CHINESE GAMES WITH DICE AND DOMINOES. 515 



tlie player oii his right the next li piles; the third player to the right, 

 the next two, and the fourth player the remaining rows. But if the 

 dice fall near the middle of the stack, the first player takes the 2 

 middle rows; the player on his right the piles on the right and left of 

 the middle ones, the third player the piles outside of these, and the 

 fourth player the piles at the ends. The first player leads by placing 

 1, 2, 3, or 4 pieces face up on the table. One piece of either suit may 

 be thus led, and a higher piece of the same suit will be required to 

 take it; or a pair of either suit may be led, and a higher pair of the 

 same suit will be required to take it; or one or both pieces of the first, 

 second, third, or fourth pair of one suit (see pi. 5) may be led with 

 one or both pieces of the corresx)onding pair of the other suit, and 2 

 3, or 4 pieces of corresponding higher pairs will be required to take 

 them. That is, one or both of the 6-6 may be led with one or both of 

 the pair 6-3, 4-5, and the pair of 1-1 with one or both of the pair 6-2, 5-3, 

 and vice versa. 



The other players follow from right to left, by playing as many pieces 

 as are led, putting them on top of those on the table if they are higher, 

 or beneath if they are lower than those already played. They are not 

 required to follow suit. The winner leads again, and the game is con- 

 tinued until all the dominoes have been played. The player who takes 

 the last round wins the game. He becomes the tsd ehong for the next 

 game. It is required of the winner, however, to take at least 2 tricks, 

 so that if only 1 piece is led on the last round a player who has not 

 won a trick is not allowed to take the trick, and the game goes to the 

 next higher player. Td fin kau is invariably i)layed for money. A 

 trick counts 1 point, for which any sum may be agreed upon. At the 

 end of the game the players each pay the winner according to the 

 number of tricks they have taken. The holder of 4 or more tricks pays 

 nothing; of 2 tricks, for 2 points; of 1 trick, for 3 points, and a player 

 who does not take a trick for 5 points. The first player, or tsd chong, 

 however, always pays twice the amount when he loses, and is paid 

 double when he wins, and so on throughout the game, paying and 

 receiving in every case twice as much as the other players. Should 

 the tsd chong, through winning the last round, hold his position over into 

 the next game, his gains and losses are then in the ratio of 3 to 1 to 

 those of the other i>layers. In the third game they would be as 4 to 1, 

 and so on. 



If any player except the first player wins a round with the pair 2-4 

 1-2, called chi tsiiuj the first player must pay him 4 times, and the 

 other players twice the sum agreed upon for 1 point; but if the first 

 player takes a round with the chi tsiin, the other players must pay him 

 4 times the value of a point. 



If any player except the first takes a round with 4 pieces of 2 

 corresponding pairs, the first player pays him 8 times and the other 

 ])layers 4 times the value of a point, but if the first player takes the 

 round the other players pay hmi S times the value of a point. 



