Learn SHO in 2 minutes
Welcome to SHO
Sho (yam, parala) is Bhutan's traditional dice game. It takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master.
This short guide shows you everything you need for your first game: the board, the throw, how coins move, and how you win. It takes about two minutes.
- 2 to 4 players: friends online or the computer
- 9 coins each
- First to bring all 9 coins home wins
The board: 64 shells and your 9 coins
The board is 64 cowrie shells laid in a spiral round a leather pad. Every coin starts in your hand, enters the shells, travels round, and is finished when it passes the last shell.
All your coins on one shell form a stack. A stack always moves together and is never split. The number on a coin shows how many coins are in the stack.
Throw the dice
Tap Throw. The two dice give a total from 2 to 12, and SHO shouts its traditional call: 2 pa ra, 3 sug, 4 tshig, 5 kha, 6 drug, 7 ri, 8 sha, 9 gu, 10 chu, 11 dog, 12 jang.
Your first throw is the opening: two of your coins enter together on the shell with that number (three on a 2 or 3 with the Bhutanese rules). After that, every throw is a move.
Move: enter a coin, or move a stack
Each throw, choose one move with the total:
- Enter one coin from your hand onto that shell, or
- Move one of your stacks forward that many shells.
SHO makes every legal move glow on the board and lists it, with what will happen. Just tap one.
Stack your own, kill your opponent's
| You land on… | What happens |
|---|---|
| An empty shell | Your coins stay there. Turn ends. |
| Your own coins | They join into one stack. Throw again! |
| An opponent's stack, same size or smaller | Kill: their coins go back to their hand. Throw again! |
| An opponent's bigger stack | Not allowed. Pick another move. |
Tip: big stacks are strong (they can kill more and are hard to kill), but they put many coins at risk on one shell.
Special throws: pa ra and 3 + 6
Pa ra (1 + 1): choose to enter two coins on shell 2, or throw again. If you throw again, you may move 2, the new total, or both added together. Make a stack or a kill and the number you did not use carries over to your next throw.
3 + 6: when none of your coins are on the board (after your opening), this throw can bring every coin in your hand in at once, as one stack on shell 9.
Finish your coins to win
A stack that moves past the last shell is finished. The first player to finish all nine coins wins the game.
With the Bhutanese rules, the count left over when you go past the end is yours to use: move any of your stacks forward by it, or bring a new coin in on that number. Other rule sets allow stacks only, or the extra count is simply lost. You choose the rules when you start a game.
Bhutanese local rule: when one player is close to winning, the others may team up behind a champion to stop them.
Your coins
- You start with 100 welcome coins.
- Collect the daily bonus (10 coins on day 1, growing to day 7).
- All games are free: online, with friends and against the computer.
- In My wallet you can recharge coins (Nu 1 = 1 coins); coins are for play only and have no cash value.
Play for fun and only with what you can afford. SHO is for players aged 18 and over when money is involved.
You are ready!
The best way to learn is a first game against the computer on Easy. SHO shows every legal move, so you cannot go wrong.
You can open this guide again any time from Learn, and the full rules are under How to play.