Oicho-Kabu
A Japanese banking card game played with Hanafuda (or dedicated Kabufuda) cards. It uses the cards’ month numbers as values, not their suit imagery. The goal is a hand whose last digit is as close to 9 as possible: kabu (カブ) means 9, and oicho (オイチョ) 8, both from Portuguese.
Oicho-Kabu — table layout
The Cards
Forty cards: the Hanafuda pack without November and December, or a Kabufuda pack. Each card is worth its month, January 1 to October 10, and a hand is worth the last digit of its total: 15 counts as 5, and 10 or 20 as 0.
The Deal
The dealer lays four cards face up in a row, the four tableaus, and takes one card face down. Each player then bets on a tableau. Several players may back the same tableau.
Third Cards
Each tableau with a bet on it is dealt a second card. Then:
- a total of 3 or less must take a third card;
- a total of 7 or more may not, except a tableau of two 9s;
- a total of 4 to 6 takes a third card or stands, as the tableau’s first bettor decides.
The dealer then turns up their card, takes a second, and draws a third by the same rules.
Winning
Each tableau is compared with the dealer’s hand: the one closer to 9 wins, and a tie goes to the dealer. A winning tableau’s bettors are paid their bet by the dealer; a losing tableau’s bettors pay theirs to the dealer.
Special Hands
| Hand | Cards | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Kuppin (クッピン) | The dealer’s first two cards, 9 and 1 | The dealer wins every tableau, paid double |
| Shippin (シッピン) | A tableau’s first two cards, 4 and 1 | The tableau wins, paid double, and takes no third card |
| Arashi (嵐) | Three cards of one value | Paid triple |
Many other special hands are played regionally.
Attribution
Oicho-Kabu ・おいちょかぶ. Traditional Japanese card game. Rules written from Wikipedia, Oicho-Kabu, and Japanese Wikipedia, おいちょかぶ, which agree on the tableaus, the third-card rules and the special hands; Pagat.com confirms that it is played with 40 of the cards.