Bull Fighting

Known as Tau Ngau in Cantonese.  An ancient Chinese gambling game played with a Chinese domino set, two dice to determine order of play, and stakes.  Three to six players actually take part in game-play, but any number of onlookers may make side bets..

Play:

A player rolls two dice then counts off each player, in an anticlockwise direction, until they reach the total of the dice, and the last player counted becomes the banker.

The banker stacks the tiles in a "woodpile" consisting of a row of stacks-of-five, and sets a limit on betting.  Players place their bets, then the banker deals each player a hand of five tiles from the woodpile.

Players now discard three tiles from their hand, which must total a multiple of ten.  The 2-4 and 1-2 tiles are wild and may each represent a total of either 3 or 6.  If the banker can't make the discard because they don't have three tiles totalling a multiple of ten, he pays off all the other players who have made their discard, with any other players who haven't discarded, taking their bets back.

Players' remaining two tiles are then totalled with the tens ignored and only the units taken as the player's score.  For example, if a player's two tiles total 16 they score 6; if the two tiles total 12 they score 2.  The banker now pays out to all players who have a higher unit score than he does.  In the event of the banker and a player having an equal score, neither wins and the bet is taken back.

A new round is played as before with the player to the banker's right becoming the new banker as long as the old banker made his discard.  If not, the banker retains the position.

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