Oicho-Kabu (おいちょかぶ) is a traditional Japanese gambling game similar to the Western games blackjack and baccarat. It is typically played with special kabufuda cards. A hanafuda deck can also be used, if the last two months are discarded. (Western playing cards can be used, if the face cards are removed from the deck and aces counted as 1.)The goal of the game is to reach a total closest to 9 without going over. As in baccarat, the last digit of any total over 10 makes your hand: a 15 counts as 5, a 12 as 2, and a 20 as 0.
The word yakuza originates from this game. The worst Oicho-Kabu hand is 8-9-3, or “ya-ku-sa”. This gives a sum total of 20, or 0 points.
Links
- Oicho-Kabu rules
- Oicho-Kabu Java game
- Kabufuda website (Japanese)
This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.
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