“Duzi He" 笃子胡-- A Chinese playing-card game

Having featured the playing-cards of Nantong, I shall now describe a game played with them. My main sources are the Chinese Baidu and Wikipidia articles , along with Hu Baishen胡柏生 and Du Guoyuan杜国元's  book Nantong long-cards-- Talking about Dazihe (Nantong Changpai-- Hua shuo dazihe 南通长牌-- 话说搭子和). published by The People's literary and artistic publishers  (dazong wenyi chubanshe) 大众文艺出版社. This book will be referred to as H&D.

  The game goes under several names. The Baidu article calls it“Duzi Hu" 笃子胡. H&D call it Dazi hu, 搭子和. This is the name used in Rugao city, also in Nantong.

Equipment: One deck of Nantong playing-cards. Readers without access to such cards can substitute a Mahjong set, or use ordinary playing cards, as explained below

Players This is a game for four people. However only three play each hand. The player who deals the cards sits out. The dealer for the first round is selected by lot. H&D suggest using four playing cards, Ace, 2, 3, and 4. The one who gets 4 will become the dealer, and sit out. The player who drew the ace is the "Banker" 庄家. He plays first, followed by the players who drew the 2 and 3. The deal then rotates counterclockwise.

Deal The cards are shuffled and dealt. The banker is dealt 23 cards, the rest of the players are dealt 22. Once the deal is completed,  The next two cards of the stock are turned up. These are the 将牌, literally "General cards" . The cards are examined.

1) If the General cards are both "Generals", i.e:
  a: The Nine of strings
  b: The white flower
  c: The Red flower
  d: The Thousand children
Then this is called " Double Big General"
2) If the The general cards only contain One "General" , and one other card, then this is called " Big General"
3) If None of the general cards contain Generals, this is called "Small general"

Melds with these cards affect the scoring [...] 

Declarations: The players first inspect their hands. If they contain either
   a) A four-of-a-kind
   b) Sufficient General cards to make a pong or Gong [ see "Melds" ] with the turned up general. E.G. If a 5 of coins was turned up as a General, and a player's hand contains two 5 of coins, He can declare them, and receive extra points.

The former is called 撂龙 Liao Long, the latter  起插 Qi Cha  if it is a pong, or 合子 He Zi  if it is  gong.

Play.  The game is much like mahjong.

The "Banker" inspects his hand, and chooses to discard a card. [or declare a meld] The second player then draws a card from the stock, [declare any melds], and then discards another card. The card discarded does not have to be the same as the one drawn. The process repeats itself, until someone has successfully melded off his hand. This is called 胡

Players can "Pong", but cannot "Chow" [BD]

Melds. 

These melds are similar to that in Mahjong. [H&D]

1) 搭子 tazi /Stacks, also called 顺子 Shunzi / "Smooth"
A "Run". Three cards in sequence, belonging to the same suit. 7,8 and 9 of strings; 4,5,6 of Myriads are examples. The 1,2 and 3 of coins is a special meld, called 文钱Wenqian - “Cash". This meld [...]

对子Duizi  Pair--
Two cards identical and suit and rank. Self-explanatory.

2 )刻子Ke zi ” Cut ones" and 坎 "Kan" -- "Pong" 
In Mahjong, called a Pong. These refer to three cards, identical in suit and rank. E.G.  Three 5 of coins, or three 7 of strings.  Three cards of the same rank, but different suits are not considered a meld. The player can gain the cards by drawing from the stock. If he has a pair of cards, and another player discards the third card, a pong can also be made
A Pong involving the General cards is called 底插-- Di Cha


杠--Gang "Gong"
A four-of-a-kind. Can be obtained through drawing from the stock, or having a pong, and another player discarding the fourth card.

Scoring table:

The column headed "Meld" describes the meld. Each meld is split into two rows. The top row shows what the cards score if they are normal cards; the bottom row if they are General cards. Each of the columns that intersect it show the score each meld obtains, depending on the situation with the General cards.

