Chinese domino cards

[Chinese Domino cards], Anon, 84c. 

紙骨牌，無名，84副

 Now we come to another sort of Domino cards, These cards are made by an anonymous manufacturer, and purchased from a shop in Hubei, China. This particular deck contains 21 subjects. There are 4 copies of each subject, thus 84 cards. 

The most notable feature of the cards is their central character. Rather than histoical figures, we have simple doodles of men, engaged in various martial poses. 

The [6-6] card (First from right) depicts an image of a youth in a red robe, carrying a staff. This figure is the only one printed in two colours, reflecting the card's status as the highest in the pack. 

Meanwhile, the two next highest cards [1,1] and [4,4] (2nd and 3rd from Right) Each contain a Chinese phrase. On the [1,1]is .祝你好运," Wishing you Good Luck"

  On the [4,4] is 恭喜发财,the ubiquitous Chinese New Year Greeting " Gongxi Facai", or in Cantonese, Kung Hei Fat Choy. It literally means "Congratulations; may you prosper"

You may notice that subjects which possess red and black pips, have the figure printed in Red. Those that possess only black pips have the figure printed in black. 

The balds heads of the characters remind one of the Monks of Shaolin Monastery, celebrated for its "Fighting Monks"  Only one of the characters, [on the 4,2] has a sort of heddress. 

恭喜發財/祝你好運

Kung Hei Fat Choy/ Wishing you good luck

The author wishes all his readers a prosperous Chinese New Year

Long cards 5 -- (Double faced Nantong pattern)

[Double faced Nantong Pattern], Rugao city First poker-card factory, 120c+5.
花王紙牌， 如臯市撲克牌一廠120c+5

The following pattern is made by the same maker as Nantong pattern referred to earlier.
The pattern appears to be a double-faced version of the Nantong pattern. I have yet to find any information about this pattern in the literature.

The suit of coins. Looking at the Nantong pattern, it is clear these patterns share a family resemblance. The most notable difference is the size of the printed area. In the standard Nantong pattern, the printed image occupies half the card's area, unlike the present deck. 

The cards are of a "Double ended" design, a feature best seen in the ace and  Bai Hua card. Note the Yin-yang symbol on the card. It appears both as a motif in the centre, as well as a red stamp 

The suit of strings, I apologize that some of the cards (7,5,5 and 3) are displayed upside-down.

On the 8 of strings the maker's name is shown in small characters (hua wang)

The suit of myriads Like the Nantong pattern, the cards' values are displayed using dots. Here the double ended feature is most in evidence. Comparing the cards with those of the standard Nantong pattern reveals a sort of family resemblance, but the cards are not identical. Notably, the pips are the mirror image of those in the Nantong deck.

The Jokers in the deck. Like the other Nantong pattern,  there are five Jokers, each named 福, (Fortune) ,祿(Rank) ,壽, (Longevity) ,喜( Joy) , 財(wealth)   But the jokers in this deck are all named 百塔, and bear the same motif. By contrast, In the single-faced Nantong deck,one of the Jokers (labelled 喜, Joy ) is labelled 小先生-- Little Sir

Shang Da Ren cards 1

"Shang Da Ren" cards, Taizhou Luqiao playing-card factory ,96 c.
[上大人牌]，台州市路桥商海字牌厂  96副。

We now turn our attention to a sort of playing-card that is hardly known in the west-- the Shang da ren cards. These cards pop up occasionally in the literature, but to my knowledge,nothing substantial has been written about them.

These cards are based on an old Chinese text, that is 24 characters long. It was much used in former times as a penmanship exercise. It goes:

Shang Da Ren, Kong Yi Ji, Hua San Qian, Shi Qi Shi. Er Xiao Shen, Ba Jiu Zi, Wang Zuo ren, Ke Zhi Li. 

