There is another tradition during the festive days of Songkran that only becomes apparent when you know what you’re looking for. It’s a game called Hi-Lo.

Hi-Lo is a dice game comprising a mat with numbers on it and a small bowl that holds three dice. A bamboo cover is placed over the bowl to conceal the dice. There are usually two people that run the game, a dice man and a banker. The dice man gives the bowl a shake and the participants then place bets according to the possible combinations indicated on the mat. Once all bets have been placed the bamboo cover is removed to reveal the dice. The banker then takes care of distributing the winnings accordingly.

It should be pointed out that gambling is illegal throughout Thailand and the locals here take that very seriously. They therefor ensure the police won’t find them when the game is being played.

As much as it would appear that each of the players has a fist full of cash they mostly only bet with twenty baht notes. In Aussie terms that’s about sixty cents.

Even though the stakes don’t appear to be very high everyone is very dedicated to the game. Starting mid morning and usually finishing well after midnight.

Having been a spectator for a couple of hours, and of course financing my wife’s want to play, it soon became apparent who makes most of the money. The facilitators of the game are the most gracious of hosts and will buy in food of all sorts and even handout the odd bit of Loa Whiskey to the guys. This is of course ensures that the participants (suckers) don’t develop a desire to go home. It should be noted though that no other alcohol is provided or consumed.

The first night my wife was up by eight hundred baht. ($25) This was very quickly given back on the following night and she ended up being in debt to me to tune of six hundred baht.

For the locals it is just bit of fun and they can get a small amount of cash as well. There were no police interventions and for all I know there might have been a local cop amongst the players.