Play is counter-clockwise.ĭice game Chinese dice, 'Earth' combination shown
The highly idiosyncratic and culture-specific suit-system of these games is likely the conceptual origin of suits, an idea that later is used for playing cards. The civil suit was originally called the Chinese (華) suit while the military suit was called the barbarian (夷) suit (see Wen and wu and Hua–Yi distinction) but this was changed during the Qing dynasty to avoid offending the ruling Manchus. In these games, Heaven is the top rank of the civil suit, while Nine is the top rank of the military suit. 'Heaven and Nine') is the name of Chinese gambling games played with either a pair of dice or a set of 32 Chinese dominoes. Tien Gow or Tin Kau ( Chinese: 天九 pinyin: tiān jiǔ Jyutping: tin1 gau2 lit.
