状元筹 Zhuang Yuan Chou -- A Chinese dice game

This post is about a rather charming Chinese gambling game, called 状元筹 Zhuangyuan Chou. A rough translation of the name would be "Scholar's lots",

I had seen images of these tallies some years ago. I was intrigued with these strange objects, each inscribed with the name of a class in the Chinese hierarchy of scholar-bureaucrats. What curious game could be played with these things, I wondered.  One day, ( around Chinese new year in 2013, I think) I went to a Mahjongg shop. After shopping for a while, I inquired about a certain "Zhuangyuan" game. Much to my surprise, the proprietor produced this selfsame set of tallies from a shelf. It was the only set left. Despite the rather steep price of $100, I bought the tallies. This was fortunate. The shop closed down a few years later

The apparatus for this game consists of a set of 63 tallies, or jetons and six dice. We shall first describe the tallies:

The largest tally is labelled 状元, Zhuangyuan (A), and is worth 32 points ( The inscription 三十二注, sanshiliu zhu at the foot of the tally means"32 points" in Chinese）.It is yellow in color, and has an inscription in red. This is the only tally with this value. It plays a special role in the game. 

The next largest tallies are labelled 旁眼, Pangyan (B) and 探花 Tanhua (C) Each is worth 16 points. The former is red, the latter a deep maroon. Like the Zhuangyuan tally, at the feet of these tallies is the inscription 十六注 Shiliu Zhu-- 16 points. 

These are followed by four tallies marked 会元, Huiyuan . (D) In real life, the tallies are a fetching neon green in colour. Unfortunately this colour does not show up well in the scan. Each tally is worth 8 points.

Next in line are eight scarlet tallies, labelled 進士Jinshi(E)   These tallies are worth 4 points each. 

Then there are 16 blue tallies, labelled , 举人,Juren (F)　and worth 2 points each.  

Last in line are 32 white tallies, each labelled  秀才Xiucai (G)  and worth one point each

It should be noted that for each halving in the value of the tally, there is a doubling in the number of tallies. The total value of these 63 tallies is 192. 

***

It is honestly quite hard to explain the significance of the ranks to a non-Chinese audience. You must remember that this game is actually about exams. For over a millennia, the Chinese have had an extremely well-developed (and grueling) system of exams, called the Keju. To say this exam played a significant role in Chinese is somewhat of an understatement. For many, it was the only way to get a job in the civil service, and hence respectable society. The exam has even entered popular myth. Indeed, the Chinese even have a god of exams, Wenchang 文昌. 

To get the rank of highest scholar in the country, 状元 ( Zhuang yuan) was an immense honor, an express ticket into the upper class. Even though the exams were abolished in 1905, till this day, Chinese newspaper reports on more mundane exams ( A-Levels, O-Levels, International baccalaureate) still refer to the top scorers as Zhuangyuan

***

 The rules for this game are based on three sources: C.T. Dobree's The gambling games of Malaya and the Chinese Baidu article on the game. (http://baike.baidu.com/view/360732.html).

The game is simple. Between three to eight persons may play. The only equipment required are six dice, a bowl, and the tallies. At each person's turn, the player drops the six dice into a bowl. He notes the combination of numbers the dice have generated. He then takes tallies from the pool, corresponding to the scores shown in the table below. 

Dice combination.	Take tallies worth.
One 4	1
Two 4s	2
Three 4s	16
Four 4s	32
Five 4s	64
Any Four-of-a-kind, except four 4s	4
A pair of 4s, 5s or 6s	16
The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6	16
“How Tuck” 巧得= Qiao de *	32
Five-of-a-kind	32
Six-of-a-Kind	192 (GAME)
*A four-of-a-kind; with the remaining two dice adding to the same number as the one repeated. E.G [3,3,3,3,2,1], [6,6,6,6,3,3] [2,2,2,2,1,1]  "How Tuck" is the Cantonese pronunciation of 巧得. In Mandarin it is Qiao De. The term means "Chance gain"

The player then takes the requisite number of tallies from the pool. There are a certain number of niceties regarding the game. 

