Evening star., 1905-08-22
POLICY, CHINESE FASHION.
Much Like the American Game, but
With Characters in Place Of Numbers.

From the Hawaiian Star.
1t Is curious thing that here In a COM
munity where the Chinese gambling game
of che-fa has flourished for many years
comparatively few outside of those who are
devotees at the shrine of the goddess of
chance have even the faintest idea Of how
the game is played.
Che-fa Is very simple game, indeed.
and in its very simplicity lies the difficulty
which the authorities here. as elsewhere.
find in suppression. 1t needs no apparatus
or LAY OUT as do roulette. faro and other
games Of chance. 1t does not even need a
pack of cards or a supply of chips.
Simply judged as gambling game and
conceding for the moment that 1t Is played
on the square. che-fa has it's allurements.
for 1t Is. on that bass. game in which
every player has an equal chance and the
bank simply collects a percentage of the
money staked. Unfortunately for the play
ers, however there is not the slightest rea-
son for doubling that the game as ordinar-
lily conducted is as crooked as the tradi-
tionaI dogs hind leg.
There are thrty-six characters on a
che-fa ticket. each representing some
familiar object. The lion. tiger. MOON
mouth. silver money, gold money, box,
centiped. dog. rat are among these. but
many of the characters represent things
which are not generally discussed In polite
society. A person who wishes to play the
game seeks an agent and gives him what
sum he wishes. from cents up at the
same time indicating what character he
chooses. This character is marked off on
the agents ticket and the fortune seeker
receives a slip acknowledging his bet or
stake. Should the particular character
prove at the drawing to be the winning
number the lucky player wins thirty times
the amount of his stake. Thus If he stakes
5 cents he wins $3.50, or if he plungeS
heavily with, say dollar, he wins $50. But
he does not get all that he wins. There is
the agent to be considered and he collects
10 per cent of the amount Of the winning
so that the man who won $50 would receive
only $27 from the hands of the agent.
1t is one of the odd traits in the Chinese
character that made che-fa 50 popular
with them. They are devoted believers in
dreams. If Chinaman dreams of a rat,
for instance. he will lose no time in, seeking
a che-fa agent and backing the rat to win
and no number of recurrent losses seeing to
sign for success. OF course, it is apparent
that If a man played every one of the
thrty-fve characters he would in all proba-
bility win. but his win would be a loss, for
he would only receive thirty times the
amount of the single bet on the winning
character less the agents commission of
10 per cent.
Such is the game of che-fa Barring only
the dream portion of it. 1t does not seem
TO possess any particular allureDlents and
to some people even the chance of betting
that their dreams will come true does not
seem attractive. Possibly the average
American does not have the same kind of
dreams as does the mild eyed Chink. That
can easily be imagined from casual
glimpse at a Chinese meal and a reflection
on the possibilities of what even a simple
Welsh rabbit can accomplish.