing Materials

Board

The game is played on a circular board with an 18x18 square grid with the corners cut off. In the center is a diamond shape divided in to four quarters with white and red at opposite corners. A Pai Sho board has 256 spaces on it.

Seating- Two players sit across from one another. The drawn tip closest to you is called “the Home Port”. The tip closest to your opponent is called “the Foreign Port”. The other two tips are call “East” and “West” Ports. The “Sides” are divided by the line in the center.

Tiles

Few tiles are known with certainty; those that are include the White Lotus, the Wheel, and others shown here. Thus, different variant creations utilise different tile sets. For more on these Variants, see Variations.

Harmony

Harmony plays an important part in many variations of the game; from accumulating points, to removing pieces, rules for Harmony fulfill many roles. While specific combinations for Harmonies vary, some similarities exist:

Most often, Harmonies occur between two pieces, though occasionally those pieces can form a chain with other Harmonious pieces.
Generally, Harmonies have a value, differentiating valuable or difficult Harmonies from less valuable or simpler ones.
When Harmonies are present, the White Lotus tile generally produces them easily or increases their value.

The Pot

In games that utilise capturing, all captured pieces are put into a pile on the side of the board, which is called "The Pot". It can be worth a certain number of points; these points are often awarded to one player or another after the game, to keep it interesting. In addition, The Pot is often used to facilitate gambling, applying a monetary amount to total point value therein.

See Also:

Comments (Show all 165)

what does everyone think about the concept of gardens.(for more information find daren's comment and click the link to http://paisho.blog.de/) i believe it fits well with our previous idea about the games basis in ikebana. the only thing i dont like about the version shown is that there are two few pieces and you have a shared set of tiles which can never be seen in the show.

i think that it should be like a deck of cards too but i think that they should be able to pick and mix over a limited number of tiles like 100 or less. This would let you make the most of your resources like a military general with his troops and could possibly explain the shop iroh was looking for when he lost his white lotus piece(as how would a shop stay afloat if every one had all the piece?)

That doesn't seem particularly reasonable to me, for a number of reasons. Some are canonical (the "incomplete Pai Sho set") and some are simply subjective (it seems to me that an "ancient" game wouldn't have that customisability; in fact, looking toward the games in the real world that have lasted as long as Pai Sho is supposed to have, it seems that simplicity is the key to longevity).

As for the shop Iroh was looking for, I had assumed he was looking for a craftsman - someone who makes Pai Sho sets. Such an artisan would be able to sell him a White Lotus tile from a complete set, and simply make a replacement later. Unfortunately, the market in which Iroh was searching either lacked craftsman entirely or none of them had complete sets available at the time..

maybe it should or could be a variation with the normal versions tiles just a part of the deck in the variation?

Maybe after tiles formed a harmony they would "wither" so they could only form harmonies with normal tiles that haven't withered. If they did, they would become normal tiles again.

Wow. I havn't been here a while, I've recenytly been busy with a new job. It's good to see other people have picked this up from what I started. I'm going to have to take a look and try things out some time.

I would like to program Pai Sho so that anybody can play it online instantly, if you are interested contact me at jamezmcclain@gmail.com. I will be programming first probably wiki pai show, but will allow people to choose what variant they play. I am thinking this will greatly help out the game by giving it more feedback and allowing people to play against others easily.

I am will be mainly doing this project over Christmas break, I am looking for 2 things.

1. Tiles, I am a horrible graphics artist, but (http://paisho.pbworks.com/f/paishoTiles108.jpg <---these are unacceptable,sorry) I have heard other people have made Tiles in Photoshop or w/e, send them to my email and I will give you credit if I use them in the game. Again that is Jamezmcclain@gmail.com (Don't worry if you don't think yours look good, send anything you have, you can also request how you want to be given credit)

2. Programmers, not that they are really needed, this is probably going to be a rather small 1-man-needed project, however, if anyway wants to help, I think that would be great, I love coding with others. The languages I am planning to use are PHP and javascript with use of AJAX. Don't worry, you only have to know one of those to help out, or even if you don't if you know css/html well, you can also help. I will be using a Javascript library such as Jquery to provide the gameplay effects, I have not decided on what to use.

If you are interested, or have any questions or comments, email me and I will get back to you.

Hi James, new tile graphics for The wiki version of the game can be found here. http://paisho.pbworks.com/w/page/24174526/Wiki-Pai-Sho plus there are other designs here http://paisho.pbworks.com/w/page/27845179/Large-Tiles

*facepalm* Thanks, I'm stupid, I already read that page and I guess it diden't come to mind that it had tiles on it when I was thinking about it. Anyway, I will use those and give credit to the wiki.

Still if anyone wants to contribute other tiles, that would still be appreciated.

