CALIFORNIA/ASIAN-STYLE GAMES

Pai Gow Tiles

Pai Gow Tiles is played with a set of 32 Chinese dominoes or tiles, and up to eight players can play. The dealer shuffles the tiles face down and stacks them into eight piles of four high. The player-dealer selects a pile of tiles to start the distribution then shakes three dice in a dice cup. Using the sum of the dice, the player-dealer counts around the positions at the table counter-clockwise to determine who receives the first hand and begins the action.

Each player receives a stack of four tiles distributed in a counter-clockwise rotation. If the player position is vacant, the hand is discarded. Each player, including the player-dealer, forms the four tiles into two pairs. If both the player's pairs rank higher than the player-dealer's, the player wins. If neither of the player's pairs rank higher than the player-dealer's, the player-dealer wins. And if just one pair ranks higher, it is a push. If the player and the player-dealer have the same tiles, the player-dealer wins.

The object of the game is to look for and form the hands as follows: Gee Joon; Bo (matched and unmatched pairs); Wong (double six or double one pair up with nine); Gong (double six or double one pair up with eight); double six or double one pair up with seven; and making both hands as close to nine or as balance as possible.

Gee Joon
The highest possible pair is Gee Joon (supreme pair), which is made up of the two tiles 4-2 and 2-1. The 4-2 and 2-1 are the two "wild cards" and can be used as either a three or a six when making pairs.

Bo
Under the Gee Joon are the pairs (Bo), which can be made up of matched or unmatched tiles that have the same totals. Their ranking from high to low are:

Pair	Name
6-6 & 6-6	Heaven
1-1 & 1-1	Earth
4-4 & 4-4	Man
3-1 & 3-1	Goose
5-5 & 5-5	Flower
3-3 & 3-3	Long
2-2 & 2-2	Board
6-5 & 6-5	Hatchet
6-4 & 6-4	Partition
6-1 & 6-1	Long Leg Seven
5-1 & 5-1	Big Head Six
6-3 & 5-4	Jaap Gow - mixed nine
6-2 & 5-3	Jaap Bart - mixed eight
5-2 & 4-3	Jaap Chut - mixed seven
4-1 & 3-2	Jaap Ng - mixed five

Wongs
The next level of hands beneath Bo are called Wongs. They are a nine paired with a double six or double one. The double six combinations rank higher than the double one combinations.

6-6 & 6-3

6-6 & 5-4

1-1 & 6-3

1-1 & 5-4

Gongs
The third level of hands are called Gongs. They are an eight paired with a double six or double one. The double six combinations rank higher than the double one combinations.

6-6 & 6-2

6-6 & 5-3

6-6 & 4-4

1-1 & 6-2

1-1 & 5-3

1-1 & 4-4

Other Hands

If you do not have any of the above hands, add up all the dots on the two tiles and take the total, modulus ten (i.e. keep the last digit of the total as your score).

Breaking Ties

In the event of a tie, the ranking is settled based on individual tile values. Their ranking from high to low are:

Tile(s)	Name		Tile(s)	Name
6-6	Teen		6-1	Tit
1-1	Day		5-1	Look
4-4	Yun		6-3 & 5-4	Gow
3-1	Gor		6-2 & 5-3	Bot
5-5	Mooy		6-1 & 5-2	Chu
3-3	Chong		4-2	Luk (part of Gee Joon)
2-2	Bon		4-1	Ng
6-5	Foo		3-2	Ng
6-4	Ping		2-1	Saam (part of Gee Joon)