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Sky9 (Tin Gau) Game Rules
1. Author's Comment
General
comment
This
is not an easy game because there is no simple logic for one to memorize the
tiles. Besides, it seems there are
too many special rules. Therefore,
there are help function built in the game to remind you what the tiles are and
there is a comprehensive review and score calculation available after the
completion of each sub-game (tap the statistics button). At the beginning stage, I would suggest
you simply remember the fundamental rule and try the game. You will enjoy it and pick up the
special rules after other CPU participants play the tricks.
What
is the drive for learning this game?
This
is Chinese culture; the “Descendant of Dragon” or those who are interested in
Chinese culture should not miss it.
This is not just a simple game but it requires you to use your wisdom to
plan and predict what others are doing.
You will enjoy it if you find yourself can predict the trend and use the
tiles with lower ranking to win the game.
Besides, the unit scores are increased with the number of continuous
game won. It is quite
exciting. You can get more fun if
you know how to speculate and caught other players. Moreover, each sub-game is quick and you don't need to wait
for long before you have chance to play another set of tiles.
Registered
versions can also change the name of opponents to your friends and family
members. Your parents will find it
enjoyable and bring back their memory.
Comparison
with Bridge
a) Similarity
· must follow the suit and combination of tiles
· must surrender the same number of tiles if your have
got no tile to play
· there is a benchmark requirement, i.e. at least you
have to win 4 units
b) Difference
·
there is 2 suits only but the leader can
play up to 4 valid combination of tiles at a time
·
there is a requirement for you to
participate at the last round. If
one has surrender 7 tiles, the last tile has to be surrendered automatically
whatever how large it is
·
wining more tiles does not mean you will
be the final winner; the final tile is the gist.
·
there is special tiles combination
called Royal
·
there is a rule for people to speculate
and allow them to be caught by its counterpart
·
the 32 tiles are not symmetric {22 are
civilian tiles and 10 are military tiles ("6" and "3" are
odd tiles)}
Common
Misunderstanding
· Sky9 is not a simple-minded game for gambler
· "CC7" cannot be beaten by "B88"
even though "B88" has a higher ranking. It is because they have different combination of suits. "CC7" can only be beaten by
"BB8" or "AA9".
· “A” and “9”; “B” and “8”; “C” and “7”; “D” and
“5”. There are four groups. The members of each group cannot be
interchanged.
· There is "A9", "B8" and
"C7" but there is no "D6". "D" is accompanied with "5";
"6" and “3” are odd tiles.
2. Tile Profile / History
Civilian Tile Military
Tile
4-tile
combination
For those players who do not understand Chinese language:
Since
it is difficult to translate the exact meaning of the “Civilian tiles”, I
simply name it by alphabetical order (from ‘A’ to ‘K’) in the game.
With
the help from friends over the world and the reference as listed below, I would
like to give you some idea about the story behind.
In
ancient China, the officers who help the Emperor are generally classified into
two categories, “Secretariats” and “Military officers”.
For
“Secretariats”, they take care of the operations of the empire and help the
emperor to manage the civilians, etc.
Therefore, these tiles are more or less related to the nature and daily
life.
These
tiles exist since 1120 AD and some of these are gradually evolve with another
names but its appearance remains unchanged. The civilian tiles’ meanings (each kind has 2 identical
tiles) are as follows:
‘A’ – Sky/ Heaven (two pieces containing 24 dots, figures of the 24 solar periods in Chinese calendar)
‘B’ – Earth (two pieces containing 4 dots, it
represents 4 points of the compass - east, west, south, and north)
‘C’ – Man (two pieces containing 16 dots, it represents the virtues of humanity, benevolence, propriety, and wisdom, four-fold)
‘D’ – Harmony (many people call it "Goose" now because its pronounciation in Mandarin are similar; two pieces containing 8 dots, figures the breath of harmony, which pervades the eight divisions of the year)
‘E’
– Plum (each five-dots represents a plum; each tile has two plums)
‘F’
– Long-three (also called Long-sleeve Cloth; it is a clone shape)
‘G’ – Wooden Chair (the four-dot represents the legs
of the chair – what you see if you turn the chair upside-down)
‘H’
– Tiger-head (many people call it “Axe” now because its pronounciation in
Madarin are similar) (it is a clone shape)
‘I’
– Red-hat-ten (also called the curtain with red painting on the top – a clone
shape)
‘J’
– Tall-seven
‘K’
– Short-six
The
name of some tiles like “Harmony”, “Long-three” and “Tiger-head” are gradually evolved
to “Goose”, “Long-sleeve Cloth” and “Axe”. Its corresponding pronounciation in Mandarin is quite
similar.