* When four 4s are scored, the player takes the 32-point tally 状元 and the pair of 16-point tallies  旁眼(B) and 探花(C) from their previous owners

* If a player throws a five-of-a-kind, (other than five 4s) he takes the 32-point tally from its previous owner (if any)

The baidu article agrees with Dobree's description, but adds a few more rules. 

* There is another combination, a pair of 1s, 2, or 3s. The Baidu article tells us that this combination wins you the marker labelled 旁眼. This combination is also nicknamed 大马军-- Big cavalier. 

* A pair of 4s, 5s or 6s wins you the marker labelled 探花. This combination is also nicknamed 小马军-- Little cavalier. 

* If a player throws five 4s,  He  takes the 32-point marker from its previous owner, even if the previous owner has scored a four-of-a-kind. This is in contrast to Dobree's rules, where you win 64 points from such a combination. 

Once all the tallies have been used up, the game ends. The number 192 ( the total value of all the tallies)  is averaged between the number of players. Players who score below  the aforementioned average pay to those who score above average. They pay to the winners the difference between their scores and the average,

***

The inscriptions on the tallies are shown below. The text has been transcribed, Top-to bottom, Right-to left. 

On the Zhuangyuan (A) 狀元/ 四紅巧合獨德五子/五紅奪色六子全

On the Pangyan (B)旁眼/ 大小军馬/分双順淂/ 

On the Tanhua (C) 探花/ 大小军馬/分双順淂

 The author has labored to make sense of the tallies, but could not make any sense from them. The text as engraved seems to be a set of rules for the game, specifying what dice combinations are needed to acquire the tally they are written on.

The text uses a lot of variant characters, so for example 淂 instead of 得(both meaning "To get")  and 収 instead of 收 ("To recieve"). In addition, The third character in the  left-hand row of the Zhuangyuan tally is hard to make out, but based on images of similar tallies online, it is probably奪 

If any reader may decypher the tallies, the author will be most delighted 

***

Below are scans from Dobree's orginial work on the game. Of especual note is the photograph depicting the counters from Dobree's day. Clearly the overall shape of the counters has not changed much in the half century since the book was published. The only major difference is the Zhuangyuan tally, which is made of dark-coloured material 

Daun Tiga, or three cards-- part 2

" Daun tiga 'lei "
For part 1, see here 
Walter William Skeat's monumental Malay Magic: An introduction to the popular religion and folklore of the Malay Peninsula is a survey of the customs and folklore of the Malay Peninsula. To give an idea of the expanse of the work, here are some chapter headings "Crocodile folklore" "Funeral prayers" "Birth ceremonies". It was published in 1900.

The book contains two separate accounts of this game. The first and longer account was written by Sir W.E. Maxwell, the second by Skeat himself. Maxwell's description was previously published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic society.  Both descriptions are fairly patchy. They appear to be more concerned with the customs and rituals surrounding the game, than the game itself.

Both authors agree that there are regional variations in the game. Maxwell gives the version played in Perak. Skeat gives the version played in Selangor.

Play
  The cards are shuffled, and the player to the right of the deler cuts them. The player who cut the cards looks at the bottom card of those he lifts. If he thinks the card is lucky, he accepts the cut, and puts down the cards he lifted. The dealer reunites the deck. He then cuts and looks at the cards as before.
 Three cards are dealt out to each player.
Two stakes are deposited by each player, the Kepala ( head) and Ekor ( tail). The Ekor is usually of greater value than the Kepala.
 The cards of the players are then compared against the dealer. [Presumably, players whose hands rank higher than the dealer are paid out, and vice versa. Maxwell does not describe the process of payouts, other than the following detail--]
  If the dealer has one of the hands called Tĕrus (see below), and the player holds a less valuable hand, both Kepala and Ekor are taken.
 If players please, they may bet amongst one another, instead (or in addition to-- the book is unclear) of betting against the banker.

  Scoring 
The hands are ranked according to the point-score assigned to them. If the point-score exceeds 10, then ten is deducted from the total points to give the final score.
Malay Magic does not tell us the exact system of points, apart from saying "A Knave, ten and nine is a good hand" From this, one can assume that the scoring system is similar to the one in Dobree.

