The board game that Western children know as "Chinese checkers" is actually a version of a popular Chinese game known as tiaoqi, played by up to six players using marbles on a star-shaped board. Weiqi, the ancient "game of encirclement" is a military conquest simulation enacted on a grid, in which white and black pebbles make up the "armies." Each side tries to secure board territory by surrounding and gobbling up opponent stones. Though it originated in China, weiqi is currently more popular in Korea and Japan and is known in the West by its Japanese name, Go. Chinese chess, known as xiangqi, is adapted from Indian versions of the game and is slightly different from its Western counterpart. A set of character-inscribed wooden pieces includes few pawns, no queen, and two artillery pieces. In contrast to the esoteric and highbrow reputation of chess in the West, xiangqi is by far the most popular board game in China and is commonly played in parks by young and old alike. Mahjong, a four-person game involving a table laden with green and white ceramic blocks, is based on the same idea as the card games rummy and gin. The winner has to assemble sets of blocks from any of several categories. Though a disproportionate number of die-hard, cut-throat m@ong players are women, the game has a following among both genders. A m,*ong match is not considered a niahjong match unless some form of gambling is involved. During the Cultural Revolution years, when gambling was condemned as a form of "spiritual pollution," mahjong's popularity took quite a hit, but in recent years the game has regained its old popularity at an alarming speed. Card games with large followings in China include bridge (Deng Yiaoping's favorite game), poker, and a six-player Chinese version of poker popular on long train rides.