The Basics of Fan Tan
The phrase "Fan Tan" was a term I'd not heard of before. I went on Google and typed the word into the search box and was able to get a few results. A few sites had photos of the real thing but no other details. It was odd that so little information was available. I then decided to look further into the source of the term to ensure I could know more about it.
According to the dictionary of etymology, the word's origin is "a tan or streak of dark brown." This tells me that the word originates from a form of gambling that was that was played by the Egyptians. If you look to the beginning of time you will find that the Egyptians were playing the game with the same Fan Tan formula which is employed for the game played today. You probably know that brown and black are lucky colours for players of the game. Infractions to this or ignoring this rule can result in losing the game.
The majority of the early documents I could find that mentioned the origin of the word "fan Tan" were in the ancient Chinese books and newspapers. Although I'm not certain whether they were referring to the Taninese version or the original Chinese Fan Tan of the term, it does give me some clues about the meaning behind the name. This is important as most people associate the name's source to gambling or Chinese games.
The first writings in the early writings discuss the origins of "fan Tan-Tan" and are originated from Northern China. In this region, you'll discover the majority of gambling games that feature an old Chinese theme. The roulette games, for example, are set within the Northern Chinese style. They are very popular in Chinatown, where you will see a lot of people playing.
The Northern regions of China are where the roots of "Fan Tan-tan" which is the name given to the phrase, actually lies. Locals would wager on high-stakes games. In the majority of cases it was an online game of rice or something similar to that. The gamblers would bet to earn money through winning.
The issue in the Northern Chinese style of gambling is that the amount of money that was paid out was not very substantial. If you won a lot of money, you may believe that luck would run in the wilds, but as there wasn't very much money to be won, it didn't occur. It was only during the period when earnings weren't so excessive that people started to make bigger bets. The purpose behind this was to make sure that you had at least an opportunity to win something through your Fan Tan.
Nowadays, we use the term "Fan Tan" to refer to making bets on several stakes. It is a variant of the game that was originally played but one rule that has been changed: the bets have to be placed on at minimum four distinct bets. Fan Tan can't be done with one hand. It can also not be performed on four different objects. The principle is a bit complicated, but it's easy enough to grasp - the object must be either shorter or four inches long. Each bet gets its own classification, making it simple to keep track of.
You don't have to quit playing Fan Tan, but it is necessary to play it on an even smaller scale. If you're only playing only one hand at a time, then you can easily concentrate on the more important things like doubling your chips, winning big pots and making credits for games you take part in. It is important to ensure that you're at two times more likely to win when you have five hands. However, there are exceptions for odd numbers. If you are playing a complete five-card game, then you must place all of bets on three of the five cards of the same suit.