Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-10-10
WaShee tam IS.


The most popular game that the
Chinese gamblers play in various cities
throughout the United States is called
the Fan Tan" 1t is a game played
with pile of small Chinese copper
coins, some three or four hundred of
them at time. The dealer sits at the
end of long table, usually about four
feet high, and Immediately before him is
the pile of the aforesaid coins, and in the
centre of the table is placed square
piece of bright tin about twelve inches
square. Upon this tin are placed
chips representing various denomina-
tions i'll money, and around it are
numbers l, 2, 3, 4. When everything
was in readiness the dealer graSps a
handful of the copper coins before him
and places them in separate pile from
the hundreds of others. lie covers the
pile quickly with an oval tin cover,
which is the signal for the betters to
begin their work. When the bets are
all On-or when the betters have all
taken their hands off from their
stakes-the dealer Immediately uncOv-
ers the pile of coins, and then proceeds
to slowly take away the coins, four at
time, with a little slender stick, with
rolled-up sleeves.
The last numbers of the coins, either
one, two, three or four, settles the
fateS of fortunes of the betterS. If
you have your 81 placed squarely on
No. l when the last pulling of the coins
is only one, then you get 50 plus YOUR
81 and the dealer gets per cent. of
what you win, and if you have placed
your dollar on No. l towards No. 2,
when il comes out one coin for the last
pull, you will then win but S2 plusyou
capital and less the winners commits
sion. But when you bet between l
and 2, either one of the two numbers
come out, you will win, but only 81
and your capital. You cannot bet Nos.
l and 4, nor and ), for you are not
allowed to bet across the plate contain
ing the chips, and the chip always
accompanies the cash you place upon
the numbers, for then it indicates the
exact amount you wish to bet. The
uncovering of the pile of coins always
creates great excitement among all the
gamblers present, and even the dealer
is frequently SO excited that his hands
actually tremble while he is slowly re-
moving the copper coins from the
much-watched pile before him, for even
he himself cannot tell the exact num-
Der that is to come out. Indeed, he is
only told by the rest the number long
before he could see it himself, as he
has to attentively watch that he takes
away the right number of COINS at each
pull, or he is made liable to pay the
stakes ut all the numbers when a
single mistake is detected by the eX-
cited gamblers at the table.
Another favorite game is the ''Boch
ka PIan," or policy-playing. This
consists of square piece of white pa
per containing eighty Chinese chardo
tiers, every one different. Out Of this
eighty letters or characters you are al
lowed to buy ten, sometimes fifteen.
You can pay as much rs you like for
this privilege; for instance, if You pay
fifty cents you can then select any ten
characters you wish out of the eighty
on the paper and mark them. You
pocket the duplicate of the one you
marked. Upon the drawing hour the !
dealer rolls up his sleeves before the !
purchasers OF these privileges. Upon
the wall Immediately in his rear is a !
large black board, on which is plainly |
but lightly stuck eighty large letters
the exact counterpart of those printed |
up.n the square piece of paper on
which you have marked your chosen |
letters. From this board he slowly |
with outstretched hand, pulls off one
letter at time, and, showing it to the
audience each time, he folds it, and |
are always four before him upon a /
counter to be seen by any one, that |
there be no cheating done. Each of
these bowls is 10 contain twenty of the
aforesaid eighty letters well mixed.
Then four little pieces of paper; each
with a number written Oh it to cores
pond with the numbers marked upon
the bowls, namely: l, ,, 3, and 4. These
are likewise held up before the audi
ence one at Il time, and folded and
twisted tightly are then thrown into a
shallow dish. One of these is to be
taken out by any one individual of the
audience, which is then opened and
itdu diuuu anu SllONl- dIlllOuuClllS liic
it contained. The bowl that
bore that number with the twenty
letters will be the ones to be used as
the lucky letters that would bring
TO those who hold tickets
they have hit enough letters
among the ten they bought. These
twenty letters are then one by one
opened by the dealer through the same
process as before, only now backward.
and every letter thus opened is called
Dff aloud before it is pasted back upon
The board, while at the same time
clerk is employed i'll marking on the
square piece OF paper that contained
The eighty letters as each of the entire
twenty has been called off. When you
Dnly hit one or two letters of the ten
you bought you get nothing; when you
get four of these lucky letters you only
get your capital back, but five letters
if you have paid 81 for your ten will
bring you 81; six letters, SO; seven
etters; 500: eight letters, $1,000; nine
etters, S5,0O0;ten letters Sl2 600.