Legend has it that over 300 years ago, during the drills by national hero Zheng Chenggong of his naval forces in Xiamen, Hong Xu, an associate of Zheng Chenggong together with the subordinates of War Ministry, invented the Mid-Autumn Mooncake Gambling Game to relieve the homesickness of the soldiers. After consultation with his officers, he adopted an ingenous combination of dice game rules and mooncakes.

Today, Xiamen is the only place where this culture is preserved in entirety.