Fan-Tan: The Enduring Appeal of This Classic Chinese Game

Fan Tan is a bead counting game with a gambling edge, that captivates players through fast gameplay and a myriad of betting options. It is not as mainstream as draw poker, roulette, craps, or other games that are based around similar draws of chance. But this ancient game has stood the test of time, and is quickly gaining traction in the world of online casino gaming. It is easy to master, yet can test and baffle the most seasoned players.

You don’t really need any quick arithmetic skills or advanced strategy to play Fan Tan. Though because of the wagering structure and the many possible outcomes, there are plenty of staking strategies that you can form around this game. But first, let’s start with the basics and trace back the origins of Fan Tan.

Where Fan Tan Comes From

Fan Tan dates back to the 4th century, and was played in the Northern and Southern Dynasties of China during the Qing dynasty. The guessing game was played using tokens and a cup, or container, with players betting on how many tokens were under the cup. No board or additional equipment was needed, and players could use coins, seeds, stones, or marbles as the tokens. This made it easy for people to play Fan Tan in pubs, the street, or in other centers where people could gather.

The simplicity of the game held tremendous appeal among southern regions like Guangdong, and Fan Tan soon spread across the country. Though the name Fan Tan was coined far later, in the 19th century, when Fan Tan started to spread abroad. There was a massive Cantonese emigration in the mid-19th century, at the time of the Taiping Rebellion. Fuelled by the Gold Rush in California and the Transcontinental Railroad’s construction, many Chinese communities flocked to America.

Spread of Fan Tan and Where it Stands Today

They brought many cultural games with them, including the likes of Mahjong, Pai Gow, Sic Bo, and Fan Tan. The game flourished in America, despite crackdowns and anti-gambling laws that sought to ban Fan Tan and other traditional gambling games. Though Fan Tan continued to remain an underground local game, enjoyed by the Cantonese community in the US.

Nowadays, Fan Tan is nowhere near as prominent as it once was. The game has been overtaken by modern casino games like Baccarat, Roulette, Craps and Video Poker. Among the non-gambling traditional games, Fan Tan has lost a lot of its standing to Mah Jong and Pai Gow. Yet in 2021, Evolution Gaming released a live dealer version of Fan Tan that immediately took off. You can still find Macau Casinos and casino resorts with Asian Games zones where Fan Tan is still offered for real money. And through Evolution Gaming, Fan Tan is now also available online with live dealers.

How to Play Fan Tan

Each round starts when the dealer takes a container and places it on top of a pile of tokens. They don’t cover the whole pile, which can have around 60 – 80 tokens, but instead enclose an unknown number of tokens. No one knows how many tokens are under the container, and then the betting phase begins.

Players stake their bets, and when the betting phase ends, the dealer lifts the container. They then proceed to remove tokens, 4 at a time, until there are only 1, 2, 3 or 4 tokens left. In all variants of Fan Tan, the game involves removing 4 tokens at a time. And the remainder is always any number from 1 to 4.

When the round ends, the dealer brings out all the tokens again, makes a new pile, and then starts the next round by cupping a portion of the new pile. You don’t have any control over the outcome, and must simply guess on the remainder. It is a game that is based on pure chance, and the results are thus completely random.

Different Types of Bets

There are 6 types of bets you can place on Fan Tan. Each bet has its own odds, to reflect the likelihood of the guess winning. And the house takes a commission from the pot made by the players.

This form of commission is also used in poker, but there it is called a rake. In Fan Tan, the commission can range from 5% up to 25%. But this depends on where you are playing the game. The bets are listed below without the house edge. So a fan bet (3:1) would pay out $40 on a $10 bet before the commission. With commission, that number could be $38 – $30.

Fan Bet – 3:1

This is a bet on the exact remainder. You can bet on 1, 2 3 or 4. These are the main bets, and thus are usually in the middle of the paytable. In roulette terms, think of a straight bet. But because there are only 4 options, you have a 1 in 4 chance of hitting, and can make 4x (or 3:1) your money if you win. That is, before the house takes its 5% to 25% edge.

Kwok – 1:1

This is a bet on a pair of numbers. Instead of betting on the exact remainder, you can spread out your coverage to pick 2 of the 4 possible numbers. There are 6 different combinations to pick from (1+2, 1+3, 1+4, 2+3, etc).

