Khanhoo
Encyclopedia
Khanhoo is a non-partnership Chinese card game
of draw-and-discard structure adapted to the western taste by the British Sinologist and Consul-General in China
and Korea
in the mid 1890's, Sir William Henry Wilkinson
. Meaning "watch the pot", it belongs to the same family as Mahjong
and the mid-nineteenth century Mexican
game Conquian
, whose name probably derives from the Chinese card game Kon Khin.
Maybe as old as T'ienkeu, revised in its rules and published in an authorised edition for the information of his subjects by Emperor Kao Tsung
in 1130 AD, and very possibly the ancestor of all rummy games, it certainly divides the honour of being one of the national card games of China.
and Brazil
in 1997.
The Chinese game from which Sir Wilkinson got his inspiration is called Káan ú, and seems to have been widespread in China in the second half of the nineteenth century. In China, it is played with four 30-card decks of "money cards" also called gun pai, or "stick cards".
, being Hu (和) a state where a player has a certain combined set of Mahjong tiles
that turns out to be victorious. Winning is called hú (胡) in Chinese
. Kanhu, which is phonetically related to Khanhoo, is one of games with the terminological component Hu, there being many other games with the name Hu. The card games Mohu poker (默和牌) and Penghu poker (碰和牌) also bear the same teminology.
. The game of Madiao, which emerged and prevailed during the Ming Dynasty and was also known as the "Paper Tiger" game played with a 40-card deck and four flowers called Shiwanguan, Wanguan, Suozi, and Wenqian, wanned in the early Qing Dynasty
. But despite the fact that there were over 30 revisions on the Great Qing Legal Code
, which banned the game Madiao in 1740, the card players ignored the officials and the law code. So like this the game of Madiao was slightly modified, having the number of cards been doubled to 120 so that the set could then played in the forms of "Kan" (3 consecutive numbers), Peng (3 identical pieces) and Gand (4 identical pieces).
Although the game of Madiao is widely considered the first card game in Chinese history, many researchers in the subject contradict this theory by saying that Yezixi (叶子戏), of the Tang Dynasty
, is the first one. But this is again denied by other researchers once the game of Yezixi is asserted not to be based on paper cards, but instead on some other materials like bamboo
. It has four derivatives: Dohu (斗虎) (Kanhu) (看虎), Che Zhang (扯张), Mo He Pai (默和牌) (Mohu) and Peng He Pai (碰和牌) (Penghu). Both games, Penghu and Mohu, flourished during the Qing Dynasty, so that the game of Kanhu may probably have emerged after the beginning of Qing Dynasty and later evolved into the game of Mahjong, although this cannot be substantiated.
The three extra cards, which correspond more or less closely with the joker of our Euchre
pack, are called:
Known to the Chinese laborers as Káan ú, it is played by two or more persons with one complete pack of one hundred and twenty cards. In this game the following triplets are called ngán, "eyes":
A winning hand must contain at least one of these "eyes" and the remaining cards must be disposed in one or more of the following combinations called pát tsz, "boys". These are a sequence of three or more cards of the same suits from one to nine, or three cards of the same denomination belonging to three different suits. The aces of each of the three suits and the red flower, white flower, and old thousand have great powers and may be added to the "eyes", or to the sequences or triplets called pát tsz to form a winning hand.
The four hander can be played with one complete pack of 120 cards, plus two Jokers. If five or more play, up to five Jokers may be added.
The aim of the game is to get rid of all cards by melding them. The first player to do so is granted 5 points and the first to reach 50 wins the match, which can be achieved in two, three or four rounds of games.
If a thrown card suits any of the players, it must be melded immediately so that all the other players can see why that player needed that card. But if a player draws a card from the stock pile, it needs not to be shown until he is able to lay all his cards at once.
The smallest possible score would be 2: of 9 and 6 or of 8 and 7 cards respectively. Though sequences score so little they are of great use in filling a hand. Not only does a long sequence take up a large proportion of the 15 cards, but a sequence of more than 3 cards is exceedingly useful, as either end card can be thrown away in order to declare full hand, or used in a triplet, without spoiling the sequence.
In a three-to-four-hand game, a player calling "bump" may be challenged by any of his opponents to show his cards, and if the cards shown would not make a trick with the card thrown, 5 points are taken from his score or added to the score of each of his opponents, and the elder hand which effected the bump may take the trick into his hand as though he had not gained it by bumping. The cards shown by the offender are not, however, considered exposed and may be used to form tricks.
