Chin-Chin; Or, The Chinaman at Home

by Ki-tong Tcheng

SECOND GAME—FISHING

This game is played by three players.

The cards are divided into eight packs of fourteen cards each, and eight cards remain over. The dice indicate which three packs are to be placed in the box. Two packs are chosen at haphazard, and are added to the eight cards that remained over.

A second cast of the dice determines the distribution of the three remaining packs, which each player is to take.

The player who takes the last of these three packs must spread out on the table, face upwards, and according to their values, all the cards in the pack which is composed of the two selected packs, together with the eight cards that remained over, so that all the players can see what they are, just as is the case with the dummy at whist.

In reward for his trouble, the rule of the game awards him a privilege. He receives, at once, the top card in the box, which otherwise he would only have had later on, and so he knows at once what card to expect.

The first to play takes one of the cards in his hand to fish for one of the cards, which he hopes will be the same number (it is not necessary that it should have the same picture) on the table with it. He then draws another card from the bottom of the pack in the box. Each of the other players does the same in turn. If the dummy is dead, that is to say, if none of its cards is of the number you want, you do not fish, but you throw out a card—or hook—without taking anything.

When all the cards have been drawn, each player counts his sets he is able to make up out of the cards he has fished. These sets are the same as in the preceding game, with the exception of number V. and number VI., which do not exist in this game. Each card in set number I. counts as thirteen points; in set number II., for twelve points; in set number III., for eleven points; in set number IV., for thirteen points; and in set number VII., for ten points. Outside the sets each card is worth only the same number of points as its numerical value. The first card is worth one, the second two, and so on.