For
‘A’ - ‘C’, people in ancient China perceive “Sky” and “Earth” are the most
important things in their life; “Man” lives on the earth and under the
sky. These are the three most
important entities in Chinese’s philosophy.
For
‘D’, “Harmony” is what human wants.
Later on, its name evolved to “Goose” in Chinese.
For
‘E’ - ‘I’, “Plum”, “Long-sleeve Cloth”, “Wooden Chair”, “Axe” and “Red Hat Curtain”
are the most common entities in people’s daily lives.
For
‘J’ – ‘K’, the meaning of these two tiles are not detailed in literature.
For “Military officers”, army plays an important in the age of emperor. The number of dots in “Military Tile” represents their ranking. The top rank is the 2 tiles with 9 dots and the lowest rank it the single tile with 3 dots.
Some history quoted from the book “Chinese Origin Of Playing Tiles”
by W.H. Wilkinson
(quote)
It
is perfectly clear, indeed, that all that was done or asked for in 1120 was an
imperial decision as to which of several forms or interpretations of the game
now known as T'ien-kiu ("Heavens and Nines") was to be considered
orthodox. The game and the tiles must have been in existence long before. The
passage from the Cheng-tza-t'ung runs thus (s.v. pa'i):
Also
ya p'ai now the instruments of the game. A common legend states that in the
second year of the Hsuan-ho, in the Sung dynasty [i.q. 1120 AD], a certain
official memorialized the throne, praying that the ya p'ai (ivory tiles) be
fixed as a pack of 32, comprising 127 pips [sic, it should be 227, but Chinese
printers are careless], in order to accord with the expanse of the stars and
constellations. The combination 'heaven' [6/6, 6/6] consisted of two pieces,
containing 24 pips, figures of the 24 solar periods; 'earth' [1/1, 1/1] also
composed two pieces, but contained 4 pips, the 4 points of the compass - east,
west, south, and north; 'man' [4/4, 4/4] two pieces, containing 16 pips, the virtues
of humanity, benevolence, propriety, and wisdom, four-fold; 'harmony' [1/3,
1/3] two pieces of 8 pips, figuring the breath of harmony, which pervades the
eight divisions of the year. The other combinations had each their names. There
were four players having eight tiles apiece for their hand, and the tiles won
or lost according as the number of the pips was less or in more the winner
being rewarded with counters. In-the time of Kao-tsung [1127-1163] pattern
packs were issued by imperial edict. They were known throughout the empire as
Ku p'ai, 'bone p'ai;' but it does not follow that this class of games, po-sai,
Ko-wu, and the rest originated in the reign of Hsuan-ho.
(end
quote)
Ya
Pai (ivory) and Ku Pai (bone) were the names of the Sky9 (Tin Gau (Cantonese)
or Tien Gow (Mandarin)) tiles in Sung Dynasty.
3. Game Rules
3.1) Basic Rules
The objective of the game is to win at the last
round and maximize the score.
There are 32 tiles in total, which are classified into two suits, i.e.
11 pairs of civilian
tiles (total 22) and 10 military
tiles.
There are 4 players and everyone get 8 tiles. Each sub-game has several rounds and each round is led by the winner of last round (namely Banker).
For Royal (only leader
can play these tiles), no tiles can beat it and one can get 2 unit score from
other players whoever the final winner is.
You can play 1-4 tiles in any of the above
combination.
To win the game, one must win at the last round
and with at least 2 tiles.
In turn, you will be forced to surrender the last tile if you lost 7
tiles out of 8 already.
3.2) Who Play First?
For the very first game, a player will be randomly
chosen to play tiles first. The
one who follow him will be the "assumed leader" / “banker”. Follower must either surrender
the same number; or play the same combination of suits.
3.3) Ways to Win the Game
You can double the game score by using the smallest
to conclude the game. Of course,
you bear the risk of being caught by its counterpart. (please refer to section 3.4)
For Royal, unit score is multiplied by 2. No risk.
