Written by Pai Gow is an extremely ancient Chinese game played with dominoes. I’ve included it in the Dominoes and Card Games categories because it is also a version of poker and an Americanised version is played using standard decks. It’s not currently played everywhere but it’s certainly gaining popularity and of course can always be played at Internet Casinos.
Pai Gow translates loosely as “make nine” and some authorities have suggested a link between this game and card variants such as baccarat and chemin de fer. It dates back at least to the Song Dynasty which gives it an age of around 1000 years. It was a game played with dominoes almost certainly because of the scarcity of paper substitutes which meant cards were impractical.
So how does it work? It’s played with 32 dominoes and the set includes 11 identical pairs.
Pai Gow Ranking Chart
As the name suggests, the aim of the game is to make a total of nine with your hand. The game begins with the setting up of the traditional woodpile, this is stacking the tiles into eight piles of four. At this point bets are take. Next, all players including the dealer receive four tiles which are divided into two hands of two, one front hand and one rear hand.
The front hand is the ranked against the dealers front hand and the rear against the rear. As with baccarat a total of nine is the aim and if the tile total is more than ten, ten is subtracted. If the players two hands beat both the dealers hands, the player wins, if they are both inferior the dealer wins. One win and one loss results in the player getting his stake back.
It’s a very simple game up to this point but there are more complex rules that we will explain in a future article. Meanwhile navigate away and enjoy a game of Internet Roulette or Online Blackjack.