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
of draw-and-discard structure adapted to the western taste by the British Sinologist and Consul-General in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
in the mid 1890's, Sir William Henry Wilkinson
William Henry Wilkinson
Sir William Henry Wilkinson was a British Sinologist who served as Consul-General for H.B.M in China and Korea...
. Meaning "watch the pot", it belongs to the same family as Mahjong
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
and the mid-nineteenth century Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
game Conquian
Conquian
Conquian is a card game which probably dates back to seventeenth-century Central America, but which was popularized and extended to the United States, especially Texas, from Mexico, although this allegation is still much controversial. It was first described in detail in R. F. Foster's Hoyle in 1897...
, whose name probably derives from the Chinese card game Kon Khin.
Maybe as old as T'ienkeu, revised in its rules and published in an authorised edition for the information of his subjects by Emperor Kao Tsung
Emperor Gaozong of Song
Emperor Gaozong , born Zhao Gou, was the tenth emperor of the Song Dynasty of China, and the first emperor of the Southern Song. He reigned from 1127 to 1162. He fled south after the Jurchens overran Kaifeng in the Jingkang Incident, hence the beginning of the Southern Song dynasty 1127–1279...
in 1130 AD, and very possibly the ancestor of all rummy games, it certainly divides the honour of being one of the national card games of China.
History
In 1891 Sir Wilkinson induced the cardmaker Charles Goodall to issue a special pack of cards with accompanying booklet of rules to play Khanhoo. The deck contained two sets each of Ace through Nine of Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds, with two specially-designed Jacks, Queens and Kings standing in for the "extra cards" and two Jokers. As the years passed, his passion for the game became so great that in his last books he was designated as William Khanhoo Wilkinson, as published in a collection of fascicles issued in PortugalPortugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in 1997.
The Chinese game from which Sir Wilkinson got his inspiration is called Káan ú, and seems to have been widespread in China in the second half of the nineteenth century. In China, it is played with four 30-card decks of "money cards" also called gun pai, or "stick cards".
Terminology
Khanhoo, "看虎" (pinyin: Kanhǔ) or "看湖" (pinyin: Kanhú), seems to have its roots derived from a term in MahjongMahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
, being Hu (和) a state where a player has a certain combined set of Mahjong tiles
Mahjong tiles
Mahjong tiles are tiles of Chinese origin that are used to play many games, most notably Mahjong and Mahjong solitaire. Although they are most commonly tiles, they may also refer to playing cards with similar contents as well.- Construction :Traditionally, Mahjong tiles were made of bone, often...
that turns out to be victorious. Winning is called hú (胡) in Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
. Kanhu, which is phonetically related to Khanhoo, is one of games with the terminological component Hu, there being many other games with the name Hu. The card games Mohu poker (默和牌) and Penghu poker (碰和牌) also bear the same teminology.
Evolution
Although Kanhu may be a simplified derivative form of Madiao poker (马吊牌), Dohu, also known as Kanhu, was one of the gambling games during the Ming DynastyMing Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
. The game of Madiao, which emerged and prevailed during the Ming Dynasty and was also known as the "Paper Tiger" game played with a 40-card deck and four flowers called Shiwanguan, Wanguan, Suozi, and Wenqian, wanned in the early Qing Dynasty
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
. But despite the fact that there were over 30 revisions on the Great Qing Legal Code
Great Qing Legal Code
The Great Qing Legal Code or Qing Code was the legal code of Qing dynasty . The code was based on the Ming legal system, which was kept largely intact...
, which banned the game Madiao in 1740, the card players ignored the officials and the law code. So like this the game of Madiao was slightly modified, having the number of cards been doubled to 120 so that the set could then played in the forms of "Kan" (3 consecutive numbers), Peng (3 identical pieces) and Gand (4 identical pieces).
Although the game of Madiao is widely considered the first card game in Chinese history, many researchers in the subject contradict this theory by saying that Yezixi (叶子戏), of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
, is the first one. But this is again denied by other researchers once the game of Yezixi is asserted not to be based on paper cards, but instead on some other materials like bamboo
Bamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
. It has four derivatives: Dohu (斗虎) (Kanhu) (看虎), Che Zhang (扯张), Mo He Pai (默和牌) (Mohu) and Peng He Pai (碰和牌) (Penghu). Both games, Penghu and Mohu, flourished during the Qing Dynasty, so that the game of Kanhu may probably have emerged after the beginning of Qing Dynasty and later evolved into the game of Mahjong, although this cannot be substantiated.