For 4-tile combination, unit score is multiplied by
4. The risk is similar to the case
with the smallest. (please refer
to section 3.4)
Full house requires you to win all tiles. But if you are the leader in the first
round, you must not win by using the largest or Royal.
If you win the last round using the largest, or the
smallest, or Royal or 4-tile combination, it is called Perfect
Full House.
Unit score for Full House is multiplied by 2 (For
perfect one, the multiplier is 8 (if conclude by 4-tile combination), or 4
(otherwise)).
3.4) Special Rules – Speculation
If one is speculating by using the smallest
and 4-tile
combination, they risk themselves of being caught. To speculate to get more scores using
the smallest,
one must make sure its counterpart is not already played. Otherwise it is not a valid speculation,
i.e. no extra bonus even you win.
Once caught by "J" or "6", first
catcher will be the winner even though the follower may have a tile with higher
ranking of same suit. Speculating
using 4-tile
combination, its counter-part is their brothers with higher rank. For example, “DD55” can only be caught
by “AA99”, “BB88” or “CC77”.
The failed speculator must pay the loss of the other
two players to current winner.
Besides, unit score will further be doubled.
3.5) Special
Rules – Unofficial Game Rules
These
rules are not official but it is common and optional. Therefore, one must discuss with other players before
the game starts.
Royal:
o
Somebody consider a pair of “KK” should not be treated as Royal, only
“63” does.
o
When it is treated as Royal, some players choose to allow “JJ” to catch “KK”. Therefore, “KK” sometimes called as
“Fake Royal”. In case it is caught
by “JJ” in the last round, the score calculation
will be similar to the situation of single “K” to be caught by single “J”.
Straight-win Tiles:
o
Some people allows for a “Straight-win” when some special
combination of tiles on hand at the game start. The score calculation
will be regarded as a Full House depending on the tile combinations.
o
For Full House:
§
Condition 1: With at least 7 civilian tile; or at least 7 military tile;
or
§
Condition 2: With all dots in 8 tiles are white with at most 1 red dot;
or
o
For Perfect Full House
§
Condition 1: With all 8 tiles are civilian tile; or all are military
tile; or
§
Condition 2: With all dots in 8 tiles are white; or
§
Condition 3: With 4 pairs of civilian or military tile (a combination of
civilian and military tiles like “A9”, “B8”, “C7” nor “D5” are not counted)
o
In case the banker and other players get the “Straight-win” tiles at the
same time, the banker will be the winner if he chooses to declare it. After declaration, those Royal in your
tiles cannot be used to claim the special bonuses. In other words, you have to take risk and play the game in
order to get the bonus from Royal.
In the other words, you need to choose between a higher score or sure
win situation.
o
For other non-banker players, they will take turn to declare their
“Straight-win” according to the play tile sequence.
o
Sometimes people may choose not to declare it. They will forfeit their chance of sure-win to get a
potential higher score. However,
once he forfeits the right, his followers can declare their “Straight-win”
tiles. In this case, the former
one will be the loser and he can never reclaim its again.
4. Score Rules
4 is a
benchmark. Assume you lose and got x tiles. If x is less than 4, you will lose 4-x units. Conversely, you will get x-4
units from the winner. If you get none
and you will lose 5 units (+1 as penalty).
Your
unit scores will be affected by the current status of the banker. If you or your opponent won n
game continuously, your unit scores will be multiplied by n+1.
During
the game, if you are leader in any round and successfully played Royal. You can get 2 unit scores from all
players regardless who will win the game finally.
Besides,
play any of the 4-tile
combination and win, it will be regarded as 2 Royals and get
4 unit scores from other players.
Using
Royal,
the smallest and 4-tile
combination to conclude the game, you can get a higher unit score. However, unless Royal is
played, there is a risk of being caught by its counterpart.
Once
caught, the speculator must pay the loss of the other two players to
winner. Score will also be
multiplied by 2 or 4.
v
A detailed score
calculation explanation is available to the registered users. Just tap the number on the statistics
screen at the end of each game, relevant comment will pop-up.
5. About
6. Other Links
Tin Kau Game Rules with
Hints on how to memorize the tiles by C.P.Lai in the US
Tin Kau History and Rules (in
Chinese) by Edgar of Tin Kau Schoolmate
Club in Hong Kong.
The
Game of Ma-Jong (and Tin Kau) published in 1924 by Stuart Culin.
Chinese
games with dice (see Chak Tin Kau) published in 1889 by Stewart Culin.