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Dream guide and fafi numbers

Dream guide: the fafi number for what you dreamed

A dream guide maps what you dreamed to a number, and in South Africa that number is a fafi number, played on the Lucky Numbers draws. This page holds three things: our recorded list for 11 common dreams, the fafi chart from 1 to 49, and beside every number a count of how often it has actually come up in the UK49s lunchtime and teatime draws.

The associations are tradition, not a system, and they change nothing about the odds. Where the published charts disagree with each other, both readings are printed.

Fafi numbers are an oral tradition with regional variation, and published lists disagree. In the dream list a number is shown only where our source records one. Every 49s draw is independent. What follows is a record of past draws, and a record cannot tell you what comes next.

The fafi chart, 1 to 49

The bookmaker chart as printed by the South African operators, cleaned of the copy-paste errors listed below, with the classical 36-number wheel beside it where a symbol is documented outside the bookmaker guides. The last two columns are real counts: how many times that ball has come out in 2 710 lunchtime and 2 867 teatime draws.

No.On the chartClassical wheelLunchtimeTeatime
1 King, Human blood, White man, Left eye king 335 320
2 Monkey, A spirit, Chief, Copper, Money, Jockey monkey 344 376
3 Sea water, Accident, Frog, Sailor, Sex sea / water 358 406
4 Dead man, Turkey, Small fortune, Bed dead man 310 340
5 Tiger, Fight, Strong man tiger 330 342
6 Ox blood, Gentleman, Milk ox 346 363
7 Lion, Thief, Big stick, Chickens skelm (thief) 316 340
8 Pig, Drunken man, Loafer, Fat man, Chinese king pig 318 335
9 Moon, Baby, Hole, Owl, Devil, Pumpkin, Anything round moon 321 371
10 Eggs, Train, Boat, Grave, Anything oval eggs 335 310
11 Carriage, Wood, Tree, Furniture, Bicycle, Flowers carriage 325 375
12 Dead woman, Ducks, Small fire, Chinese queen dead woman 346 360
13 Big fish, Ghosts, Spirits big fish 328 335
14 Old woman, Fox, Detective, Nurse old woman 323 358
15 Bad woman, Prostitute, Canary, White horse, Small knife bad woman 312 350
16 Small house, Coffin, Pigeon, Young woman, Paper money, Letter pigeons 342 333
17 Diamond woman, Queen, Pearls, Diamond, Stars, White woman diamond lady 352 351
18 Silver money, Servant girl, Right eye, Butterfly, Hook, Rain small change 337 340
19 Little girl, Smoke, Bread, Big bird, Left hand little girl 362 367
20 Cat, Sky, Handkerchief, Body, Music, Minister, Naked woman cat 359 371
21 Old man, Stranger, Fisherman, Elephant, Knife, Nose, Teeth ship 311 333
22 Rats, Motor car, Big ship, Left foot, Shoes elephant 344 350
23 Horse, Doctor, Head, Hair, Crown horse 343 347
24 Mouth, Wild cat, Vixen, Lioness, Purse mouth 356 360
25 Big house, Church, Boxer, Hospital jail / big house 309 367
26 Bees, Bad man, Bush, General, Funeral, Madman bees 339 331
27 Dog, Policeman, Newborn baby, Medicine, Sad news dog 327 334
28 Sardines, Small fish, Thief, Right foot, Surprise, Small child herrings 321 317
29 Small water, Coffin, Rain, Tears, Big knife, Right hand small water 317 331
30 Fowl, Graveyard, Sun, Throat, Forest fowl 321 335
31 Big fire, Bishop, Big spirit, Feathers, Fight, Woman fire 324 370
32 Gold money, Snake gold / money 333 328
33 Little boy, Spider little boy 298 366
34 Meat, Human dung, Anything dirty, Cripple, Tramp dung 319 358
35 Clothes, Sheep, Big hole, Big grave (adult symbol in some historical lists) 320 363
36 Shrimp, Stick, Admiral, Cigars, Gum lobster 311 327
37 Arrow, Lawyer, Treasure, Cooking, Stream 344 361
38 Crocodile, Balloons, Sjambok, Fireworks, Stadium 333 349
39 Sangoma, Soccer team, Tattoos, Bloodshed, Teacher 345 366
40 Birth, Clock, Snail, Dwarf, River, Traditional healer 362 371
41 Cattle, Planets, Cave, Desert, Monster 341 345
42 Tornado, Spear, Umbrella, Camel, Door 324 350
43 Army, Thunder, Astronaut, Rabbit, Turtle 348 323
44 Shark, Stud farm, Body builder, Injury, Mud 338 384
45 Football, Computers, Jewellery, Wrestler, Storm 345 361
46 Ambulance, Beard, Sea sand, Scissors, Key 332 374
47 Stallion, Kite, TV, Lightning, Carnival, Hut 349 350
48 Clown, Rainbow, Nightmare, Whale, Wealth 313 349
49 Shebeen, Circus, Chocolate, Space ship 294 359

Beyond the 49s board the bookmaker charts continue: 50 bathroom, magic, revolution, trap, wheat; 51 car, carrot, orange, vulture, wasp; 52 brush, eagle, salon, shower, trumpet. Those numbers cannot be played on a 49-ball draw.

Where the charts disagree

Every South African operator's dream guide descends from the same list, errors included. These are the ones found when the chart above was built, each checked on the day given.

Our own dream list and the chart also part company 2 times: paper money is recorded as 2 or 16 under the name "money", while the chart puts money at 2; teeth falling out is recorded as 21 under the name "the mouth", while the chart puts mouth at 24. Both are printed, because that disagreement is the tradition as it actually is.

Two numbers on the source charts carry colonial-era descriptors for people. They are not reproduced here; the numbers keep their other symbols.

Questions

What is a fafi dream guide?

A list that maps what you dreamed to a number, from fafi, the numbers game that has run in South Africa since at least the 1950s. Bookmakers reuse the same chart for Lucky Numbers betting. The classical game has 36 numbers; the bookmaker charts stretch it to 49 or 52 so it covers the modern draws.

What number is a snake in fafi?

32 on every chart we hold, listed beside gold money. Our own dream list records 32 for a snake as well, and the table on this page shows how often 32 has come up.

What number is money in a dream?

The chart spreads it out: 2 for money, 18 for silver money, 32 for gold money and 16 for paper money. Pick by the detail of the dream rather than the word.

Does a dream number change my chances?

No. A number tied to a dream has exactly the same chance as any other, and the counts beside each number are there so that can be checked rather than believed.

My dream is not on the list. What then?

Read the chart column. Most things people dream about sit on it somewhere, and where a symbol appears on two numbers both are printed rather than one picked for you.

Ukuphupha, the same guide in isiZulu →   Star-sign lucky numbers →   UK49s predictions →