Here is a small plan: I will start working when school is out for winter break, first, I will come up with a "No rules" version of the game, meaning the rules will have to be known by both parties, and nothing is stopping illegal moves but the other person. Basically this will be the same as playing chess on a board, there is no highlighted legal moves or anything, it will just be a board to play on. With of course chat to talk to the other people.

This is for two reasons:

One: I will be able to get a working version out much quicker if I don't have to worry about programming in rules logic.

Two: People who know the rules better then I do will be able to play it, and possibly simplify them or mend they if they see and problems while playing, and then they can help with making sure I don't mess up anything when I do make a version that will do things like highlight possible spaces in green, and illegal spaces to move in red for any given piece, as well as know the special effects of the wheel and such so they can be activated with a click.
(I will make it so that people can pick the game variant they are playing, and the rules will adjust, provided the variant's rules have been programmed in, I will also probably keep a "no rules" version always up, so people can test out their home brew rules, or changes.

I will be hosting this on my home server, hopefully that will be powerful enough so that more then a few people can play at once. I hope that people will enjoy this!

if you can, see if you can program it to allow the naming of the tiles as well as a couple generic tile images (perhaps just a plain white tile that you can put a text name onto) in order to support different tile sets, and the total number of tiles.

I will try to make the No rules version as open as possible. This is a great suggestion, thanks. I will probably let people label white tiles, but I may do generic or even let people upload their images, And I will try to make the number of tiles generally unlimited with in reason.

excellent. cant't wait.

Same! I do have finals right now, but those will be over when winter break starts after the end of next week. And I will work on this and try to post my progress.

Hey guys, a question. What are the "playable areas" on a pai sho board?

Since a lot of squares are cut off, some mostly, what squares can a tile be placed on?

It depends on the rules you are playing going by the series some versions (as from my interpretation of what is seen on the show there are more than one) use the whole board some use the inner diamond shape.

Alright, I will try to fit in a way that you can put them on both intersections and on squares.

from what I understand.... all of them? I think that's why some variants use the intersection points. There aren't very many (any really) of those that a tile cannot be supported on. I believe the underlying thought is that not very many people will play on these outside spaces, but I can see how from a programming point of view it would be quite necessary to allow that

So I know there's been talk of collectability and I agree with Red Kutai that collectibility reduces credibility as a global and ancient game because what makes a collectible game able to work is that there is some higher authority that backs up the rules of a particular piece. For instance, you need Wizards of the Coast to exist in order to validate that your MTG deck is legal. There is no such body in the Avatar world and therefore I have to agree with Red Kutai.

What I do think is entirely possible is that a set of tiles contains multiples of the tiles and the players can either draft pick their tiles or randomly draw them, but not use all of the possible tiles so that they can during their turn draw and discard, similar to many card games or tile/domino games played today or perhaps just draw in the case of the White Lotus Gambit. It's hard to draw the comparison with chess, because in chess there is a definite hierarchy of pieces, but it could be vaguely similar to either choosing to have 3 knights and 1 bishop or randomly drawing your bishops/knights from a finite pool (or complete set)

Am I late? I know, I am lazy. But I finally have something that works, although use that term lightly, it is a board that you can use online.

It only works in Google Chrome, and it is ugly, but it is still easier then building your own board, http://jq.dyndns-free.com/paisho/

I have been lazy, and I pretty much made the site in two days, I will try to make a better version, but I need help with designing it. I never really noticed how BIG the pai sho board is, Until I tried fitting pieces for it.

Anyway, enjoy.

No later than I am James. Hopefully you still check this stuff. I tested your site on Chrome. Looks great! But I have some questions and requests

First Graphics Questions:
What is memory size limit for a tile image?
What are the desired dimentions in pixels for a tile image?
What file format do you want to use for the tile images?
Do you need a transparent background on the tiles?
What dimentions in pixels do you want for the board?
How much memory can the board image take up?

Second Requests
1. Make the tiles playable on intersections. Most of the game variants on this site are played on intersections. Right now most play testing can't be done on your site. I think that is a shame given your results.
2. Add a notational scale to the board so the exact position of a tile on the board can be determined
3. have the location of a tile shown as you move it. (more of a stretch goal for you really)

Great! I don't have Google Chrome, but at least there is somebody actually working on an online version; I really appreciate it. It does great help on promoting Pai Sho (and so on). Greetings, Cyril

Ah, I forgot: I have pictures for tiles on dark AND white for easier recognition which tile is who's. If you want, i can send them to you.

Yea, the would be good. I would prefer dark and white. And four colors.

Since some versions of pai sho are more then two player, I want to build a site that can support that.

I sent you the dark and white tiles. I also thoght to make four colours, so if I do, I'll send them too.

where? I don't have them.

@ James: Interesting. I sent them again, maybe it works now.

just love this game.... actually i'm trying to make this game popular among my friends,cuz i'd love to play it... but is there any site where i can play this game ?

