Pung: The Traditional Korean Card Game of Skill and Chance

The most well known card based games were shaped and popularised in Europe. When talking about card games, we think of blackjack, baccarat, poker, video poker, and the many variants of casino poker or poker cash games. Though playing cards were not a European invention. They hail from China and the far East, where there are entire families of card based games that some have never encountered. Korea has a rich culture of card gaming, one of the most famous examples of which is Pung, or Go-Stop.

This game uses a Hwatu deck, where instead of numbered and royal suits, you have months and types. Instead of drawing cards and forming hands, you are trading and capturing cards on a table. Combining strategy with the luck of the draw, and potential to bluff or outwit, Pung has all the makings of an exhilarating card game. And it is still hugely popular in Korea today.

Hwatu Deck and How to Play

Before analysing Pung, its important to understand how the Hwatu decks work. The Korean Hwatu deck is based on Japanese Hanafuda cards. These cards can be used in a number of Japanese games, including Koi Koi or Hachi Hachi. Hwatu decks have 48 cards in which there are 12 months of the year, and 4 cards for each month. If we are comparing it to standard French-suited playing cards, the months are the suits. This is a card matching game, and you will need to pair a January with another January card. But it doesn’t stop there.

There are 4 further categories in which you can match cards and score points. These are the Bright, Animal, Ribbon, Junk, and Double Junk groups. Basically, for all of the cards, you need to collect a certain threshold of cards to unlock 1 point, and then each additional card in your set earns +1 point after that. For example, for Ribbon and Animal card sets, you get 1 point for collecting 5 cards. If you have 6, you get 2 points, and 7 will earn you 3 points.

The rules are nearly the same for all categories except for the Bright cards, which are the rarest to draw and most valuable. A group of 3 bright cards can earn you 2 points, 4 bright cards are 4 points, and all five brights is the real jackpot. Collecting all five brights can be worth 15 up to 50 points, depending on the variant you are playing.

Pung Gameplay and Goal

Players are dealt cards depending on how many are sitting at the table. A two player game will deal each player 10 cards, whereas if it is three players, they each get 7 cards. The dealer will also place a number of cards faced up on the table. These are the cards the players will be trying to capture or match. The number of cards on the table depends on how many people are playing, but generally you get 7 or 6 cards faced up. Pung, or Go Stop, is a turn based game, in which you play one card per turn, trying to match it with any faced up card. If you don’t have a match, your card is added to the pool and you draw another card from the deck, trying to capture another card.

Go – Stop Dynamic in Pung

For each game, a minimum point threshold is set up. This is a number of points you are racing to. Once a player hits the threshold, they can decide whether to “Go” or “Stop”. This is where the strategic element comes in. If you say Stop, you are ending the round immediately and settle for the number of points you have. It is a clean win, and you are safe. But you have won with the minimum number of points.

Saying Go allows the game to continue to the next threshold. In most cases, the first threshold is 3 points and the next is 7. The number of thresholds can vary, but generally there are 4, motivating players to keep going to rack up those additional points. However, you should be careful. Say you reach the threshold, decide to keep going, and then another player beats you to the next. They will get a Go penalty bonus, earning extra points for beating you to the punch.

Pung Gambling Elements

The gambling element in this game can vary greatly. Families or social groups can play pung with gaming chips. And then players win or lose chips to each other based on how many points they won in a round. Real money pung is highly popular too, although pung is not really offered at any casinos. This is a peer to peer game, and not one you can play against the house. If Korean gaming parlors did serve Pung, they would only provide dealers or croupiers to oversee the action, and take a rake, or percentage of each pot as a commission. That way, the house has its edge and make money. And the gamers are playing to win money off their peers.

The gameplay invites all kinds of decision making and strategy building. You can choose your matches, decide which cards you want to play or discard, and even bluff your peers into thinking you have a better or worse hand. Savvy players aren’t looking to get those 3 point first thresholds. No, they want to bait other players and then overtake them to the extra Go points.

Of course, your skill and ability to deceive only go so far. The game revolves around drawing cards. Counting cards is possible to a lesser extent, but it is not as simple in Pung as, say blackjack. In blackjack, you have to keep an eye on 12 months or the 4 subcategories, and any crossovers. Skill and experience naturally help players out quite a bit. And a seasoned Pung player will know when to quit while they are ahead, or lull their opponents into keeping playing. But their game plan can be thwarted or severely compromised with poor variance on the draw.

Similar Games and Casino Alternatives

Pung falls into the same family as games like Japanese Hanafuda, or Chinese Pai Gow or Mahjong. Though Mahjong is tile based and doesn’t use cards. The most similar games that you will find at a casino are probably any version of peer to peer poker. In these games, you are playing against other players, and not against the house. Texas Hold’em and Omaha poker are similar, but the betting is more prominent in the games.

In pung you are winning or losing money after rounds end, based on who won how many points. Poker is more complex, as betting happens during rounds, and the money that exchanges hands at the end of a round can be much larger.

Video poker is also comparable to pung in some aspects, though it is far simpler. This is a game played against the house, in which you are trying to form poker hands based on drawn cards. Though the rounds are simplified and only last a few seconds. You are dealt 5 cards, can choose whether you want to discard any or all of them, and then these are replaced by other cards. The goal is to form one of the winning poker hands, each of which have their own payouts.

Strategy in Casino Games and Gambling

Ultimately, pung is a highly engaging and somewhat compelling type of card game. It is not your average rummy or poker game. The Go Stop elements add a competitive and strategic edge that is completely unique. And there are countless ways to integrate gambling and betting into pung.

But with any gambling game that has a skill based element, it is easy to get carried away. Or, fall into the belief that you can guarantee wins based on skill alone. That is never the case with any of these card games, as the luck of the draw will ultimately define whether you will get your winning match or not. So play carefully, and don’t underestimate the role of luck and randomness in this game. Always make a bankroll for your gaming, and never spend more than you can afford to lose.