Historical Casino Games

We all know the classic casino games, including bingo, slots, roulette, and blackjack. Whilst these games are popular across the globe today; it’s interesting to where these games may have derived from. This article will look at three of the most interesting games that have some intriguing origin stories and look at how they’re played.

Kah

This is the rarest casino game on our list and dates back to the Apache Tribe and was described by Geronimo in his autobiography in 1906, said to S.M Barrett. It was played at night while feasting and dancing to celebrate a noble event whilst the Apaches played Kah. 

So how is Kah played, we will tell you. The game involves two sides representing the feathered tribe and the beasts, which is translated as the foot. Each side might be taken by either a single player or an entire team. A campfire would separate the two teams or players with four holes about four feet dug on every side and moccasin placed in each one. 

The feathered tribe hung blankets between them and the fire to stop their opponents from seeing what they were doing before they began singing and placing a bone in one of the four moccasins. The bone represents the sacred white round stone dropped by the eagle on the monster’s head, killing and saving humanity in the story of creation.

Once the bone is hidden, they continue to sing but bring down the blankets while a designated beast player strikes one of the moccasins with a war club, with just a single chance our of the four to find the bone. If they find the bone, the beast’s team turns the role and begins over as the feathered tribe. If they are unsuccessful, the game goes on as it began. A bundle of sticks keeps the scores with one stick representing one point, and it ends when there are no stocks left, with the winner being the one with the most sticks.

Tong-Its

Tong-its is another uncommon casino game that originated in Luzon. It is a 3-player rummy style game that grew in popularity in the Philippines in the 1990s. It is played with a standard deck of 52 cards. 

When you play Tong-its, you will try and collect hand combinations and discard unnecessary cards, with the picking and discarding going on repeatedly until one person wins by Tong-its. The process can also be done until a draw is called or the deck of cards runs out. In this case, the players will tally the card points they have, and the player with the lowest points wins.

Panguingue

Panguingue, also known as Pan, is another game that originated in the Philippines, but this one dates back to the 19th century. Like Tong-its Pan is a rummy based game. It was first described in the USA in 1905 before gaining popularity in Las Vegas and many other casinos across the Southwest of America. However, its popularity has waned in recent years, which explains why it is found in a few casinos in California and in-house games and online poker sites. 

Pan is traditionally played using the 320-card deck, which comprises eight cards, whilst the Jokers, tens, nines and eights are removed. In some casinos, the players use 5,6 or 11 and remove a set of spades from the deck. Unlike the Anglo-American deck, the players use the 40-cards Spanish deck for any game with Jack, King, Cavalier, Ace and 2-7 in the Philippines. 

Each player pays the top, whose value sets all the players’ pays. It’s also allowed to play with a two-chip ante known as double tops; it just means the game is more high stakes. Unlike most other casino games, the dealing and playing rotation is right, and each player gets ten cards. Starting with the eldest hand, each player either agrees to play or fold their hand, with the latter losing their top. If all but one player folds, the last player receives the tops, and the hand is finished. 

Panguingue plans to take a card from the top of the discarded pile or stock, and the moment they do so, they are not allowed to use the discard pile. The player must then use the card in a valid meld placed on the table, discarded immediately.