Chinese Four Colour Cards

Four colour cards or 四色牌 was my grandmother’s favourite game to play when she was still around. Every Saturday afternoon, her sisters and her children, like my mum and aunties, will gather around her house to play. It was a regular thing even on Chinese New Year. There was always a big group of at least six to eight of them sitting around the big round table to play with at least two sets of Four Colour cards (224 cards) mixed.

In my memory, this was a very difficult game to understand – even now I still don’t get it. First, I was still young to read those Chinese words, and secondly, they always spoke their own dialects. I had no idea what was going on, even though I stood there for hours trying to learn it. They would often start swearing and cursing about why the cards didn’t appear sooner, otherwise, they could have won the game instead. There was no such thing as a peaceful game.

Also, I find the cards are so small and smooth to hold that I had difficulty distributing/counting them out to the players. All my relatives seemed like professionals in comparison and would have no problem shuffling or distributing the cards at all. I have a hard time just trying to pick them up or holding the cards.

This card game does not come with any instructions. It is sold in either a wrapped individual pack of 112 cards (28 cards of four different colours – white, green, red and yellow) or a whole pack of a paper wrapped deck. My uncle bought me four packs of Four Colour many years ago for $2.20 each (Singapore Dollars). They are probably more expensive now and more difficult to get hold of as they won’t be sold in many places. My set of cards comes with five jokers, which I believe can be used as a replacement if one of the usual cards is missing or torn. The card is quite a thin paper.

General (將 jiàng)

Advisor (士 shì)

Elephant (象 xiàng)

Chariot (車 jū)

Horseman (馬 mǎ)

Cannon (炮 pào)

Soldier (卒 zú)

I have no idea what the history behind the Four Colour cards is, but I know that no one in my extended family plays it anymore. My mum, aunties and uncles would probably still remember the game’s rules, but most of them have not played for over ten years. Recently, I did ask my mum about the game and she said she hated playing it, but her mum (my grandmother) loved playing it, so she played with her to keep her happy.

Nevertheless, my uncle had prepared these images since 2014 for me to use them to blog and he even explained the details on the images. Each time when I went back to Singapore, I didn’t get a chance to learn from them. Hence I am still clueless to this day about what they are for. So I will suggest you read more about four colour cards on Wikipedia instead.

Set Up

A set of cards (112 cards) is to be played for four players. You can play with two or three players. If you have more players, then add an extra set (28 cards). My relatives always used 224 cards to play and before playing they were all counting the cards to make sure it is correct.

The dealer deals six cards to themselves first, then go around the table giving five cards at a time, until a hand of 20 cards is dealt to each player. Now everyone can look at their cards to arrange to their preferences and hold their cards arranged in a fan shape. Place the rest of the cards in the middle or within reach.

Scoring (see images for explanation)

I have no idea what is a small game and a big game my uncle refers to. He managed to mark them out. So try to figure it out yourself.

I do feel sad that our younger generations no longer know how to play this game like myself and my cousins in Singapore. Hopefully one day, this game will be popular again among the youngest to revive this ancient game.