"His greatness, Confucius, has taught three thousand children, of which Seventy became virtuous scholars. A young scholar like you, should study from eight or Nine sages, should learn to be benevolent, and hence understand courtesy and manners" 

The first translation is by  Hans Steinmüller, in Communities of Complicity: Everyday Ethics in Rural China, p.189. Pages 188-194 contain a fascinating discussion of the game involving the cards ( called Shaofo in the book).  Another translation is found in the 1901 Catalogue of the collection of playing cards bequeathed to the Trustees of the British museum by the late Lady Charlotte Schreiber page 193. In my opinion, it is slightly less accurate than Steinmüller's. 

For the reader's convenience,the table above shows the characters of the text. The characters are numbered and have the pinyin Romanzation added to them. The two translations are also presented, broken down line-by-line. 

The cards are named after the first three characters of the text, Shang Da Ren- "His greatness" 

Each of the playing-cards bear one character of the text. This unit is repeated a number of times, to form the whole deck. In the deck below, the basic unit is repeated 4 times, yielding a 96 card deck.

 There are a huge variety of Playing-cards bearing this 24 character text. Some of them alter the phrasing of the text, others omit large sections of it. In all cases, the characters used are  heavily stylized, almost illegible except to the initiated. There are a variety of games played with these decks, which I hope to explain in a subsequent post.

This particular deck comes from Hubei, a province in Northern China. The cards are popular there.

1:上 2:大 3:人 4:孔（邱?）5:乙 6:己 7:化 8:三 9:千

The first three lines of the text. Cards 1, 2 and 3, "His Greatness" are printed in red. The inscriptions on cards 4, 5, and 6,(孔乙己) show barely any resemblance to the standard forms of the characters. 

[ The author suspects the card 4 does not depict the word Kong 孔, Confucius' family name, but a highly stylized version of Qiu,邱 his given name] 

10:七   11:十   12 :士   13:爾 14:小 15:生   16: 八   17 :九  18 :子
The next three lines of the text.  Note that the middle card of each trio is marked with a red spot. Card No. 13, I think is 爾, but cannot say for certain. 

19: 佳 20: 作 21:仁 22:可 23:知  24:礼

The last two lines of the text, in their glorious illegibility.

Below is a very brief and general summary of the games played with this family of cards. 

The game played with these cards is similar to Rummy or Mahjong, which it more closely resembles.
Players are dealt a hand of cards. In each turn, a player draws a card from the stock, forms melds with it (if possible) , and then discards a card from his hand. The subsequent player may capture the previous player's discard to form a meld of their own.  Players win by successfully melding off their entire hand.

 There are several types of meld. the first form is multiple copies of a single card, as for example three copies of the card 大 ( No. 2).  The second form is three cards that constitute a sentence of the text, as for example 化三千 ( cards 7,8, and 9).   Melds involving certain cards are reckoned to score higher than others. 

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 

Rummy Tiles

[Rummy Tiles] 104+8 C, Singapore.

In Singapore, mahjong shops sell a kind of gaming-tile. The tiles are called 'Rummy', after the game that they are used to play. However, these cards are quite different from the Rummy tiles that are commonly known in the West.These tiles are in effect a pair of International pattern decks that have been transferred into tiles.

The cards have been fairly faithfully transferred. The pips are fully represented on each card, which have an index in two corners to assist the player. The Double-ended courts are also rendered in detail, with the appropriate index attached to each rank. The ace of Spades is also enlarged, agreeing to custom. 

But the most striking feature of the cards is their colour. Each suit is assigned a colour. Spades are black, Hearts are Red, Clubs are Green and Diamonds are yellow. The tiles are so small [ Around 3.5 by 2.8 cm], the risk of confusion between suits would be higher if only two colours were used. 

Knowledgeable readers might recognize these as the four colours of the German Turnierbild decks, save that clubs and Spades have swapped colours.

Through the four suits, the courts possess an identical design. They are differentiated only by the suit symbol, and the colour of the frame that surrounds the courts.  

The King is clearly inspired by the King of Diamonds in a standard deck. The Jack and Queen are less certain. The Queen might be inspired by Possibly the Q. of Diamonds or Clubs. 

The Suit of Diamonds. The attention to detail in the courts is formidable. The maker has taken care to give the faces and bodies of the courts different colours. 

The Joker depicts the head of a clown. There are Eight jokers in this set, corresponding to four in each deck. 

