Pai Gow
Four tiles are split into two pairs and both are set against the banker's: you have to win both.
Pai Gow is built so that half a win is impossible. A player splits four tiles into two hands, and both must outrank the corresponding hands of the . Win one and lose the other and the stake comes back: nothing has happened.
Because of that a strong tile settles nothing on its own. Building one very large hand is easy, but the other will then be empty, and the result is a push.
A ranking that cannot be worked out
The tiles here are ranked not by pip total but by tradition: the four-four outranks the three-one, which outranks the five-five. There is no logic to the order; it is learnt by heart.
Stranger still is the : the pair of the two lowest tiles in the set outranks every other pair, while those same tiles alone beat almost nothing.
Chinese Dominoes
Under these rules: Thirty-two tiles: eleven of the pairings in the set are duplicated.
Thirty-two tiles: every pairing from one-one to six-six, eleven of them duplicated.
There are no blank halves here — counting starts at one. The tiles fall into two suits, civil and military, and rank within a suit does not follow the pip total: it has to be learnt by heart. The pips are red and white, and the one is markedly larger than the rest so that a tile can be read by touch.
The rules of Pai Gow
The set
Thirty-two tiles: every pairing from one-one to six-six, with eleven of them — six-six, six-five, six-four, six-one, five-five, five-one, four-four, three-three, three-one, two-two and one-one — present twice.
The deal
The tiles are stacked face down. Dice decide who receives the first hand, counted round from the banker.
Each player receives four tiles. So does the banker.
The bank starts with the house and may then pass to players in turn.
Two hands
A player splits their four tiles into two pairs. One becomes the , the other the low.
Each is compared with the banker's corresponding pair.
The outcome
Both of a player's hands higher and they win the stake. Both lower and they lose it. One higher and one not, and it is a push: the stake comes back.
The ranking of pairs
Highest of all is the Gee Joon — the four-two together with the two-one.
Below it come pairs of tiles equal in value, in a fixed order: six-six twice, then one-one, four-four, three-one, five-five, three-three, two-two, six-five, six-four, six-one, five-one, and then the mixed pairs of nines, eights, sevens and fives.
Below the pairs come the six-six or one-one combined with a nine, then with an eight.
Failing all of that, the pips on both tiles are added and the last digit of the total is taken.
Ties
On equal values the ranking of the individual tiles decides: six-six, one-one, four-four, three-one, five-five, three-three, two-two, six-five, six-four, six-one, five-one and onwards.
The four-two and the two-one rank below every single tile, though together they form the highest pair.
Worth knowing
The order of dealing and the way the stacks are cut differ from house to house; some twenty traditional cuts are counted, and their names are local. How the banker is obliged to set their own tiles is likewise laid down by the house rather than by the game.
Glossary of terms
- Banker
- The player everyone else plays against. Their hands are compared with each player's separately.
- Gee Joon
- The pair of the four-two and the two-one. The highest pair in the game, though the tiles themselves rank lowest of all.
- High hand
- Whichever of a player's two pairs ranks higher. It is set against the banker's high hand.