Tam Cúc 三菊
Tam Cúc playing cards from Vietnam (Việt Nam), based on Chinese chess, 2016
Tam Cúc playing cards purchased in Vietnam. Like Four Colour Cards, the deck is based on Chinese chess. However this is where the similarities end. Decks have only 32 cards, the distribution of cards exactly mirroring the pieces in a game of Chinese chess. Instead of 4 colours, there are two (one with red overprints, the other without). The deck contains 1 general (tướng 將), 2 advisors (sĩ 士), 2 elephants (tượng 象), 2 chariots (xe 車), 2 cannons (pháo 砲), 2 horses (mã 馬), and 5 soldiers (tốt 卒) repeated in red and black.
Tam Cuc is a trick-taking game
Indochina (now Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia) was mainly inhabited by Cantonese people. In each of these zones, cards and dominoes were customized and adapted to local varieties.
Above: Tam cúc playing cards purchased in Vietnam, 2016. 32 cards in box, separated into red or black.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Anthony Lee for additional research. Visit his blog here►
Images courtesy Kody McGregor.
Some antique examples made in France by Camoin (Marseille).
Above: Chinese Tam Cúc playing cards used in Cochinchina printed by Camoin, Marseille, c.1870. 32 playing cards, backs plain orange, stencilled lithograph; 9.6 x 2.3 cm. Source gallica.bnf.fr / Bibliothèque nationale de France • Jeu de cartes chinois employé en Cochinchine►
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