The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1921-10-23
Fan Tan Rules
On Ocean Trip

MID OCEAN. oct. 22.-spinning
the little wicked roulette top with
its tickle take all" at Los Angelica
tea parties; playing tho races In
Mexico; buying tickets on the Chi
nese lottery in Shanghai; breaking
the bank at Monte Carlo and shoot
IN craps down in Dixie are fLsci-
mating, but
ran tan is the game of chance
which rules supreme on the big
ocean liners sailing from San Fran
cisco to Hong Kong.
Men of all nationalities, of all
ranks OF life, OF many crceds and
languages meet on an equal footing
around the fan tan tables. for the
little lady Of fan tan plays no ia
vorites. She scorns. laughs at,
smiles upon and favors the rich, the
poor, the brown or the white, the
high or the low according to her
whim and fancy.
Tables Arc Busy.
From carly morning until long
after midnight the fan tan tables
are busy. f'irst-claSs passenlbrs
climb down the narrow stairs from
the main deck to the steerage to play
the game. Debutantes in smart
sport costumes. social leaders from
the worlds famous watering places,
business men. professional gamblers.
school teachers on a long g-dreamed- .
of vacation, business girls going out
TO accept positions with large firms
In the Far East, young men hoping
to make their fortunes in the orient.
the idio rich tourist on a trip around
the world, all yield to the lure OF
fan tan.
Yellow faces, impassive and ex-
pressiOnless; unshaven Russian faces,
eager and tense; East Indian faces.
alert and earnest; tourist faces pa
tronizing and watChful, bend over
the table.
A Cantonese wearing an Amer
ican-made straw hat and smoking a
long white brass Chinese water pipe
sits at the end of the table. He
rubs his slim, tapering hand with
its tobaCCo-stai=ed fingers and long
nails through a great pile OF white
buttons. Just plain white buttons
the KIND that keep coming off little
Willies shirt, But 1t is this little
pile OF buttons which wins or loses
hundreds or even thousands of dol
lars on "A long ocean trip and over
which men OF all races bend with
breathless interest while the count
is made.
Buttons Tell Tale.
The players place qheir money on
the Numbers IN the center of the
table which run from one to four.
A E-coEd Chinese, keeper of the
money til, makes Il noise like some
one in pain, then the Cantonese
counts the buttons in groups of four.
AT the end Of the count the number
OF buttons left wins. II two buttons
are extra the men placing money
on number two win and receive
three times the amount placed. IL
| one button Is left No. l wins and so
| on game after game.
Hundreds Of dollars are won dur
! ing the trip and hundreds lost. OFTEN
| Young men gamble away their ek-
| Dense money and arrive in strange
port with just enough change to pay
| their boat tips, while seamen lose
| or trlple their wages for the trip
! According TO an indian of high caste
| Who was educated in Europe and
! America and who is devotee OF ian
! tan and with the long purse
/ will win in the end, for he can play
until he reFains his losses, but the
/ man with the short purse should
| rssist lie call of the capriclous
| Iady Of fan tan as he would the lur.
| ing song Of the heartless CiFce OF
| old.