Meld	Cards	Small Gen.	Big Gen.		Double Gen.
			Not a Pair	Pair	Not a Pair	Pair
碰Peng “Pong” As in mahjong, a three-of-a-kind, produced by capture.	Nom’l	2	4	8	8	16
	Gen’l	4	8	16	16	32
坎 Kan: As above, but present in hand[dealt] , or created by drawing	Nom’l	4	8		16
	Gen’l	8	16		32
打杠 Da Gang “Gong”.  As in mahjong. Can be created by extension of a pong	Nom’l	8	16		32
	Gen’l	8	32		64
提子Ti zi : As gong, but created by drawing	Nom’l	16	24		48
	Gen’l	12	48		96
起插 Qi Cha A Kan, involving the general cards, found in the hand when first dealt.	Nom’l	24		32		64
	Gen’l			64		128
撂龙 Liao Long : A four of a kind [gong] present at the hand when first drawn	Nom’l	16	32		64
	Gen’l	32		128
底插 Di Cha A Kan, involving the general cards, formed by drawing from the stock at play	Nom’l			24	48
	Gen’l			48	96
合子He zi When a player has a pair of cards, that is identical to the general card turned up, that is present at the start of play	Nom’l	64
	Gen’l	128
三龙会齐 San Long Hui Qi  :A Pong, kong, Ti, cha, or kan that involve the red flower, white flower or 1000 children.	和值翻双Score doubled.

The Jokers of the Nantong Deck. 

Play with jokers: Most Nantong decks come with five jokers.  The Jokers are not strictly necessary for play,and are not usually used. They function exactly like "Flowers" in mahjong. If a player is dealt jokers, or receives them from the stock, he exposes them, and draws replacements from the stock. He also gains bonus points. If the jokers are turned up as the general cards, then the scores are doubled. "The jokers can only be used when all four players agree to do so" [H&D]


Winning 

Play ends when a player has successfully melded off his entire hand, or when the stock runs out. A completely melded hand has 23 cards, consisting of a pair of identical cards, plus a number of melds. It can be done one of three ways

1:清胡 Qing Hu  "Clear game" : One pair , and Seven runs.
2 飘胡 Piao Hu  “Fluttering game" : One pair, with the rest of the cards being melded either as"Cut ones", or as "Cash", or some combination of both. [BD]
3: 塌子胡 Ta Zi Hu "Collapsed game" : One pair, plus some combination of runs and trios. 

If the stock is exhausted without anyone melding off their hand, the game also ends. The hands of all the players are exposed, and the scores of each player reckoned. Such a situation is called 黄牌 Huang2 pai - Yellow cards, or 谎牌 Huang3 Pai -- Lying cards.

Scoring
The score of the winner's hand is tabulated according to the table above.
If the player has a "clear game" [i.e. no special combinations or multipliers...


Substitutes:
If the reader has access to a set of mahjong tiles, he can easily adapt them to this game. This is done by removing the winds, flowers, and if desired, all but five of the jokers

  A substitute can also be made using four decks of western playing-cards.  Remove the court-cards of all the suits. Remove the suit of hearts, both courts and pips. Do the same for the remaining 3 decks. The ace to Nine are used to replace the 1-9 of each of the three suits . The Tens of each suit replace the  White Flower, Red Flower and Thousand Children. Add jokers if desired.

"Long cards" 1: Nantong pattern 南通长牌

[Nantong pattern], "Flower-king playing-cards"  Rugao city poker-card factory. 120c.+5
《南通长牌》--“花王纸牌” 如皋市扑克牌一厂. 120+5 張

The term 长牌 means "Long cards"  The Chinese use this term to refer to several kinds of  Traditional playing-cards. Such a term is unknown in the West. occidental catalogers prefer to classify such cards by their suit-system [Vide S. Mann]. The western classification has its benefits, but we shall use the Chinese term as our guide here, leading our way through the different types of cards used in China.  Some of these cards may seem familiar. But there is little in the western literature beyond photographs of them. In this series, we shall remedy this defect, exploring these mysterious pieces of paper in more detail

I start off with one such deck, which I call the "Nantong pattern". It has a special place in my heart. Until recently, it was the greatest regret of my collecting career.