Suits
The three suits in the deck are:- Tsín - Chinese coins, of the lower denomination, called by the slang name of "ping" or "cakes", from one to nine.
- Sok - strings of one hundred of each of these same Chinese coins, called "strings", from one to nine.
- Mán or "ten thousands of strings" of one thousand coins or kún, from one to nine, called mán, or ten thousands.
The three extra cards, which correspond more or less closely with the joker of our Euchre
Euchre
Euchre or eucre, is a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24 standard playing cards. It is the game responsible for introducing the joker into modern packs; this was invented around 1860 to act as a top trump or best bower...
pack, are called:
- Hung fá - "red flower".
- Pák fá - "white flower".
- Ló tsín - popularly described as "old thousand".
Known to the Chinese laborers as Káan ú, it is played by two or more persons with one complete pack of one hundred and twenty cards. In this game the following triplets are called ngán, "eyes":
- 1, 2 and 3 of cakes.
- Red flower, old thousand and 9 of strings.
- White flower, 9 of ten thousands and 8 of strings.
- 1 of ten thousands, 1 of strings and 9 of cakes.
- 2 of ten thousands, 2 of strings and 8 of cakes.
- 3 of strings, 2 of ten thousands and 8 of cakes.
- 3 of strings, 3 of ten thousands and 7 of cakes.
A winning hand must contain at least one of these "eyes" and the remaining cards must be disposed in one or more of the following combinations called pát tsz, "boys". These are a sequence of three or more cards of the same suits from one to nine, or three cards of the same denomination belonging to three different suits. The aces of each of the three suits and the red flower, white flower, and old thousand have great powers and may be added to the "eyes", or to the sequences or triplets called pát tsz to form a winning hand.
Deck
The kun p'ai pack can be adapted from two English 52-card decks, removing all cards ♠, except for the J's ♠, Q's ♠ and K's ♠, and the 10's, J's, Q's, K's ♦ ♣ ♥. Add two Jokers and you will have formed a Khanhoo 62-card deck.The four hander can be played with one complete pack of 120 cards, plus two Jokers. If five or more play, up to five Jokers may be added.
Play
Distribute 15 cards in one hand to each player and stock the remaining cards face down to the table to form a stock pile. In turn, the first player draws, melds if possible and discards one face up to the table to form a waste pile. Then the next player draws, melds if possible and discards one to the table.The aim of the game is to get rid of all cards by melding them. The first player to do so is granted 5 points and the first to reach 50 wins the match, which can be achieved in two, three or four rounds of games.
If a thrown card suits any of the players, it must be melded immediately so that all the other players can see why that player needed that card. But if a player draws a card from the stock pile, it needs not to be shown until he is able to lay all his cards at once.
Melding
| Three A's, being two of the same suit | Aces | 1 point |
| Three cards of the same suit melded in sequence | Sequence | 1 point |
| Three cards of the same rank, each one from a different suit | Triplet | 2 points |
| Six cards of the same rank | Double Triplet | 10 points |
| J ♠, Q ♠, K ♠ | Courts | 3 points |
| J’s ♠, Q’s ♠, K’s ♠ | Double Courts | 10 points |
| J ♠ + 7's ♦ | J's Royal Group | 4 points |
| Q ♠ + 8's ♣ | Q's Royal Group | 4 points |
| K ♠ + 9's ♥ | K’s Royal Group | 4 points |
| A ♥ + 2 ♣ + 3 ♦ | Khanhoo | 5 points |
| A's ♥ + 2's ♣ + 3's ♦ | Double Khanhoo | 15 points |
Scores
In a game of less than 5 players, the best possible hand would score 29 (besides 5 as full hand): Double Khanhoo (15), any Double Triplet (10) and any one of the Royal Groups (4) = 29.The smallest possible score would be 2: of 9 and 6 or of 8 and 7 cards respectively. Though sequences score so little they are of great use in filling a hand. Not only does a long sequence take up a large proportion of the 15 cards, but a sequence of more than 3 cards is exceedingly useful, as either end card can be thrown away in order to declare full hand, or used in a triplet, without spoiling the sequence.
