The first type of games that we will get acquainted with are Connecting Games. They are similar to what Westerners usually mean when they say “Play Dominoes”.
These are the games: “Jie Long” (接龍) – “Connect the dragon”, “Ce Deng” (料釘) – “Oblique Nail” and “Kko-li-but-i-gi” (꼬리붙이기) – the Korean game of “Tails”. They are all just variants of the same game.
Basic rules
Game is played with a standard set of 32 tiles. Four players play, each player takes eight tiles. Who moves first in the first game is determined by lot, in subsequent games – the winner of the previous hand moves first (for simplification, you can initially agree on the transfer of the first move counterclockwise).
For the first move, the player can place any tile on the table. At the same time, he says which end is open. The other end is “closed” (sometimes it can be covered with a token) and does not participate in the game. Each subsequent player must place a tile on the table so that it joins the open end of an already placed tile, or line of tiles. You can only connect the same to the same (six to six, five to five, and so on).
If a player cannot make a move, he places one of his tiles face down and passes. This discarded tile is no longer participating in the game, and it is waiting for its points to be counted. When all the tiles have been added to the line of dominoes, or put face down, the game ends. All players count the number of dots of the dominoes they put down and the player with the fewest points wins. The actual points calculation varies between games.
If you already know how to play European dominoes, I will emphasize the difference between Chinese and European traditions:
- If the player cannot play a tile, he puts the tile face down near him. This is the biggest change to the dynamics of the game. This way some tiles are removed out of the game, which does not happen in European dominoes.
- The tiles are played only on one side from the initial tile, not on two sides as in the classic rules of European dominoes.
- Doubles can be placed next to each other – this obviously follows from the rules, since there is no such prohibition, but it can be strange for Europeans to see two doubles laid out in a row.
- Game is played until the end. The game does not end if one of the players runs out of tiles, everyone takes turns and has to put their tiles on the table, like in cards.
- If the game is blocked, i.e. no move is possible, then all the tiles remaining on hands take part in counting points. This also follows from the rules, since each time a person passes, they set aside one tile. After four passes, you can just keep passing, but it is easier to stop the game and count everything that is left in the hands. It also follows that if the only tiles that can be placed are doubles, then they can still be placed in the order of their turn, even if all the other tiles cannot be played.
- There is no stock where tiles are taken from when it is impossible to play as is usual to some European domino games.
- Since the deck is asymmetric, i.e. not all values are represented by the same amount of tiles, and some tiles can be removed out of the game by being put down, the blocking of a line in Chinese dominoes is different from European dominoes. You have to get used to it.
Although I described that the tiles are laid on only one side, there are also options with two “open” ends, as in European dominoes. Actually, Jie Long has both a one-side and a two-sides option. But Ce Deng and Kko-li-but-i-gi are played strictly in one direction. If one can only add tiles from one side, then there are some interesting variations on how to actually put tiles on the table. For example, to save space, the first eight tiles are placed as usual, but already the ninth is placed on top of the eighth and at the end of the game, if no tiles have been placed, a beautiful wall is laid four tiles high and eight wide. And in the case of paper dominoes (and there are these kind of dominoes in China), they are simply thrown into the center of the table, like cards, one on top of the other.
Points calculation
To simplify the game experience you can count points as in European dominoes, i.e. write down the points and play up to a certain number of points or number of games. Read on only if you already understand the basic rules and want more authenticity.
Since the Chinese play this game for money, they pay each other the difference between the points after each game. For example:
Anna has 2 points
Bob has 12
Celine has 34
Dominic has 18
Bob pays Anna 10 units (12-2), receives 22 (34-12) from Celine and 6 (18-12) from Dominic. Anna, in addition to the 10 already received from Bob, also receives 32 from Celine and 16 from Dominic. Celine pays Dominic 16 units. As a result, we get:
Anna got 58 units
Bob got 18 units
Celine lost 70 units
Dominic lost 6 units
This was a typical calculation. But since such a calculation in a living environment is quite complicated, it is often simplified. For example, you can agree that the winner will receive one chip from each loser. This option is offered by the game Kko-li-but-i-gi. But what if the number of points is the same? In the classical calculation there is no such problem and the players simply do not pay each other. If you exchange chips, then the player with the lower hand in this case gets an advantage, the lowest hand belonging to the first player. Such an advantage of the “lower hand” is found in other games as well.
In addition, in the game of Kko-li-but-i-gi, only the player with the highest number of points pays the winner. Other players only pay if they score more than 30 points.
Counting points in Ce Deng is complicated because of bonuses. If the player finishes the game cleanly – i.e. played all eight dominoes and discarded none, then the points he receives are multiplied by two. There is also the Head-7-Tail-8 rule. The Head is the first player, and all the others are called Tails. If the Head discards seven dominoes, or if the Tail discards all eight dominoes, i.e. did not play any, then the points he pays are multiplied by two. Sometimes the Heads-8-Tails-7 rule is replaced by the more strict Heads-6-Tails-7 rule. The reason why the number of Heads is one less than that of Tails is obvious: in any case, the Head will play the first tile, that is, he cannot even theoretically discard all eight tiles. In case someone finished the game cleanly, and the other player is a subject to the Heads-Tails rule, then the points that one pays to the other are multiplied by four (multiplied by two for a clean game and again by two for Heads-Tails). In addition, in the game of Ce Deng, if someone has at least seven doubles in their hands during the deal, then there is a redeal.
Let’s summarize:
- The classic calculation involves the payment between the players based on the difference in domino dots.
- In the game of Kko-li-but-i-gi, usually only one loser pays the winner. Also, this game offers a simplified option of paying with chips.
- The Ce Deng game offers penalties and bonuses for certain situations.
- In disputed cases, the advantage is in the lower hand, the first hand being the lowest.
Smaller amount of players
The previous rules apply to four players. What if there are fewer players?
Each game offers its own solution. The easiest solution is offered by Ce Deng – the number of players is strictly defined there – it’s exactly four.
In Kko-li-but-i-gi, doubles from [3:3] to [6:6] are removed from the deck , making a deck of 24 tiles. If three people play, then each gets eight tiles, if two – then 12. I want to note that Kko-li-but-i-gi is a Korean game. The Chinese would not allow such arbitrariness as taking double sixes from the deck, as they symbolize Heaven. But we will talk about the symbolism of GuPai later.
In Jie Long, no tiles are removed. If there are three players, then each takes 10 tiles (2 remain closed and are not played). If there are two players, then 16 tiles are given to each.
Let me remind you – since some tiles are put aside during the game and are not played further, it is impossible to know exactly which tiles are in the opponent’s hands.
Another connecting game is DingNiu (Bull Fighting), but a separate page will be devoted to this game.
Sources
Chinese Wikipedia all games except for Kko-li-but-i-gi
Culin’s description of Kko-li-but-i-gi
Description of the games at Pagat
Chinese Dominoes GuPai 