Tian jiu

History

Equipment

Chinese dominoes are believed to have developed in the 12th or 13th century and are used to play many types of games.  They are still used today for a variety of games, including the gambling game “Pai gow” that is popular in casinos.  The Chinese domino set consists of 32 tiles, with each tile have pips at each end representing the faces of a six-sided die (1-6).  This results in 21 unique pairings of numbers, but eleven of these pairings are repeated, resulting in a total of 32 tiles.  This differs from “Western” dominoes which include blanks (zero pips), resulting 28 unique tiles, and they do not repeat.  “Western” dominoes first appeared in Italy in the 18th century.

Name of the Game

The full name in hanzi is  “鬥天九” which is romanized in Mandarin as “Dòu tiān jiǔ”  and translates as “Playing Heaven and Nine.”  The name is frequently shortened to simply “Tian jiu" [天九] or "Heaven Nine."  Stewart Culin, a 19th century American ethnographer, rendered the name in Cantonese as “Tá t’ín kau” though more modern Cantonese writers usually render it as “Tien Gow” or less frequently as “Tin gau.”

Rules source

While the existence of Chinese dominoes in the SCA period is well-established, documentation of rules for the games can be quite scarce or at least, difficult to research in English.

Tian jiu is first described in 1610 in “Xu Yezi Pu” (“A Sequel to a Manual of Leaves”) by Pan Zhiheng, a merchant-scholar from Anhui Province in the Late Ming Period.  In the manual, Pan Zhiheng describes the game as having been brought over from Guangling (now known as Yangzhou) by another merchant-scholar who said it was played in Zhejiang Province.  This would would make a strong case for the game to have already existed for some time prior to 1610, making it plausible for the late SCA period.  

The rules described in “Xu Yezi Pu” are slightly different from those found in 19th and 20th century Cantonese sources.  First, the two suits were originally known as “Chinese” (Hua) [華] and “Barbarians” (Yi) [夷].  Later, during the Qing period (1644-1911), the suit names were changed to Civil (文) and Military (武)  to avoid offending the ruling Manchus.  Second, the older rule set also allows for two or three player games.  Third, the older rules only allow single or paired dominoes for each trick, while the later game allows triplets and quartets.  Fourth, there are some differences in how the dominoes are ranked for purposes of winning a trick.

Gameplay

Setup

This game is for 2 to 4 players.

1. Players select a dealer, usually via a dice roll. The dealer places some kind of marker in front of them to indicate they have that role for the round.

2. The dominoes are all turned face down and shuffled. It is common for all players to participate in the shuffle by gently moving the dominoes around to scramble their position.

3. The dealer stacks the dominoes into a “woodpile” that is 4 tiles high and 8 wide. They then deal out dominoes from the woodpile according to the number of players:

   1. For 4 players, each player gets 8 dominoes, with none left over.

   2. For 3 players, each player gets 9 dominoes, with 5 left over as the “camp.” The “camp” left face down and may not be looked at by anyone.

   3. For 2 players, each player gets 13 dominoes, with 6 left over as the “guard.” The “guard” left face down and may not be looked at by anyone.

4. Players hold their dominoes in some manner so they cannot be seen by the other players. Some thick dominoes can be stood on their ends in front of the player, but usually a stand of some kind is needed.

Play

The dealer leads the first “trick,” after which the winner of each trick leads the next.

A trick is led by placing either a single domino (singleton) or a pair of them in the center face up. A pair must be of one of the appropriate combinations specified below.

Each player in turn plays the same number of dominoes to the “trick.” That is, if the lead played a singleton, the other players must also play a singleton and if they played a pair, the players must also play a pair.

A trick is won by the player who has played the highest ranking single or pair of the correct suit (see Ranking, below). If a player does not have the right dominoes to win the trick, they must still put the correct number of dominoes into the trick, but they may use any dominoes they hold, and they must play them face down. Those placed face down are not revealed. The winner of the trick takes them and must lead the next trick.

Play continues until all the dominoes are used up. The winner of the last trick becomes the next dealer, and puts the marker in front of them.

An optional rule is that if a player has not won any tricks so far, they cannot win the last trick. This appears to be alluded to in the 1610 manual (mention of a rule called qiang jie [搶結] or “rushing to conclude”), and is an established rule in the modern game.

