"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]	天	Heaven	Song Jiang, leader of the 108  outlaws
[1,1]	地	Earth	Gongsun Sheng
[4,4]	人	Human	Tai Ming
[1,3]	和	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.