Sometime in 2010-2012, I was in Geylang, Singapore . It is a place famed for its food, and brothels. Walking back from a restaurant, I noticed something in a drain. Drawing closer, it turned out to be a pile of playing-cards. They were of the Chinese style, but of a pattern I never saw before. The bottom of the cards looked like the common Ceki cards that were used in this part of the world.  But The top half of the cards was occupied with a figure. Furthermore, the cards in the suit of myriads were not marked with the legend 萬, or any Chinese numeral. Instead, they were marked with dots, like dice.  I did not pick the cards up. After all, they might have been the remnants of an illegal gambling den. But a regret lingered in my mind.

  The only other time I saw the cards, was in a mahjong-set. A piece of cardstock, on which the pattern had been printed was used to hold the dice. Other sets in that shop had paper with remnants of domino-suited cards serving the same function. But it seemed preposterous to buy a whole mahjong set for a single scrap of paper. I let that pass too.

One day, whilst idly searching the internet, I found an image of these very same cards. I Clicked on the link. It led to the shop of a merchant, who sold these cards on the Chinese website Taobao. I ordered the cards at once.

*** 

The cards are known as 南通长牌-- Nantong long cards. Nantong is a city on the Yangtze river, Jiangsu. They are printed by [Rugao city poker-card factory] This deck is similar to Catalog No. 245B in Sylvia Mann's All cards on the table , but the decks are not identical. The differences will be noted at the bottom of the page. The chief difference are the figures attached to the tops of the cards. Sylvia Mann's deck seems to be made by a maker called 景記

In the notes that follow, I am indebted to Hu Baishen胡柏生 and Du Guoyuan杜国元's  book nantong long-cards-- Talking about Dazihe (南通长牌-- 话说搭子和). published by 大众文艺出版社. This book explicates the cards themselves, as well as their history and the game played with them. Readers unfamiliar with Chinese Money-suited cards may wish to peruse https://anthonylesq.blogspot.sg/2016/08/chik-kee-cards.html 

 There are three suits: Coins, Strings and myriads. Each has cards ranking one to nine. In addition, there are three extra cards, called "Generals". There are four copies of each of these cards. The deck thus contains 120 cards   The deck also has a set of five "jokers", giving a grand total of 125 cards.

The Suit of Coins, or 饼. The Chinese word literally means " Cake". Some take it as an allusion to the cake-like ingots of silver formerly used in China.  The bottom part of the card depicts the suit-symbols proper to the card's rank. The top half of the card depicts the figure of a person. The description of the cards is adapted from Hu and Du's work. 

1: Sha Wujing, or Friar Sand. He is one of the protagonists of the Journey to the west. The bottom part of the card  depicts Shi Qian, a character from The water margin, another Chinese novel

2: Li Tieguai, one of the eight immortals

3:Zhu Bajie, a protagonist from the Journey to the West. He has the head of a pig, and bears a rake, his trademark weapon. 

4:Tang Sanzang, yet another protagonist from the the Journey to the West. He is shown riding his horse, who will carry him to India to fetch the true scriptures of Buddhism. 

5: Sun Wukong, the beloved "Monkey" of the the Journey to the West. Along with Sha Wujing and Zhi bajie, Sun wukong protects the mild-mannered Tang Zanzang in his quest. 

6: Turtle spirit.

7:Clam spirit

8: Liu Hai chan, a Chinese immortal

9: The Qilin bestowing sons. 

The first "General card" is the white flower 白花 The card itself depicts Ruan Xiauwu, a character from The water margin. The Chinese words in black are 优极 "Excellent quality"  A red overprint covers them. It depicts Taibai Jinxing, the celestial messenger in the Journey to the West.  

The suit of strings.   The figures here are Chinese immortals. 

1: Taishang Laojun, one of the three pure ones of Taoism

2: Lu dongbin, One of the eight immortals. 

3: Cao Guojiu,  another of the eight immortals. 

4: Han Xiangzi, Another of the eight immortals. He plays the flute,being the patron of flutists. 

5: Zhongli Quan, with his magical fan. He is also one of the eight immortals. 

