Oicho-Kabu
A traditional Japanese banking card game, played with hanafuda-style Kabufuda cards, where the goal is a two- or three-card total ending in 9 — the best score, called 'Kabu.'
Coming soon — not yet playable
Rules
Oicho-Kabu (often just called "Kabu") is a Japanese gambling card game traditionally played with a specialized 40-card Kabufuda deck (four suits, ranks 1 through 9 plus a zero-value card), though it can be approximated with a standard deck using only the ace through 9 of each suit.
One player acts as the banker for the round (historically often associated with organized gambling houses in Japan's Edo and modern eras); every other player bets against the banker rather than against each other. Each player, including the banker, is dealt two cards (sometimes a third, drawn card, depending on house rule) face down.
Scoring: only the last digit of the sum of a hand's card values matters. A hand totaling 9 (called "Kabu," meaning "stock" or the best possible score) is the strongest possible hand. Totals are compared by their last digit only, so a 15 (worth 5) beats a 3, for example. The banker compares their total against each player's total individually; higher last-digit score wins that individual matchup, with the banker collecting from or paying out to each player based on the comparison.
Historical note: Oicho-Kabu has deep associations with Japanese organized gambling history — the word "yakuza" itself is believed by many etymologists to derive from a losing hand in this game (8-9-3, "ya-ku-za," which sums to a losing zero), used metaphorically for something worthless, later applied to organized crime groups.
Strategy notes: Because it's a pure banking game with a fixed, simple scoring system (compare last digits of a 2-3 card total), there's no bluffing or hand-reading in the poker sense — the game is much closer to a simplified baccarat than to hand-vying poker, making it a fast, easy change-of-pace round at a mixed table.
Common house rules
Standard deck substitution
Lacking a Kabufuda deck, most home tables substitute a standard deck using only ace (as 1) through 9 of each suit, discarding face cards and 10s, to approximate the traditional card values.
Rotate the bank
As with other banking games in this library (Zecchinetta, Pai Gow Poker), most home revivals rotate who deals as banker every round or every hand rather than fixing one player as banker all night.
Three-card draw option
Some variants allow a player to draw a third card if their initial two-card total is low, similar in spirit to baccarat's draw rules — agree on whether this option is in play before dealing.
Related games
Based on shared category, origin, and rules that reference each other.
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