Bump
When three or more play, any of the players may request the possession of a thrown card once he can meld it immediately, after which the game proceeds in the order of play. This action is called "bump" because one of the players is bumped by another, except when it is his turn to play and the card thrown can be melded.Penalties
The penalty for a misdeal, to be deducted from the dealer's score or added to that of each of his opponents, at the option of the latter. Dealing out of turn is not considered a misdeal, nor is the exposure of a card while dealing. In the former case the rightful dealer may claim the deal at any time before the lst card is dealt; in the latter, the player whose card is exposed may call for a new deal.In a three-to-four-hand game, a player calling "bump" may be challenged by any of his opponents to show his cards, and if the cards shown would not make a trick with the card thrown, 5 points are taken from his score or added to the score of each of his opponents, and the elder hand which effected the bump may take the trick into his hand as though he had not gained it by bumping. The cards shown by the offender are not, however, considered exposed and may be used to form tricks.
Settling
At the close of a game players may pay or receive the difference between their scores, as at Skat or Shell-out Pyramids. Thus if A wins with 52 when B stands at 49, and C and D at 47 each, A receives 3 from B and 5 each from C and D, or 13 in all - B 2 each from C and D, 4 in all, less his 3 paid to A, or a net sum of 1. C and D pay in all 7 each, 5 to A and 2 to B, receiving nothing, as they te for last place. Points may be anything, from counters to bank notes.Strategy
Khanhoo is not only a game of chance, depending on the distribution of the cards or the sequence in which the cards are being drawn. It is also a game of skill and expertise, specially in a two-handed game.Evaluation
- Consider if you have too many pip cards to go for a quick knock or if you have top ones like the 7 ♦, 8 ♣, 9 ♥, A ♥, 2 ♣, 3 ♦, enough Courts or even a Joker to take the game further.
Memorization
- Remember the cards that have already been played, so that you know which combinations can not be formed anymore.
Analysis
- Take into account that during the play many top cards may be drawn from the stock pile or thrown by the other players, changing the course of your strategy. This will force you to decide which cards should be thrown and the implication of your decision.
- Note that whomever knocks is granted 5 points and that may be crucial for the advantage in the game.
- With three, four or more players, cards that might safely be thrown in the two-hand game are often dangerous because an opponent can now bump. In such games it is most advisable to hold the two 7's ♦, the two 8's ♣ or the two 9's ♥, since the chances are that someone will throw the J, Q or K (as the case may be), enabling you to bump.
- The Joker is the most valuable card in the pack, since it may take the place of any card required, even of one all specimens of which have been played.
- The deal is not necessarily an advantage to the dealer; hence the penalty for a misdeal is a fine and not the passing of the deal.
Variation
A variation of the game can be played by using three decks comprising 90 cards, plus two Jokers, to form a new sequence of meldings.| Nine A's, three of each suit | Triple Aces | 6 points |
| Nine cards of the same suit | Triple Sequence | 3 points |
| Nine cards of the same rank, three from each suit | Triple Triplet | 9 points |
| Three J’s ♠, Q’s ♠, K’s ♠ | Triple Courts | 12 points |
| Two J’s ♠ + 7 ♦ | J's Reverse Group | 4 points |
| Two Q's ♠ + 8 ♣ | Q's Reverse Group | 4 points |
| Two K's ♠ + 9 ♥ | K's Reverse Group | 4 points |
| Three J’s ♠ + three 7's ♦ | J’s Triple Sequence | 8 points |
| Three Q’s ♠ + three 8’s ♣ | Q’s Triple Sequence | 8 points |
| Three K’s ♠ + three 9’s ♥ | K’s Triple Sequence | 8 points |
| Three A's ♥ + three 2’s ♣ + three 3's ♦ | Triple Khanhoo | 25 points |
Features
- There are only three suits in the deck: nine cards from Ace through Nine, six Courts and two Jokers, which can replace any card.
- Only the 7 ♦, 8 ♣ and the 9 ♥ with their respective Court can be used to form a Royal Group.
- In a game for three or more players, any thrown card may be requested by any of the players, having "preference" the one in the order of play sitting next to the player who threw that card.
- The game moves clockwise.
External links
- Elliott Avedon Museum & Archive of Games University of Waterloo
- Games played with Money Cards or Tiles on Pagat.comPagat.comPagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world....