A Chinese Gambling Card
Fan Tan, originates in China. This type of card game resembles solitaire, but with four players instead of three. All you need is a regular pack of playing cards, a pencil or pen, and a small piece of newspaper. That's it! You're ready for an enjoyable evening of skillful cardmanship.
The principles of fan-tan are extremely simple. As long as you remember that the object of the game is to empty your hand of cards without repeating divisions, you'll succeed. For those who don't understand what a fan-tan is, here's an explanation:
Fan Tan (pronounced"fan") is really a Chinese gambling game in which the players use a particular kind of fan to move around the board, playing sevens and mixing the face value of the cards. 1 person plays black, another player plays crimson, another plays white, etc. The sevens are indicated on the fan with little circles; the six & eight are also colored with little circles and so on. The goal is to make as many sets as possible by using a variety of combinations of this fan-tan sevens and the basic set of the cards. There are no home cards, just basic playing cards arranged in rows.
The origin of fan-tan is credited to an oral legend about Confucius (a Chinese philosopher and educator). According to the legend, Confucius had heard of the pleasures of playing a simple card game called"Fan Tan". He was so impressed that he made a game called"Fan Tan", which was finally adopted by the Chinese. In modern times, the origin of the game of"Fan Tan" has become linked with the idea of fortune telling. Today, the game is frequently used as a source of amusement, as people believe it will tell them something about the future.
To play fan-tan, four people sit in a circle, facing each other. Each player alternates sitting with his fan-tan for seven seconds, counting from one to seven. After the seven seconds are up, somebody begins the count again, but this time, it begins with the person sitting in the middle, going around three times, before stopping for the final count at six. This is the beginning of a long, complicated and intricate ritual. It is during the repeating division that Chinese gamblers get the best chance of winning.
The exact method of how the card games of Fan Tan are split isn't clear. However, most experts believe that the long series of sevens is meant to symbolize the continuous flow of good luck that the participants will encounter, and that there should be no abrupt changes, or else the results will be skewed. Many gamblers who have tried their hands in Fan Tan, however, claim that the ritual is simple enough to comprehend, and that they don't need to await the right number of sevens to start with.
The one thing that can really make Chinese fan-tan intriguing to a non-Chinese speaker is the way that the cards are dealt out. Every player is dealt seven cards, and then the individual in the middle selects five cards from the top of the pile, and three from the base. The rest of the players must then choose cards from the top of the heap in pairs, alternating between the five and the three. The object is to find pairs that share a number of points with the card on the bottom, then remove all the cards in this pile prior to deciding on a new pair. This is also the easiest means of laying out a regular betting game, where the first two betting rounds triumph, but the last two betting rounds are only draw games where the last two cards selected would be the last two to be bet on.
The main difference between this card game and other fancan is that it uses a different pattern of gambling. Unlike many, the bettors don't have to pick up the sevens when they lay them out in the Fan Tan, meaning that they can just arrange the deck of cards and start betting without having to understand what they really have to wager. This means that it is a very simple game for those people who are familiar with the workings of this seven-card card game. For those who are not, but the Fan Tan can seem confusing, though the fundamental pattern of laying the cards out is the same. This is why many gamblers look towards other gambling games to learn how to play fan-tan, since the pattern is simpler and the decision making process easier.