Fan Tan (Gambling)
Fan Tan or Fan-Tan, Fantan (simplified Chinese: 番 摊; traditional Chinese: 番 攤; pinyin: fāntān, literally: "multiple departments") is a very simple Chinese game of chance with beans, which is mainly used in China casinos of Macau enjoys great popularity.
history
Fan tan used to be widespread outside of China, especially among the Chinese population in the United States. Jacob Riis describes entering a fan-tan arcade in "How the Other Half Lives" (1890), his famous book on New York's underworld:
- At the first step of the leather soles on the stairs, the babble of voices stopped and the group of Chinese hunched over their fan-tan game stopped playing and glared at those who came. Fan Tan is her predominant passion.
Likewise, San Francisco's sprawling Chinatown was home to dozens of fan tan houses in the 19th century. Then-Police Commissioner Jesse B. Cook wrote that there were 50 fan-tan venues in Chinatown in 1889.
Fan Tan is now increasingly being replaced by other casino games or traditional Chinese games such as Mah Jongg and Pai Gow .
description
Before starting, the players place their bets on a square tableau , which is divided into four smaller squares with the numbers one to four. Characteristic of the Fan Tan -Spielhäuser is the way how this is done: The field of application is on a table, around it a two to three meter high circular balcony is built on its parapet players reduced their stakes in small baskets by Pulley abseil to the croupiers .
Once the bets have been made, a croupier puts a bowl of beans (actually, nowadays, instead of beans, mostly porcelain brands similar to Go stones are used) on the table and pushes part of it aside with the upside-down bowl. Now the bets are made. Then the croupier lifts the bowl, takes two chopsticks and counts the beans that were previously under the bowl by pushing four pieces to one side at a time.
If there is only one bean left at the end, the bets on field number one win; if there are two beans left at the end, the bets on field number two win; However, if there are four beans left at the end, he no longer pushes them aside and the bets on field number four win.
The payout percentages for bets on a full number are 3: 1, a set à cheval on two numbers is paid out 1: 1. The profit of the casino arises from the fact that the players - different from casino to casino - have to pay a tax either from their stake or from their winnings ; the bank advantage is around 5%.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ralph Tegtmeier : Casino. Die Welt der Spielbanken - Spielbanken der Welt , DuMont, Cologne 1989. p. 245.