Chinese culture is super-rich, inspiring and has been practised for hundreds of years. You can see their culture in the way they dress, what they eat, their music and monumental buildings. But, did you know that there are also casino games inspired by Chinese culture? Not surprising for a nation filled with so much tradition and passion.
Top Chinese Inspired Casino Games
So, what are these games and how are they played? We’ve handpicked a few of the most popular games that you can enjoy at casinos and even at home with friends and family.
Keno
Keno is a lottery-style casino game that you can play both online and at a land-based casino. State lotteries also have keno as one of the gaming options. The game uses a container filled with numbered round balls, keno cards (with numbers 1 through 80) and a facilitator if you’re playing keno at an actual casino venue.
Your job is to guess the 10 (or 20 in some cases) numbers that will be drawn, or selected by the random number generator. You pre-select these numbers on your keno card and cash in your keno ticket once the draw is finished and you’ve won.
They say that keno was developed during a time of outrage in China. Funds accumulated from the game saved an ancient city from ruins and helped fund the Great Wall of China too.
Pai Gow
Pai Gow and Pai Gow Poker are two unique casino games with Chinese origins. Pai Gow is played with Chinese dominoes whereas Pai Gow Poker uses playing cards. In the game, you receive 7 cards which must be split into two separate hands. You must then use standard poker hand rankings to build the best possible hands in order to win.
Chinese Themed Slots
Slot games are extremely popular at casinos around the world. They come in a variety of formats, payouts, themes and designs. Asian inspired slots come in abundance. You can enjoy titles such as: Spirit of Zen, Sakura Fortune, Year of the Dog, Koi Princess, 100 Pandas, Geisha Story, Red Mansions, Thai Flower and many more.
Mahjong
Mahjong has roots deeply buried in Chinese soil. The downside for anyone who enjoys Mahjong is that its only available at few casinos. The game uses a set of 136 tiles which you must match together. The tiles are made up of 36 characters, 36 bamboos, and 36 circles. The game is played with four people, and every player will receive 14 tiles each made up of mixed characters, bamboos and circles.
Your goal is to get a mahjong. A mahjong is a collection of 14 tiles that are paired into four sets of like tiles, and a single pair. A pair in this instance refers to two identical tiles e.g. 2 bamboos. Sets can be made up of three like tiles which we call a pung, or a chow which is tiles that follow in consecutive order, and belong to the same suit. Every set must be unique, meaning the same tile cannot appear in two sets.
