page_title: Tien Gow
section_title: Domino games
hierarchical_section_title: Tien Gow / Domino games
context_page_description: Tien Gow or Tin Kau is the name of Chinese gambling games played with either a pair of dice or a set of 32 Chinese dominoes. In these games, Heaven is the top rank of the civil suit, while Nine is the top rank of the military suit. The civil suit was originally called the Chinese suit while the military suit was called the barbarian suit but this was changed during the Qing dynasty to avoid offending the ruling Manchus. The highly idiosyncratic and culture-specific suit-system of these games are likely the conceptual origin of suits, an idea which would later be used for playing cards. Play is counter-clockwise.
  The ranks from highest to lowest are:
  Civil: Heaven; Earth; Man; Harmony; Plum Flower; Long Threes; Bench; Tiger's Head; Red Head Ten; Long Leg Seven; Red Mallet Six
  Military: Nines; Eights; Sevens; Six; Fives; Final Three
context_section_description: In the domino games, there are two copies of each Civil tile. They have been available in playing card format since the beginning of the 17th century.
caption: A set of Chinese dominoes
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