The following hands are known as Tĕrus. These hands outrank all other hands.

Three Aces, called Sat Tiga
Three Courts, called Kuda or Naik Kuda ( Three Horses -- A.L)
A hand with the value of Nine
A hand with the value of eight.

In Perak, a hand of three threes is considered bad luck. Whoever is dealt such a hand throws it out. Here's Maxwell:

"A Hand of three threes, being Nine, is really a good hand, but it is considered a propitation of good luck to throw it down ( without exposing it), announcing that one is buta ("out"-- literally "blind" A.L.), in the hope of getting good luck afterwards"

Any player who holds a score of exactly 30 is said to be out, unless he holds three court cards.

In Selangor, the hands considered as Tĕrus are slightly different:

Three Aces, called Tiga Sat
Three threes, called Tiga Jalor 
Three 10s, called Tiga Puloh ( Puloh = Puluh = Ten-- A.L)
Three Courts, called Tiga ankong 
A hand with the value of Nine
A hand with the value of eight.

Reading both accounts, one gets the idea that Dobree's game is a simplified version of the version found in Malay Magic. In Malay Magic, the contract of Long is obligatory. Apart from that, there are few differences between the games. 

The whole book may be seen here: 

https://archive.org/stream/malaymagicbeingi00skeauoft#page/486/mode/2up

Daun Tiga ,Pa gow (打九) or Sam Cheong ( 三张) -- Part 1

This game seems to be a farily popular game. It is fairly frequently met with in books on Malaya. The description in this article is based on Dobree's Gambling games of Malaya.
In a second post, I will investigate an account of the game found in Skeat's Malay Magic,  A book published about 50 years earlier. It bears several interesting differences from the game discussed here.

*** *** ***

Dobree gives three names for this rather simple game: Sam cheong 三张 (three cards), Pa gow 打九 (beating Nine), or Daun Tiga ( three leaves in Malay). It bears some similarities to the game of "Koo Kiew" featured on this blog earlier http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2017/01/koo-kiew-che-jiu-chinese-gambling-game.html  In both games, players compare the value of their hands against a banker, and there is an emphasis on collecting cards of the same kind.

This game is played with an ordinary anglo-american deck of 52 cards, but Dobree states that the game may be played with mahjong tiles. The game with majhong tiles is described at the end of this post.

Play
  Up to 17 people can play at this game, but bystanders can also bet on the players of the game.
  Prior to play, a banker is selected. Dobree tells us that this is done by dice.
  The cards are shuffled. Three cards are dealt to all players, face down.
  Without looking at the cards, Players then stake the amount they please.
  Once all the stakes have been placed, the cards are revealed.
  Players whose hands score lower than the banker lose their stakes. Players whose hands score higher than the banker are paid a dividend equivalent to the stakes, also keeping their original stake.
  If there is a tie between a player and a banker, no money passes between them.
  The turn of banker passes anticlockwise, to the next player, each deal. But if the banker loses to all the players at one deal, he may repeat another deal as a banker.

Scoring
1) A Three-of-a kind beats all other hands.
2) The three-of a kinds are ranked as follows:

3 Aces ( Highest)

3  Twos

3 Threes

(...)

3 Nines

3 Tens

Any 3 Picture cards ( lowest)

The suit of the cards is irrelevant in all of these combinations. 

3) For hands other than three-of-a-kind, a point score is assigned to each, ( Much as in Koo kiew). The Hand with the higher point score wins.
4) The cards score their numerical value ( i.e. Ace scores 1, Two scores 2, Ten scores 10), but the picture cards score Zero.
5) If a hand's score exceeds 10 points, only the last digit is considered. So a score of 15 reckons as 5, a score of 11 reckons as 1, and a score of 29 is reckoned as a 9.
6) However, if a hand's score adds up to 10 or 20, in both cases, the score is reckoned as a 10, not zero.
Note: In some versions of the game, a score of 10, 20 or 30 scores Zero instead of Ten.


