Children love playing Yut Nori!
As part of the Lunar New Year celebrations, Korean families enjoy playing a board game called Yut Nori. The game has its origins in Korea’s Three Kingdoms period (57 B.C. – 668 A.D.). It started out as a form of fortune telling to predict whether the new year would bring good fortune and harvest.
Livingston resident Diane Choi taught the children how to “throw” the Yut sticks to see how many spaces to move their game pieces on the board. She explained the different strategies the children could choose as they raced to get their team’s game pieces all around the game board before the other team. After a few turns, the teams excitedly discussed their options each time it was their turn. They cheered when a team member made a “throw” of the Yut sticks and when their team pulled ahead. It was a close game until the very end. Both teams agreed that, win or lose, Yut Nori is a lot of fun.
After the game, they each got to decorate their own Yut Nori game set to take home and play with their families.
-Amanda Winter, Youth Services Librarian