Yut Nori: Lunar New Year Game

Swipe up or shake, and four wooden sticks clatter onto the mat. Yut Nori, the Korean Lunar New Year board game, played your family's way with house rules you name and save. For generations, Korean families have gathered around a mat at Seollal to throw the yut sticks, race their pieces home and argue over whose rules are the real ones. Now the whole game fits in one phone. Pass it around the table, team up, and let the sticks decide. ■ THE THROW • Swipe up or shake the phone to throw • Four wooden sticks tumble and bounce with real physics • Feel every landing with vibration and the clack of wood on the mat • Do, Gae, Geol, Yut or Mo moves you 1 to 5 spaces • Back-do steps one space back ■ HOUSE RULES, SAVED BY NAME Every family plays Yut Nori a little differently. Set the rules once, give them a name like "Grandma's rules," and pick them again next time. • Choose how many pieces each player moves • Turn Back-do on or off, and decide what happens when no piece is out yet • Play with or without Nak, where a stick off the mat cancels the throw • Extra throw on Yut and Mo, extra throw for a catch • Decide whether a smaller stack can catch a bigger one • Pick how to finish: pass the finish spot, reach it, or land exactly on it • Back to standard rules any time with one tap ■ THE CLASSIC BOARD • The traditional 29-spot yut board with every shortcut across the middle • Stack your own pieces and move them together • Catch an opponent's piece, send it back to start and throw again • One lucky Mo or one well-timed catch can turn the whole game around ■ PLAY TOGETHER ON ONE PHONE • 1 vs 1, 3 players, or 2 vs 2 teams • 2 to 4 players passing one phone, perfect for family gatherings and game night • Everyone picks a cute animal to play as, from Puppy and Panda to Penguin, and stacked pieces ride piggyback on each other • Fill any open seat with a computer player ■ PLAY SOLO • Take on the computer at Easy, Normal or Hard • Records track your games and wins, against the computer and played together ■ MADE FOR THE HOLIDAY TABLE • Works offline, so it plays anywhere the family gathers • Quick to learn for first-timers, deep enough for the uncle who never loses • Free to play Whether you grew up throwing yut at Seollal or you are trying the Korean New Year game for the first time, the sticks are ready. Gather everyone around one phone, set your house rules and throw. Yut Nori: a Korean family board game for Lunar New Year, holidays, parties and any night the family is together.