SHO
                               
  SHO  is an ancient dicegame that stayed isolated on the Tibetan Plateau (the top of the world) for hundreds of years.  Since
the Chinese occupation, thousands of Tibetans have crossed the border into India, bringing their game with them. Today it is
played throughout India and is now following the Tibetans as they migrate to other countries. It is especially popular at Losar
(Tibetan New Year) when it is played by many people, sometimes for days on end!
What led us to produce this ancient Tibetan game?
Wendy and I first played Sho at a Losar party in Escondido, California. We had so much fun, that the next day we wanted to buy a
game for ourselves. We searched the Internet and to our surprise we found little information about the game. Over the course of
the next few months we asked our Tibetan friends a lot of questions about the game and the rules. We could not figure out why
they always laughed whenever we asked about the game. Wendy, tired of waiting for us to find a game to buy, decided to make one.
She found a  foam pad in her craft supplies and covered it with a piece of vinyl. Next she cut the cowry shells off of a place mat we
had bought some years ago in the Florida keys. The rest was easy as she counted out playing coins from her change box, took  a
pair of dice out of an old game and got a Japanese tea  cup down from the cupboard that worked perfect for rolling the dice. Now
we had a game! We started playing; first by ourselves and then with our friends. People visiting would see our home made game
and  want to play. We didn't know many of the rules but we played by the few we knew and it was really fun. After playing,  all our
friends wanted a game.
Then I went to India  to make the plans  for our tour, but secondly I wanted to produce SHO, and bring it back to America. The
night I arrived at Tashi's house (in the Bir Tibetan Settlement) I told him of our wanting to make the game. The next morning he
had a sample of the game pad to show me! It turned out the next door neighbor runs a sewing shop and made the sample for us that
morning. After breakfast Tashi and I went over to the sewing shop and talked to them about making the pads and a carry bag for
the game. A few days went by as Tashi and I were busy with the tour. Then we accidentally came across a roll of naugahide (fake
yak skin) to use on the game pads and we dropped off the sample at the sewing shop. It went on like this for weeks; we would be
gone, making the plans and reservations for the tour, and occasionally we would run into the pieces that furthered our production
of the sho  game. We found a street vendor in Dharamsala selling the wooden cups but he only had twelve of them. We bought all
of them and waited until we came across more. We went to the sewing shop every time we were back in Bir, checking on their
work and moving forward one more step. By the time I was ready to come back to America we had gathered all the pieces, and the
sewing shop had completed our pads and bags. The last week I was in Bir I played Sho every day. Tashi, Abo, (an old friend from
Tibet), and I would play for hours while I wrote down the rules. I would decipher what I had written down at night and then write
questions to ask the next day. It was several days until I was comfortable with what I had written, and it took a few more days
before I was satisfied I had written them right
Since then we have found sources that supply us with quality game pieces in the quantities we need, but we will always remember
how the game came to us, in pieces, as we travelled around Northern India making the plans for our tour.
Game Includes
English                       Tibetan
2 dice..........................sho
dice throwing cup........sho-por
dice playing pad..........sho-den
27 playing coins..........lag-khey
64 cowry shells...........drun-bu
carry bags (2).............kug-ma
rules written in English
For 2 or 3 Players
The Ancient Tibetan Dice Game of
Deluxe Sho Game