Tien Gow

Tien Gow or Tin Kau (Chinese: 天九; Cantonese: tin1 gau2; pinyin:tiān jiǔ; "Heaven and Nine") 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 civilian suit, while Nine is the top rank of the military suit. The civilian suit was originally called the Chinese (華) suit while the military was called the Barbarian (夷) suit (see Hua–Yi distinction) 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 found in playing cards. Play is counter-clockwise.

The ranks from highest to lowest are:

Throwing Heaven and Nine (掷天九) is a game of chance where players try to beat each other with a higher combination from a pair of Chinese dice with red 1 and 4 pips. Of the 21 possible combinations, 11 are ranked in a "civilian" suit and 10 are ranked in a "military" suit. After the wager is set, the banker throws the dice into a bowl which sets the suit. The banker automatically wins if he throws the highest rank (Heaven or Nine) but loses if he throws the lowest rank (Red Mallet Six or Final Three). For any other combination, the other players try to beat him by throwing a higher rank of the same suit. If they throw the wrong suit, then they get to throw again until they "follow suit". Those that throw lower than the banker will have to pay him. If there is a tie, no money is exchanged. The opponents keep throwing until one manages to beat the banker and gets paid by him. The player to the right of the banker becomes the next banker and starts the following round after new stakes are set.

In the domino games, there are two copies of each Civilian tile. They are also available in playing card format.

Turning Heaven and Nine (扭天九) is a simple two player trick-taking game of chance. The 32 dominoes are stacked in eight piles of four tiles each. The first player takes a domino from the top of a pile while the second player takes the one below it. The second player must draw a higher tile of the same suit or lose it to the first player. If she manages to do so, she will take both tiles and lead the next trick. Game continues until all tiles are exhausted. Players count the red pips in their captured tiles with the loser having to pay the difference to the winner.

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