Scoring

Players who win a trick are awarded chips based on what they played to win it.

Pair of 6/6 and 6/6, aka “Heavens” = 4 Chips.

Pair of 6/3 and 5/4, aka “Nines” = 4 Chips

Pair of 4/2 and 2/1, aka “Supreme Pair” = 3 Chips

All others = 1 Chip

Additionally, the winner of the last trick is awarded 5 chips.

“Xu Yezi Pu” does not specify how the chips are used, such as for gambling money or some other goal over the course of multiple hands.  These are likely left to the players to decide on what kind of game they wish to play.  One suggestion is to play multiple hands until a certain number of chips has been won by a particular player.  Later Cantonese rules contain specifics on gambling payouts, even referring to the dealer as "banker."

Ranking

One of the trickier aspects of the game is determining who wins a trick.  Chinese dominoes have a ranking system as well as “suits” which are not readily apparent from the tiles themselves.

The Chinese suit has two of each tile, while the Barbarian suit has one of each. This means a valid pair from the Chinese suit will always consist of two identical tiles, while valid Barbarian pairs will be different, but each tile will have pips which add up to 9, 8, 7, or 5.  The exception is the Barbarian pair of 4/2 and 2/1, which total 9 when added together.

When a singleton or pair is played, only dominoes from the same suit can beat it (with one exception), if they have a higher rank.  Additionally for the Chinese suit, if the trick is lead with a singleton or pair from the “Back Team” (see below) it cannot be defeated by those from the Front Team.  It can only be defeated by dominoes from the Middle or Back team if they are of a higher rank.  (NOTE:  This rule is unique to the older ruleset and may need some playtesting to clarify)

For the Chinese suit, single dominoes and pairs are ranked in this order:

Front Team: 

• 6/6

• 1/1

• 4/4

• 1/3

Middle Team: 

• 5/5

• 3/3

• 2/2

Back Team: 

• 5/6

• 4/6

• 1/6

• 1/5

For the Barbarian suit, single dominoes are ranked in this order, with some being considered equal rank (ties go to whichever was played first)

• 3/6 or 4/5

• 2/6 or 3/5 

• 2/5 or  3/4 

• 2/4

• 1/4 or 2/3

• 1/2

For pairs with the Barbarian suit, the ranking is similar except that 2/4 and 1/2 form a pair which defeats all the rest:

• 1/2 and 2/4

• 3/6 and 4/5

• 2/6 and 3/5

• 2/5 and 3/4

• 1/4 and 2/3

The (1/2, 2/4) pair is a special pairing called “Supreme” [至尊].  In “Xu Yezi Pu” it is stated that it is “invincible because of the 9...Holding these two dominoes, other barbarians cannot subdue them” leading to the ranking above.  However, it later states “the Barbarian nine(s) (3/6, 4/5 or 1/2, 2/4) should not lead in the first round, worrying about being subdued by the Chinese 'heaven'”  This would seem to imply that, at least if a nine leads the trick, the pair of double sixes would still win.  This rule is worthy of further investigation and testing.  In the later rule sets, (6/6, 6/6) does not defeat (3/6, 4/5), and the Supreme pair always wins if it leads the trick, but always loses if played against another pair and so must be discarded face down instead.

I intend to eventually make a quick reference sheet with pictures of the tiles and their names in English and Chinese.

Sources

• Lo, Andrew (2003). "Pan Zhiheng's 'Xu Yezi Pu' - Part 2". The Playing-Card. 31 (6): 281–284.  This a translation of the original Ming period text with commentary and comparison to the modern game.  A scan of this article was graciously provided to me by Barnabas Townshend, archivist for the International Playing-Card Society that publishes this journal.

• Lo, Andrew (2003). "Pan Zhiheng's 'Xu Yezi Pu' - Part 1". The Playing-Card. 31 (5): 221–229.  Facsimile obtained from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

• Lo, Andrew (2002). "The 'Yezi Pu' (Manual of Leaves): a card manual for games of the late Ming period [1368-1644]". The Playing-Card. 31 (2): 86–96.  Facsimile obtained from the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

• Celko, Joe, Anthony Kam, and John McLeod. Tien Gow at Pagat.com

• Culin, Stewart (1895). Chinese games with dice and dominoes. Washington, D.C.: United States Government Publishing Office. pp. 514–516.