Additional Rules : "Long"
Dobree describes an additional "contract" in this game. This contract hinges on the player's hand having a score of 8 and above. In the terminology of the game, this is called "Long".

If a player wishes to engage in this contract, he places two stakes, instead of one. These two stakes don't have to be equal. Let's call them the first and second stakes. Play between the banker and the player proceeds as usual, but with the following extra rules:

1) If the Player's cards Long, the banker pays out for both stakes.
2) If the Player's cards does not Long,  ( i.e, score less than eight) , but still beats the banker's hand, only the winnings from the first stake is paid out.
3)  If the banker's cards cards Long, and beat the player's cards, both stakes are taken.
4) If the Banker's cards do not Long, but still beat the player's cards, only the first stake is taken by the banker.

Dobree does not tell us what happens when either the banker or the player has a three-of-a-kind. These are my suggestions for dealing with such cases.

5) If the player has a three-of-a kind, and beats the banker, only the winnings from the first stake are paid out.
6) If the player has a three-of-a-kind, but loses to the banker, both stakes are taken.
7) If the player's cards "Long", but the banker has a three-of-a kind, only the first stake is taken

CASE 1: Banker, hand with score 5; Player, hand with score 8.
In this case, banker pays out both stakes.
CASE 2: Banker, hand with score 5. Player, hand with score 6.
In this case, banker pays out only first stake.
CASE 3: Banker has a three-of-a kind, Player, a hand of 9:
In this case, Banker takes only the first stake. ( rule 4)



Play with mahjong tiles

Neccessity, as they say, is the mother of invention. So, the ingenious gamblers of Malaya have invented a way of playing this game with a set of mahjong tiles. ( See http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2012/09/mahjong-anon.html for a description of the structure of the mahjong deck)

Instead of a full set of 144 tiles, only 52 tiles are used. This reduced tileset is made by extracting the number tiles, ( one to 9)  from the suit of tens of thousands, bamboos or coins.
The 10s, Jacks, Queens and Kings are replaced by the "wind" tiles. The 10s correspond to 東, the jacks to 北, the queens to 西, and the kings to 南, as you see above.

This substitution can be done, because the suits do not matter in this game. Such a deck can alo be used to play at games like blackjack, where the suits also don't matter.

For the second part , describing the game around half a century earlier, see Here

車九 -- Koo Kiew (Che Jiu), A Chinese gambling game

I have recently been reading C. T. Dobree's remarkable The Gambling games of Malaya. This book, published in 1955. Dobree was the Assistant commissioner of police in Malaya at that time, and he intended the book to be used as a guide for policemen prosecuting illegal gambling dens [!]

There are several games of cards that are mentioned in this book, that have are otherwise unrepresnted in the english literature on this subject ( to my knowledge). One such game Dobree calls " Koo Kiew", or 車九. He also tells us that it is also called "Ten Kiew" 象九, and "Soo Kiew" 仕九

  Note that Dobree seems to be giving the names of the games in a variety (Hokkien? Teochew?) of Chinese. In standard Chinese (Mandarin) the names are rendered "Che Jiu", "Xiang Jiu" and "Shi Jiu" respectively.
 Regardless of the variety of Chinese, the names of the game all allude to the various ranks in the deck of cards used in the game. 車九 literally translates to as "Chariot-Nine", 象九 means "Elephant-Nine" and 仕九 means "Valet-Nine". The "Nine" in the name probably alludes to the highest point-score that can be obtained ( See below)

In Dobree's words: “ No skill at all is required for this game"; and for that reason I feel that it is ripe for reveival as a party game. It is a game that shares similarities to poker and baccarat.

This game is played with a deck of 四色 ( four colour) cards. For a description of this deck, see http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2013/03/four-colour-cards-hokkien.html and http://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2016/01/four-colour-cards-2.html . If you do not have such a deck, you can follow the instructions at the bottom of the page for making one.