The tiles are relatively thick, as seen in the picture. 

Their backs are "Plain".By contrast, Most kinds of mahjong Tiles sold have a layer of different-coloured plastic attached to their backs. 

The tiles in their carrying-case. Such cases are also used to store mahjong tiles. The case is made of leather-like plastic. Within this case are stored four smaller "trays" that make the tiles easier to bring out of the case. In between them is an oblong tray, which would be usually filled with jetons. This set lacks the jetons. 

 Note the Eight blank tiles in the left-hand side of the case. These are spares, If a tile is lost, this blank tile can be sent to an engraver to be engraved with a replacement. 

Kintokihana 金時花

金時花 Kintokihana, 48+1C. Oshi tengudo 大石天狗堂 

After a long interval, here is a deck from japan. We are told these cards come from Shikoku island in Japan. This deck was purchased around 5 years ago from a shop in Tokyo. The cards come in a elegant wooden box. The cards are also called Awabana 啊波花

Unlike the standard form of Hanafuda, the Kintokihana has the names of the months associated with each suit written on the card. The suit of "January", for instance has the words 一月“First month" written on the banner ( top row, 2nd from Left)  card. The remaining cards possess an encircled 一, meaning One. The same goes for the second row, showing suits from the second month-- 二月.

In other photographs of this pattern ( vide Andy Polett) the individual branches are picked out in white. In this example, the branches are picked out in silver ink. 
A translation of the short texts on the suit of January will be greatly appreciated. 

The Third [top row] and Fourth [bottom row] months.

The cards are very slightly curved along their width; you can see this in the 3rd month.

Unlike the other months, the "banner" card in the third month does not possess a numeral; rather a short text in japanese is shown, like in the "standard' hanafuda. 

Note The "Junk" cards in the third month. In this deck, the cherry blossoms are merely depicted. In the standard hanafuda, the cherry blossoms are shown growing from a branch. 

The Fifth and Sixth months. Some cards possess a stripe of silver across their width. This might be an aid to their identification. 

One of the major difficulties beginners have with hanafuda is knowing which card belongs to which suit. Unless you are familliar with Japanese plants, this is a hard task. It is further compounded by the same plant is depicted in different ways in the same suit. The numbers attached to the cards are thus an immense help, and it is hoped makers of Hanafuda would make more cards with this feature. 

The Seventh [top row] and Eighth[bottom row] months. 

On the two "Junk" cards of the 8th month, [ 2nd and 3rd from left, bottom] Japanese texts are seen. I would be most glad if anyone told me what they say. Note the blades of grass picked out in silver, on two of the cards in the Eighth month 

The Ninth [top] and Tenth months[bottom].   Note the horizontal bands of silver on some of the cards 

The suit of Eleventh (Top row) and Twelth months. Notably, the twelfth month is unumbered. 

To the far left we see the the extra card. It depicts Kintaro, a renowned Japanese warrior.

Hanafuda-- Angel, 翁

Hanafuda by "angel", "Old Man" (翁)48+1c,


EDIT: For Seven years, ( It was first published in 10/9/2011)  the author has given an erroneous title to the post.

The error surrounded the card's brand name. He initially misread it as 扇, meaning "fan". It was in fact the Similar-looking word 翁, meaning "Old Man".  The relevant character can be seen on the cards of the "December" suit (Top row). Seven years on, he re-publishes it, with the error corrected.

The name does not sound as incongruous as it seems. One of the most celebrated plays in the Noh repitoire is called 翁 Okina. A fascinating summary of the play, part ritual, part theater, may be found here  The author recalls the deck's wrapper depicted an actor, playing the role of the old man.

The deck contained 48 cards, plus one spare card. That spare card is shown to the left. It resembles the "Banner" card in the "March" suit of cherry blossoms. However, on the ribbon is marked the word 見本 Mihon , meaning Spare in Japanese. :" Sample" in Japanese.https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E8%A6%8B%E6%9C%AC

 As the commentator Porges said below "[This card] is to be placed on the front of the deck when on display in a shop, to indicate the quality of the cards."