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FANTAN

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Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 171 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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FANTAN , a See also:

form of gambling highly popular among the See also:Chinese. The See also:game is See also:simple. A square is marked in the centre of an See also:ordinary table, or a square piece of See also:metal is laid on it, the sides being marked r, 2, 3 and 4. The banker puts on the table a See also:double handful of small coins—in See also:China " See also:cash "—or similar articles, which he covers with a metal bowl. The players See also:bet on the See also:numbers, setting their stakes on the See also:side of the square which bears the number selected. When all have staked, the bowl is removed, and the banker or croupier with a small stick removes coins from the heap, four at a See also:time, till the final batch is reached. If it contains four coins, the backer of No. 4 wins; if three, the backer of No. 3 wins, and so on. Twenty-five per cent is deducted from the stake by the banker, and the winner receives five times the amount of his stake thus reduced. In See also:Macao, the See also:Monte Carlo of China, See also:play goes on See also:day and See also:night, every day of the See also:week, and bets can be made from 5 cents to Soo dollars, which are the limits. Fantan is also the name of a card game, played with an ordinary See also:pack, by any number of players up to eight.

The See also:

deal decided, the See also:cards are dealt singly, any that are See also:left over forming a stock, and being placed See also:face downwards on the table. Each player contributes a fixed stake or " ante." The first player can enter if he has an See also:ace; if he has not he pays an " ante " and takes a card from the stock; the second player is then called upon and acts similarly till an ace is played. This (and the other aces when played) is put face upwards on the table, and the piles are built up from the ace to the See also:king. The See also:pool goes to the player who first gets rid of all his cards. If a player fails to play, having a playable card, he is fined the amount of the ante for every card in the other players' hands.

End of Article: FANTAN

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