I made this a long time ago, this is a quick setup for people to play on. http://jq.dyndns-free.com/paisho/

coool James... i just created a Pai Sho fan page in FB.: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pai-Sho/167127606685100 join here please, to create a Pai Sho community in FB, and to make it a popular game :)

i tried it out. not a bad start. i don't know if anyone knows, but i have pics and rules, and some thoughts about the tiles and rank in the order in the folder "franks stuff"

Hm, what I thinks is that the Pai Sho community is in desperate need of a rule set that is simple, but keeping the game's complexity, and at the same time presented in a way that is easily accessible and clearly understandable even for people who didn't watch the series. I'm trying to accomplish something like this right now by upoading a ýoutube video in which i explain my rule set (like you did in a very nice way^^). I think that, next to the facebook page we have now, Pai Sho should have more presence on youtube and such. If you search "Pai Sho" in google, you get three or so sites that present rule sets on text form (which we shouldn't do, in my opinion) and that is not very comfortable for paisho-newbies.

i am trying to find someone to make a video with here so i can put up tile movement and strategy. i've had quite a few people ask me. i totally agree.

hey cyril, i started a game with arnold13 on facebook, but we never finished. you should try starting a game with him.

That's interesting. Do you have a game record?
I'll send him a mail to ask, because i don't have a facebook anyway.

yes i do have one but it's not very long. it's not typed up yet. just finished the powerpoint, i'll send it to you now.

Guys, I'm impressed with the work you guys have put into manifesting this game. Just have a couple of concerns that I've a feeling might be able cleared up relatively easily...

First and foremost, after doing a little bit of anthropological digging around, I've come up with a couple of conclusions surrounding the shot we're provided of the Pai Sho board in The Desert (Season 2, Episode 11). If you take a look at the snippet I took of the board, you'll notice that there is a pai sho piece oddly arranged in the top right pedal.

<img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6519404871_2b41dfc90e_m.jpg">

Now, I know that this isn't CSI or anything, I just feel it's extremely to maintain a concrete sense of authenticity while developing this game. Because of the peculiar placement of this piece, I'm lead to believe that both White Lotus members laid down their full hands in order to replicate the insignia of the white lotus. There are 58 pieces on the board, so I suspect that each player is in possession of a stack of 29 pai sho pieces each. What do you think?

I've been away for a while chasing other projects so I hope my understanding is still current. Yes there is an asymmetry to the pattern shown in the desert. If you read elsewhere on this site you will find many who feel the position is likely part of a ritual that members of the secret society use to identify each other. As such it may not be a standard opening. There are loads of possibilities. Perhaps the odd piece is part of the code and means something different depending on where it is put? Perhaps it's artist error. Perhaps it is part of a ritual to determine how the game will be played or who will have the first move. All we can say with certainty is Iroh uses this to identify himself as a member of the order and perhaps to give his rank. And we can say there are at least 58 tiles. Beyond that is mostly speculation. It could be as you suggest that each player has half that number, or they could be drawing from a common pool of more than that number. Even if we knew for sure it was one or the other there could be variations that do it differently.

Shoot, you can't embed html into this thread. Here is the link for the snippet I mentioned above:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60419909@N08/6519404871/in/photostream

Also, I feel that the white lotus gambit needs to be revamped to more closely resemble the gambit we know from the show:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/60419909@N08/6519404995/in/photostream

I see that there is an asymmetry; I never noticed it before, but what Osuji says looks good to me. For the other thing, am I wrong or is your white lotus from the second image a jasmin tile rather than a lotus? I guess I don't really understand what you mean...?
I for one think that a rule set that totally resembles the game in the show is nearly impossible. As one may know, I and some others are creating a rule set at another page, and we decided not to cling to the show that closely because most rules that may be good just don't fit in with what is provided by the show.
Anyway, if you think the Lotus gambit theory here needs to be revised, I'd like to hear your version.

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See this page in: English - Spanish

WikiRules - Please read first

Variations - Variations of Pai Sho

Tiles - A listing of the tiles

Strategy - Pai Sho Strategy articles

Links - Links to Avatar sites, Pai Sho images, Flower name and Flower arranging reference and other collaborative projects.

PaiSho Chat - This is uh.. a Chat :)

PrintStuff - This is some Stuff to Print

Real Life Pai Sho Boards - How to make your own Pai Sho board, and pictures of some boards.

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Harlan Nowick said

teddy said

Red Kutai said

teddy said

metsik said

metsik said

Mace said

James said

Yi Chen said

James said

Harlan Nowick said

James said

Harlan Nowick said

James said

James said

Yi Chen said

James said

Wuxia said

Wuxia said

James said

Osuji said

Cyril said

Cyril said

James said

Cyril said

James said

Cyril said

Arnold13 said

James said

Arnold13 said

frank hribal said

Cyril said

frank hribal said

frank hribal said

Cyril said

frank hribal said

Sloan said

Osuji said

Sloan said

Cyril said

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