Sunday 1 July 2018

"Long cards" 2: 川牌 Sichuan Cards

No. 888- [Sichuanese domino cards] Binwang, 105+10c
No. 888 《川牌》 宾王, 105+10副

 Now we come to the other form of "Long cards" -- Ones based on Chinese dominoes. There are several kinds of Domino cards used in China, such as the "Fifteen point" (十五湖) cards used in Hong Kong ( see Here). These cards are used in Sichuan [Szechuan] ( yes, the same place as the sauce!) and are thus called by the Chinese "Sichuanese cards" ( 川牌)

The composition of this deck differs in several ways from Chinese dominoes made of wood.
A set of domino tiles contains 21 unique tiles. Some of these tiles are doubled. The complete set contains 32 tiles.
  The structure of the Sichuanese deck is simpler. There are Four copies of each tile/subject. The deck thus contains 21 x 4 = 84 cards. However, some decks, like this one, possess 5 copies of each card. To these 105 cards are added "Jokers" . There are two kinds of joker, with five copies of each kind. The whole deck thus contains 115 cards.



The pips in the Sichuanese deck are oriented horizontally, unlike the vertical arrangement of pips in the Fifteen-point cards
In the middle of each card, is depicted a personage from The Water margin, a Chinese novel. The personage depicted does not influence the actual value of the card. It is merely decoration. Decks are produced that lack the central personage
The individual ranks are also given names. For example, the [6,6] is called "Heaven" . These names are the ones used in Sichuan. Some differ from the names used in Pai Gow, which may be more familiar to western readers.  

Pips
Chinese Name
English Translation
Character depicted
[6,6]
Heaven
Song Jiang, leader of the 108  outlaws
[1,1]
Earth
Gongsun Sheng
[4,4]
Human
Tai Ming 
[1,3]
Harmony
Zi Jing
[5,5]
梅子
Plum Blossom
Ge Ping
[3,3]
長三
Long Three
Wu Song
[2,2]
長二
Long Two
Monk Hua

 Of the five copies of each card, one of them is marked with a green flourish (like the  [5,6]) , and the other four are plain. (like the [4,6]). I have chosen to alternately show cards that bear the flourish, and cards that do not. I must emphasize that ALL the subjects exist in Flourished and unflourished forms. 

Pips
Chinese Name
English Translation
Character depicted
[5,6]
斧頭
Axe
Zhang Qing
[4,6]
紅十
Red Ten
Yang Zhi
[1,6]
高高兒
Tall One
Suo Cao
[1,5]
貓貓兒
Kitty
Xu Ning
[4,5]
紅九
Red Nine
Lu Junyi
[3,4]
紅七
Red Seven
Huyan Zhuo
[1,4]
紅五
Red Five
Li Ying




The Last Seven cards in the deck. The central personage is printed in Red or Black, depending on the presence of red pips ( the 2s and 4s) in the card. For example, the [1,4] which has red pips, has its its personage printed in Red. The [2,3], which has no red pips, has its personage printed in Black. This is probably economizing on the printer's part. However, the presence of red pips affects the score a card is given in the games played. An observant player might exploit this feature.   

Pips
Chinese Name
English Translation
Character depicted
[3,6]
黑九
Black Nine
Wu Yong
[2,6]
平八
Level Eight
Lin Chong
[2,5]
黑七
Black Seven
Hua Rong
[2,3]
黑五
Black Five
Zhu Gong
[3,5]
黑八
Black Eight
Guan Sheng
[2,4]
二紅
Two Red
Liu Tang
[1,2]
丁丁兒
“Ding Ding”
Dai Zhong

The two "Jokers" of the deck. On the Left, printed in green is 聽用- Ting Yong- "Listen and Use". On the Right, printed in red is the 財神 Cai shen-- " God of Wealth" . 

Here are two copies of the [1,1] one with the flourish, and one without. 

Games played with the deck
The two main games played with the deck are 打亂出- Da Luan Chu, a Trick-taking game, and 鬥十四 - Dou shisi , a rummy-like game. I hope to describe the rules of the two games in subsequent posts.