Vietnamese New Year & Gambling
Volume 5: March 2008 Comments (0)
by Robert Truong
Every Vietnamese New Year people participate in traditional activities such as dragon dances, family meals, shopping, visiting certain places, visiting relatives, etc…But, mostly everyone gambles! People of all ages will play various games with either plenty of money or little amounts of money just to have a fun time. It’s actually so much fun for everybody, that it’s even considered a tradition! Even though it may be called gambling, it’s more of a way to spend time with family and celebrate the beginning of the year with everyone around you.
The Vietnamese New Year is an awesome time to gamble with friends and family at home or outside. Probably the best part is that it lasts for about two weeks!
Game Names and Explanations
Thirteen Warriors (13 for short):
This game can involve up to four players, having thirteen cards each. It’s like a battle of poker hands with three being the lowest and two being the highest. First to lose all their cards win.
Blackjack (21):
A common game that everyone knows of course. Basically you want to have a higher number than the dealer, but you don’t want to go over 21 or else you bust.
Bau Cua (Lucky Chess):
A fun game for everyone to play! This game has three dice that contain six pictures on each. There six pictures are what you can place bets on; shrimp, chicken, crab, bao, fish, and deer. If any of the pictures you bet on come up, you win!
Chinese Bingo:
People of all ages will play this game! There are ninety numbers, but they don’t have any letters before them such as “B3”. It’s just like the American bingo, but the only way to win is to have a straight horizontal row.
Bai Cao: Each person receives three cards. If you don’t get three pictures, which is the highest, you want to get nine points or a higher number than everyone else in order to win. Three pictures are the highest possible cards. What you need to do in order to attain nine points is just add your cards together. If you are tied in the end, then you will split the money with whoever has tied you.
These are the common games that are played during the Vietnamese New Year. If you have time on your hands and love to gamble, or just have fun with a few bucks to spare, you could learn these games and go at it! They might be a little confusing when you learn them, but you’ll get the hang of it
sooner or later. Perhaps you can get the family together and have your own family night with these games if you really
wanted to. Well, have fun!
admin @ April 22, 2008