The World of Black & White Buttons
Fan Tan, also known as "FAN'ee-an", is another popular Chinese casino game. The game gained a lot of attention in the mid-19th century. The first reference that can be found for it is in the Zhu Zhuang Dynasty's State Administration newspaper. In the mid-20th century the game was transformed into a game. It is also often called Tan Gao (Chinese Fan) or Tan Sheng (Chinese Fan).
Fan Tan is also known by the several names listed above. In America, this is commonly called Tan Heung (Taiwanese Fan) or Tan Maori (Malaysian Fan). Fan Tan is a simplified version of Tan Fung. You can play this in two ways. One group is hidden in a dark room and makes key rolls, while the other group hides in a different room and makes pushes with an unintentionally concealed wand. Blindfolded player in second group must track down player groups and make pushes using wands hidden in the background or beads against walls.
In Macau however, Fan Tan is calling Tan Sheng or Tai Chi Chuan (Chinese Fan). Macau casinos offer a variant of this game at weekends in their Family Fun Park Macba (pronounced "moba") Park. Macau is a name that translates to "bay". There aren't any real distinctions between these two games other that the usage of the word "Bay" as well as the names given to the casinos.
Like many traditional Chinese casino games betting is dependent on luck. The house attempts to find a number based on the arrangement of the cards. They then try to place a bet at least as many times as they can and hope that the right number is found. The house doesn't have to divulge their betting secret. In fact, they may prefer to keep it secret if it's not. The gambling houses will not teach you the secrets of the trade. They will teach you their gambling techniques and you can try them with your pals on the internet or in your home.
You should make a few bets prior to begin playing Fan Tan at Macau's family fun park. You can put a small bamboo stick, preferably covered with fabric or a soft material at the the long handle of the hand rail and then place it on your leg. The player with the highest number of hands at the conclusion of the game wins. You might be able to place a small amount of money on the table to random picks. Check with your dealer to confirm.
If you aren't keen on betting on a slot machine, you can try one of the many slot machines on Chinese gambling houses. Five symbols are used in the Fan Tan game. When they are placed in a specific arrangement, they create an image that represents a number. There are seven types of Fan Tan colors. You can switch your hands by flipping over one of the cards in the deck. If you win, you flip your hand and then arrange the seven symbols one more. Continue this process until you have reached the correct arrangement. Although it may sound simple however, experienced players recognize the odds and determine which combinations of seven will win the most.
After you have viewed your odds, you can play Fan Tan in the casinos that are located in the city, or travel to Macau to visit the many casinos on the streets that provide online betting. Chinese style buttons, both white and black, are utilized in these games as well as simple slips of paper which are marked with symbols and numbers. The number on the card is used to record the calls made by the player using the white buttons. These symbols are used to place bets, and are revealed when the ball spins on an electric rail. If the gambler is right, they will get their money back, but when they're wrong, they lose it all!
When you're done playing, the customer can take their finger off the number pad and glance at the number on the screen. This is the amount of money that the player will receive back. Online betting is done through an encrypted server, so no one is able to see you making a bet. Your anonymity is kept safe and your privacy is protected; exactly like the local casino! Fan Tan makes it even easier to make use of your debit or credit card to deposit money and pay out.