Nim – 2:1 or Push

You bet on two numbers, but one is a Primary and the other is Secondary. If you win the primary bet, you get double the amount wagered. But if the remainder is the secondary number, you will get back the money you wagered. This is basically a push, and a way of cutting your losses.

Hong – 1:1 or Push

Hong bets are similar to Nim, but instead of covering 1 primary and 1 secondary, you get 2 secondary numbers. So this means you have a 1 in 4 chance of winning, which will double your money. But if the remainder is either secondary number (1 in 2 chance), your bet will be pushed and you get your money back.

Tan – 1:2 or Push

This is a bet in which you pick 2 primary positions and 1 secondary position. If the remainder is one of your primary numbers, you will get a 1:2 payout. That is, a total return of $15 from a $10 bet. But if the number is your secondary number, your bet will push.

Sheh-Sam-Hong – 1:3

This is the opposite of a Fan bet, in that you cover 3 of the possible outcomes. As a result, the payout is only a third of your staked money. So if you bet $10 and win the bet, your returns will be $13.33.

Where You Can Play Fan Tan

Unfortunately, Fan Tan has not really caught on in the Western world. Casinos in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and the top destinations in Europe and Canada generally don’t offer Fan Tan. It is a rarity, but you may find casinos with designated Asian Games zones providing Fan Tan. Or, VIP members of top casino resorts may be able to request these games, which is a privilege of being a VIP or high roller. But for the most part you won’t find Fan Tan at Western casinos.

They are not that common in Asian casinos either, with only a select few casinos in Macau and Singapore providing bets on Fan Tan. Fan Tan falls into a more niche category than the likes of Sic Bo, Pai Gow, and other mainstream Asian gambling games.

Live Dealer Fan Tan

Fan Tan has a much greater presence in the world of online gambling. It really took off when Evolution Gaming launched its very own Live Dealer Fan Tan title in 2021. The game provides various types of traditional bets, and some new modern ones too. You can also bet on Odd or Even, or Big/Small at Evolution’s Fan Tan. Similar to bets offered in roulette.

And still the game has Kwok bets, Nims, and S-S-H wagers. Evolution is one of the most well known game software providers, and there are thousands of Evolution Games Casinos where you can find their games.

Fan Tan may not be as widespread as Sic Bo, Baccarat or Dragon Tiger, but you can still find it online and play it for yourself.

Similar Casino Games to Fan Tan

While Fan Tan may remain somewhat of a niche game or rarity among casino games, there are plenty of alternatives out there. The pure chance, guessing element, and different possible outcomes and betting edges are not unique to Fan Tan.

Fan Tan was described as Chinese roulette in early Western descriptions of the game, and there are quite a few similarities between the two. You are also predicting outcomes in roulette, and there are a variety of racetrack wagers, inside and outside bets and others to amplify the excitement. Roulette shares some of the simplicity, but with 37 (or 38 segments in American roulette), the game has loads more bets to offer than Fan Tan.

Sic Bo is quite prominent in online casinos, with Evolution and several other software providers supplying live dealer versions of these games. The game revolves around the throw of 3 dice, and there is also a whole assortment of betting and cross-betting combinations of the outcomes. Craps is another dice throwing game that can draw parallels to Fan Tan. But craps has more complex rounds, with re-throws and field bets to add more complexity and dynamic to each round.

Reaching out a little further, there are drawing card games that combine elements of skill and arithmetic, and not purely guessing games. For instance, 5-card draw, or video poker, are games that revolve around the draw of a card. But they are more than just guessing games, as you hope to draw specific combinations. Strategies are born as players use maths to balance out the mathematical likelihood of the cards drawn with the video poker paytable. And this shapes their decision making and thus adds an illusion of control to the games.

Betting Strategies You Can Use in Fan Tan

That is not to say you can’t use betting strategies in Fan Tan. You can, but they don’t really relate to which numbers you pick. Instead, you can use bet sizing strategies such as martingale or fibonacci to either chase wins aggressively or mitigate losses, respectively.

Also, you can utilise the Primary/Secondary wagers to cover your losses and create a plan by combining your wagers to meet the risk to reward ratio you are after.

But remember that the results are all down to chance. There is no way you can predict what will happen in the following round. The remainder may be 3 for 5 games in a row, and that doesn’t mean the other numbers are “due” a win.

So bet wisely and play for the long run to avoid any unwanted short-term variance. Also, create a sturdy bankroll that you can sustain. Fan Tan may take a few rounds to master, but you should be crisscrossing your Fan and Nim bets in no time at all.