6: Zhang Guolao, another of the Eight Immortals. 

7: Bai niangzi , Madam white snake. From the eponymous drama. 

8: The subject of the red overprint is "The heavenly official gives blessings" 天官赐福. The Chinese characters are 如皋市扑克牌一厂, the maker's name. 

 9: The black Chinese character is 如, written in the archaic seal script. For its significance, see below. 

The second General card is the 红花, or Red Flower. It depicts Wu Song, one of the characters from The water margin. He is depicted with bulging eyes, a bare chest [with a pair of nipples!] and a pair of boots. The boots seem strangely unconnected to his body. 

The Red flower and nine of strings have the same overprint: A flower. 

The suit of myriads. In Other kinds of money-suited card, the values in this suit are shown by Chinese numerals. In this deck, the values are marked by dots. In addition to the figures in the top half of the card, the bottom part depicts yet another person. I will mark the figure on the top half by T, and the bottom half by B. Characters from the water margin are be marked with the initials WM

1: T: Hu sanniang, B: Yan Qing, (both WM)

2: T: Lan Caihe, one of the eight immortals B: Yang Zhi (WM)

3T: Guan Sheng B: Li kui, both from WM

4: T: Lu zhishen, alias Monk Hua,  B: Chai Jin (both WM)

5: T: He xiangu, one of the eight immortals B; Li Jun (WM)

6: T: Shi Jin. B: Sun Li (both WM)

7: T: Zhu tong B: Qin Ming (both WM)

8: Red overprint: Wu Yong B: Ruan Xiaoqi, the "Living king of hell"  (both WM)

9: T: The words 塑光.  B Lei Heng (WM) . The card has an overprint of a red flower

The last General is the 千子, or "Thousand children". Unique the other general cards, it is depicted as if it were a member of this suit, bearing ten dots. The card depicts Ruan Xiaowu, again from The Water Margin. The red overprint seems to have an inscription in seal-script, but unfortunately I cannot understand it. 

The five jokers. Four of them are marked 百搭- "Hundred connections". One of them is marked 小先生-- “ Little Sir" . On the other end,the cards bear one of the following words; 财[wealth] ,禄[rank],寿[longevity] , 福[fortune] and 喜[joy]. The top half of the cards depicts an animal. 

The inscriptions on the four cards above reads 江蘇如皋-- Jiangsu, Rugao [city]. The place where the cards are made. 

The main game played with this deck is called 笃子胡 or 搭子胡 in a subsequent post, I will describe the rules of the game.

Notes on Sylvia Mann's Catalog 245B 

As mentioned above, a very similar deck of cards is featured in Sylvia Mann's  Alle Karten auf den tisch / All cards on the table [ 1990] She dates the deck to the late 19th century,. The deck possesses 120 cards, [4 x 30] plus five cards-- exactly the same as the Rugao deck. Her notes on the deck are sparse. She notes the domino-like markings on the suit of myriads, and the figures on the top of the cards.  The image used to illustrate them is below:

Here are my observations on the cards.

Top row: The five jokers. They are much more elaborate than the cards of the Rugao deck

2nd row [from top] : The ace through Nine of Myriads, ace on the right, Nine on the right. The figures on the top of the cards are different from the rugao deck. The clam spirit is on the 4 of myriads, instead of the 7 of coins. The Eight of Myriads [ 2nd card from left] has the legend 永興, Yong Xing --" Eternally flourishing" 

3rd row [from top] The ace through Nine of Strings

Bottom row: From the left, The Nine, Eight, Seven, Six and Five of coins, followed by the thousand children, Red flower and White flower. The Six of coins bears the legend 景記, which may be the maker's name.

Like the Rugao deck, the Nine of Strings, Thousand children and Red flower  bear an inscription in the Seal script. Unfortunately I am incapable of reading the whole inscription,

The inscription on the Nine of myriads [2nd row, 1st from left]  is 雲.
The inscription on the Nine of strings  [3rd row, 1st from left] is 商
I am unable to read the inscription on the Ten of Myriads [ Bottom row, 6th from left]
The inscription on the Red flower [bottom row, 7th from left]  may be 實