Play:
Up to 56 people can play at this game. Before play starts, a banker is selected.
The cards are shuffled. Two cards are dealt to every player, face down.
Without looking at the cards, all players stake whatever amount they please.
When all the stakes have been placed, all cards are revealed. Players whose cards score lower than the banker lose their stakes. Players whose cards score higher than the banker receive a payout.
In cases of ties with the banker, the banker wins.

Scoring:
A pair is two cards of the same rank and colour.
A mixed hand is a hand that contains anything other than a pair (this includes hands which contain two cards of the same rank, but of differert colours)

1. Pairs of the same colour take precence over any mixed hand.
2. For pairs, the ranks are valued as follows:
Highest:  将, ( General)
               士  (Valet)
               相/象  ( Minister/ Elephant)
               車   ( Chariot)
               馬 ( Horse)
              炮   (Cannon)
Lowest  卒  ( Soldier)
So, a pair of yelow valets beats a pair of yellow cannons, a pair of Red generals beats a pair of red ministers.

3. The colours (or "suits") rank as follows.
Highest : Yellow
                 Red,
                Green
Lowest:   White.
So,  a pair of green vales beats a pair of white valets, and a pair of yellow valets beats a pair of red generals.

4. When comparing mixed hands, each card is assigned a point value. Hands with the higher point value wins.

将, ( General) -- 1 pt
士  (Valet)-------- 2
 相   ( Minister)-- 3
 車   ( Chariot)--- 4
馬 ( Horse)------- 5
炮   (Cannon)---- 6
卒  ( Soldier)-----7
Note that  the point value is directly opposite to that of the rank.

5. If the point value of a hand exceeds 10, then only the last digit is considered. So a score of 14 rekons as 4, and a score of 10 reckons as 0.

6. When the point values are tied, then the hand that contains the higher-ranking colour (as decided by rules 3 and 4) wins.

Here are some examples.

Case 1: Hand A:  Pair of Yellow horses

Hand B: Pair of Yellow generals

Hand B wins, as a pair of Generals outranks a pair of horses ( Rule 2)

Case 2: Hand A:  Pair of Red Soldiers

Hand B: Red general, and White general

Hand A wins. Pairs of the same colour outrank those of different colours, regardless of the rank (Rule 1)

Case 3: Hand A:  Pair of Green Generals

Hand B: Pair of Yellow Soldiers. 

Hand B wins, because the yellow suit outranks the green suit ( Rule 3)

Case 4: Hand A:  White General, and White Minister

Hand B: Red General, and Red Minister

Hand B wins, because the Red suit outranks the White suit ( Rule 3)

Case 5: Hand A:  Green Soldier, Red Valet

Hand B: Red Horse, and White Chariot. 

Point score of both hands is equal, being 9 points. 

Hand A wins, because its highest-ranked card( Red Valet) is greater than that of hand B (Red horse)

Case 6: Hand A:  Red Chariot, Green horse 

Hand B: Yellow Chariot, White horse 

Point score of both hands is equal, being 9 points. 

Hand B wins, because its highest-ranked card( Yellow Chariot) is greater than that of hand A (Red Chariot) ( Rule 6)

Case 7: Hand A:  White Chariot, Red horse 

Hand B: Green General, Red general. 

Hand A wins, as point score of hand A ( 9 points) is greater than that of hand B ( 2 points) ( rule 4)

Case 7: Hand A:  Red horse, Yellow Soldier

Hand B: Green Valet, White Chariot

Hand B wins. Although hand B has a score of 12 , the initial "1" is dropped. Thus the final score is 2 points.(rule 5)  

*********************************************************************************

If you do not have access to a deck of four-colour cards, you can make one yourself using four decks of normal playing cards. 

Remove, the 5s,6s,7s,8s and 9s from each of the decks. The remaining cards ( shown below) are used in the game:

                    Corresponds to

King------------ General

Queen---------- Valet

Jack------------ Minister

4--------------- Chariot

3--------------- Horse

2--------------- Cannon

Ace----------- Soldier

For The  ranking of the suits, you may use the system adapted in Bridge: 

                             Corresponds to
Spades-----------   Yellow
Diamonds-------      Red
Hearts-----------     Green
Clubs ------------    White


Of course, you can come up with your own system.