숫자 3 6 9 게임으로 한국어 숫자 연습
A1 Korean listening practice · Korean · Curated for beginners
What is the Korean 삼육구 (sam-yuk-gu) game?
삼육구 (“three-six-nine”) is a famous Korean clapping game and the perfect drill for Sino-Korean numbers. Players count up out loud — 일, 이, 사, 오, 칠, 팔... — but the moment a number contains a 3 (삼), 6 (육), or 9 (구), you clap instead of saying it. Slip up and you pay a penalty: a drink in the grown-up version, or just a forfeit in classrooms and at parties. It turns number practice into a fast reflex test.
The name itself is just the Sino-Korean readings of the three trap digits: 삼 (sam, 3), 육 (yuk, 6), 구 (gu, 9). Listen to the count here and you’ll hear the gaps — it jumps 이(2) → 사(4), skips 육 between 오 and 칠, and after 이십팔(28) leaps straight to 사십(40), because every number in the thirties starts with 삼 and gets clapped away. Double-digit traps take two claps (33 = clap-clap), which is why 30–39 is pure clapping. Beyond the game, mastering this sequence locks in the core Sino-Korean numbers used for dates, money, phone numbers, and counting minutes.