Instructions

Chō-han is a Japanese dice game played with two six-sided dice.

Make a bet on the sum of the roll being either Cho (even) or Han (odd), then click and hold to begin shaking the dice. Release to roll.

History

Chō-han was played and popularized by the bakuto - wandering gamblers in old Japan. The bakuto and the tekiya, or peddlers, formed into the modern yakuza crime syndicates of Japan.

Many of the yakuza's illegal and morally gray or darker practices originated through the bakuto - though that's not to say the tekiya were innocent. While their profits were generally from their above-board market stalls, the tekiya were the ones to bring the protection racket to the yakuza.

The bakuto were gamblers in a country where gambling was (and still is, with some exceptions) illegal. This, however, didn't stop local governments from occasionally hiring them to gamble with workers to win back the worker's earnings. The bakuto would be payed a percentage of their winnings, while the governments would recollect their worker's earnings. Different families had varying relationships with the towns in which they lived, so not all families were treated as 'cordially'.

The yakuza tradition of elaborate tattooing came from their bakuto lineage. Bakuto dealers would often play shirtless both to display the complex inkwork, and to prevent any accusations of cheating. The bakuto also brought yubitsume, the act of mutilating oneself as a form of apology, to the yakuza.