Xoc Dia: Vietnam’s Traditional Game of Chance

A traditional game that is steeped in gambling, Xoc Dia is still quite controversial in Vietnam. On the surface, Xoc Dia is a quaint and very social type of game that balances fun and chance, bringing communities together. It is often played during Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year, at family reunions and between friends, in the hope it brings luck in the year ahead.

But if you aren’t playing it at a family gathering or with friends, then you will struggle to find Xoc Dia games in any public areas. The game is actually illegal, because of its strong affiliation with gambling. It is one of the most underground and socially taboo games in Vietnam, and yet Xoc Dia hasn’t been phased out completely. It is still played in underground gambling circles, and offered at Asian online casinos, where it is in extremely high demand.

What is Xoc Dia

The exact origins of Xoc Dia are unknown, with most sources agreeing it first appeared in Northern Vietnam. The game appeared in Henri Oger’s manuscript, The Mechanics of Crafts of the People of Annam. Vietnam was a French territory at the time, and Oger was sent to Hanoi to document the culture of the Annamese, or Vietnamese, locals. In the account, pictures were made of Vietnamese local traditions and folk games. Among the illustrations, there were images of people “reading” other people, using the word “vi”. This word is used to describe the predictions made around dice shakers, and early forms of Xoc Dia.

Xoc Dia appears throughout the manuscript, showing how the locals indulged in the game of chance as a social gambling pastime. Xoc Dia itself doesn’t need any special equipment such as Asian playing cards, dominoes, or tiles. It could be played using a few tokens, such as discs or coins. A designated area to play the game was needed, preferably a table or board. A cup, or bowl, and a plate were needed, as these would be the instruments that “shake” the tokens.

Xoc Dia is also called Shake the Play – probably owing to this simple variant that uses household items. The chips inside the plate are shaken, and players bet on the results of the shake. The simplistic gameplay and addictive nature of this game quickly caught on in Vietnam.

Illegality and Controversy Around Xoc Dia

The game passed down through generations of players, and grew in popularity over time. But because of the gambling nature, and also due to the possibilities to rig games and cheat, the government started to crack down on Xoc Dia in the 1990s. It was made illegal in Vietnam to play Xoc Dia for money, and the government exposed many illegal operators across the country in the following decades.

To this day, playing Xoc Dia for real money is illegal in Vietnam. The country has q very strict stance on gambling, only allowing a handful of venues to conduct gambling services. Only those that are government approved, or run under specific frameworks like the lottery, are legal.

How Xoc Dia Works

Xoc Dia, also called Shake the Plate, is played with chips that are coloured red on one side and white on the other. The chips are placed on the plate and covered with a bowl. Then, the players place their bets, betting on how many red or white faces would be revealed under the bowl. Some versions use more tokens with extra colours, adding loads more possibilities.

It is not too dissimilar from Sic Bo, an ancient Chinese dice game that involved players betting on the outcome of a dice throw. Or, the gameplay is more similar to Fan-Tan, which also involves betting on tokens. It is similar to those two not just in gameplay, but also in the types of proposition bets players could make. Here is a base idea of the various types of bets that a simple Xoc Dia game with 4 red and white painted tokens could have:

All Red/White – 9:1

This is a bet on all four tokens to land on red, or land on white. The chances of this happening are 1 in 16, or 6.25%, and usually the bet pays out around 9:1. This means, a $10 bet could win $100, but it only has a 6.25% chance of coming through. Using these betting odds, the house edge would be extremely high, at around 37.5%.

Three Red/White – 2.5:1

A bet on there to be exactly 3 red tokens, or 3 white, has a higher chance of hitting. There are 4 in 16 outcomes in which this happens, meaning a 25% chance of winning. But as the bet pays out 2.5 to 1, the house edge on this bet is still pretty high, at around 12.5%.

Even Reds – 0.96:1

The evens bet wins if there are an even number of red tokens lying face up. If you bet on Even Reds, you win if there are 2 or 4 red tokens. A bet on the Odds Reds means you win if there are 1 or 3 red tokens. The chances of winning are about 50-50, and the bet pays out nearly even money for betting on either evens or odds. The payout is 0.96:1, which means there is a 2% house edge on Evens or Odds bets.

Table Game Dynamics and Other Bets

Naturally, there are variants that will have extra bets, such as “Zero Reds”, “One Red”, and various others. And the odds that we have provided above are given in Evolution Gaming’s Xoc Dia live dealer game. If you are playing it at a landbased casino or at an Asian live table game from another platform, the odds may differ. But basically, it is a game of pure luck and chance.

The wagers with the bigger payouts have a proportionately higher house edge. Whereas the lower paying bets don’t have such a high house edge. This is standard practice, it has the same economics used in table games from Baccarat to Video Poker. Just think of those side bets in Baccarat. They, too, have much larger house edges.

Where You Can Play Xoc Dia

Xoc Dia’s history is marred in controversy, much like Japan’s Pachinko games. Variants of Xoc Dia would also use dice or other types of tokens, and there was a history of these games being provided by criminal outfits. On top of that, Xoc Dia was also a game that many operators rigged to benefit the house. By using techniques such as loading the tokens with weights, putting magnets in the tokens, and hidden cameras in the bowls, dodgy dealers could cheat in Xoc Dia and con their patrons out of their money.

These practices have all but disappeared now, as Xoc Dia is much harder to come by at local gaming arcades and venues. Though in the digital casino world, Xoc Dia is on the up and up. Evolution Gaming’s subsidiary company, Ezugi, launched a live dealer version of Xoc Dia in early 2025. The game immediately hit the Asian online casinos and hit the ground running with the gamers. It is catching on quite quickly, and a lot of international online casinos have also snapped up Xoc Dia since then.

Evolution Gaming is not the only software provider that makes Xoc Dia. There are plenty of leading game vendors making their own versions of the game, including Asian Live Tech and SA Gaming.

A Guessing Game with a Gambling Twist

You can pick up the ins and outs of Xoc Dia in minutes. It is that easy. However, you should also note that Xoc Dia can be extremely addictive to play due to its fast paced nature and larger payouts. The game doesn’t give players any control over the outcome. It is a pure chance game, where bettors can only make their predictions and see what happens.

Roulette, baccarat, Sic Bo, and Fan Tan are other games that also rely on pure chance. However, that doesn’t mean that players can’t build strategies around their gaming. Quite the contrary.

There are many betting systems and bankroll strategies in which players can size their stakes. These strategies effectively determine how aggressively or cautiously they want to play. These can easily work in a game like Xoc Dia, where the odds and likelihood are constants, and you can dabble with longer odds at higher risk, or pick less risky wagers at shorter odds.

The choice is yours, but whatever you do, be sure to always gamble responsibly. There is a reason why this game attracted so much criminal activity and is still mired in controversy. When playing Xoc Dia, or any other similar casino game, be sure to play responsibly. Set gambling limits, don’t spend more than you can afford, and when the gaming stops being fun, take a break. Don’t fall into any gambler’s fallacies or chase your losses, just play for the fun of it.