The first playing cards that we know about came from China, and eventually led to all of the card games we know today. One of the traditional Chinese card games that has survived to the present is known as “2-7-10”, after one of the significant combinations in the game. Another game is known as “Zhen Pai”. Both are played with a traditional deck of long skinny cards known as “Zi Pai”.
"Hidden History" is a diary series that explores forgotten and little-known areas of history.
History
The earliest things that we know of that were akin to modern playing cards are from the 9th Century T’ang Dynasty in China. Known as “wine cards” and apparently making up a drinking game, these did not have numbers or suits like modern playing cards, but instead consisted of written actions which whoever drew that card had to do—such as “make the person on your left drink” or “give your drink to the person sitting across from you”.
From the Ming Dynasty in 1294 we have a record of two men being arrested in Shandong for gambling, who were caught with nine paper playing cards and with woodblocks for printing more. It is likely that these were an early form of playing cards known as “money cards”. Originally, paper money (invented in China in the 7th century) was used directly for gambling, but as laws against gaming became more strict, gamblers began using substitute cards that were numbered and had four “suits” representing single coins, a “string” of coins, a “myriad” of coins, and “tens of myriads” of coins. By the 14th century these had become standardized into a deck of 38 cards.
Other versions of playing cards appeared later. In around 1600, playing cards appeared that were in essence paper versions of dominoes, a game which had been popular in China since the 11th century Song Dynasty. In the 18th century, “Number Cards” began to appear, which used sequentially-numbered cards and varying suits which appeared in different colors. Decades later, a new version appeared with four suits which were marked by the characters representing the pieces on a Chinese chess board.
One of the numbered decks that has survived to the present day is the Zi Pai (“written-character cards”), which appeared in Sichuan Province during the Qing Dynasty in the 18th century. And this is the deck that is used to play “Er Qi Shi”, or “2-7-10”.
Equipment
The traditional Zi Pai deck consists of a series of ten cards numbered (in Chinese) from 1 to 10. These come in two suits, known simply as “big” and “small”. There are four copies of each card in each suit, making a total of 80 cards in the deck.
In the traditional Sichuan version of the deck, the small suit is written in simplified Chinese characters depicting numbers from 1 to 10, and the big suit is written in the more complex archaic ancient Chinese characters. All of the cards are printed in black except for the 2, 7 and 10 cards in both suits, which have special significance in the game and are printed in red.
In the Hunan variant of the deck, the numbers are all in simplified Chinese characters, but the small-suit cards are all printed in black and the big-suit cards are all printed in red. In the traditional Hunan style, the special 2-7-10 cards are not distinguished.
In modern play, the Hunan deck can be improvised with ordinary playing cards, using all the red and black cards from 1 to 10. Since you need 40 red and 40 black cards, you will need to use two decks of playing cards. It is easier to remember the rules if you specially mark the 2-7-10 cards with some sort of colored dot.
You may also make your own deck. Modern non-Chinese players would do better with a deck that does not require them to be able to identify the Chinese number characters, instead of the traditional Sichuan or Hunan decks. So, the deck we make here will use a combination of simplified Chinese and ordinary Arabic numerals to make them easier for Westerners to identify, and which will give the small suit in black and the big suit in red. In addition, the special “2-7-10” cards will be marked with a green spot.
Early Zi Pai decks were hand-painted on thin strips of bamboo or bark. In later times, card decks were block-printed onto thick paper, which were easier to hold in the hand and also allowed them to be mass-produced cheaply. To make such a deck quickly, you can use the template at this link for a modernized Hunan-style Zi Pai:
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Print four copies of this set out onto 8.5 x 11 heavy cardstock. To strengthen and waterproof them, cover them on both sides with strips of wide clear packing tape before cutting them out.
Some traditional decks contain a single “wild card” which can be used as any card that you desire, making an 81-card deck. This card is usually marked with a dragon or a flower.
To Play 2-7-10
2-7-10 is a game for three players.
The deck is shuffled and placed in a pile facedown on the game table. Each player then takes turns drawing one card until each player has 20 cards in their hand.
Game play in 2-7-10 is somewhat similar to the European “rummy” card games, in that the object is to assemble sets of three or four, consisting of either sets of the same number and suit, or a sequence within the same suit.
The first player picks a card from the pile. If he can then make a set, he does so, and places this set facedown on the table in front of him. If he cannot make a set, he discards the card of his choice from his hand.
If the next player can use that discarded card to make a set, he picks it up and lays down his set, face-up, on the table. (You cannot pick up a discard unless you can use it to lay down a scoring set.) Sets which are made using a card that is drawn from the pile are laid face-down to prevent other players from seeing which cards have been played, while sets that are made using someone’s discard are placed face-up so everyone can see which cards have been played.
Play continues until someone has a total of 18 points.
Scoring is as follows:
A set of three cards that are identical in number and suit is worth 1 point if they are a “small” suit and 3 points if they are a “big” suit. (These sets are known as a dui.) If the group of three is completed by a drawn card instead of someone’s discard and is placed face-down on the table, it is worth an additional 3 points.
A set of four cards that are identical in number and suit is worth 6 points if they are a “small” suit and 9 points if they are a “big” suit. (These sets are known as a kai.) If the group of four is completed by a drawn card and is face-down on the table, it is worth an additional 3 points. If you already have a group of three on the table, you can add the fourth card to it to make a four-group and gain the higher points.
Sets of three numbers of the same suit, in order, or groups of three cards of the same number but different suits, are placed on the table (face-up or face-down depending on whether it was done through a draw or from a discard), but they do not bring any points. These sets are known as a chi. The exception to this is the specific group of 2, 7 and 10 of the same suit—this combination is worth 3 points if it is a “small” suit and 6 points if it is a “big” suit. If this set is completed by a drawn card and is face-down on the table, it is worth an additional 3 points.
In some versions of the rules a sequence of 1, 2, 3 in the same suit is also worth 3 points if it is a “small” suit and 6 points if it is a “big” suit, and if this set is completed by a drawn card and is face-down on the table, it is worth an additional 3 points.
The first player to reach 18 points is the winner.
Zhen Pai
Zhen Pai is a simplified version of 2-7-10 which is played using the same Zi Pai deck. It is a game for three players.
The gameplay in Zhen Pai is similar to 2-7-10, except that each player starts with 15 cards, and players can only pick up another player’s discard if it allows them to lay down a “pure” pair.
The objective of this game is to be the first player to get 8 pairs of cards, and at least 5 of these must be “pure”—two cards of the same number and suit. The remaining pairs may be “mixed”—the same number but different suits (one big and one small). Pairs (known as a jiang) are placed on the table face-up as they are formed.
NOTE: As some of you already know, all of my diaries here are draft chapters for a number of books I am working on. So I welcome any corrections you may have, whether it's typos or places that are unclear or factual errors. I think of y'all as my pre-publication editors and proofreaders. ;)