chap-jee-kee
my mother and my late father used to dabble in this form of illegal gambling known as chap-jee-kee. i think my mom was more into it than my dad, who was an occasional player. chap-jee-kee was widespread and prevalent in the 50s and the 60s. it was every housewife's pastime. runners were aplenty; they could be one of your neighbours or the proprietor of the neighbourhood provision shop.
unlike 4-d lottery, which was a weekend happening, you could bet on chap-jee-kee any day and every day. i do not think there was a rest day. even on the first day of the lunar new year, you could still play this illegal 12-number game.
i figure it was more popular than 4-d because the stakes were smaller. you could bet with as little as ten cents. also, your chances of striking were better. my parents had some luck now and then, however the winning sums were not something to be excited about.
although both my parents were illiterate, when it came to writing out the characters for the number game, they did not need any help from us. to place your stake, you used symbols to represent the amount. if i remember correctly, one circle represented ten cents, one circle with a stroke across it was fifty cents and one circle with a cross meant one dollar.
when the characters were written horizontally, it could be read in both directions. for example, if you placed your bet on ' 3, 8', you would win as long as the winning combination were 8 and 3. however, if you were to write '3, 8' vertically, then you would not be paid if the winning numbers were 8, 3 in that order. of course, if you got it correct vertically, the pay-out was more.
i believe there were at least two big operators in those days - tau por & siow por. today, this game, though not as popular as it was in its heyday, is still being played by some housewives and hawkers.
my mother and my late father used to dabble in this form of illegal gambling known as chap-jee-kee. i think my mom was more into it than my dad, who was an occasional player. chap-jee-kee was widespread and prevalent in the 50s and the 60s. it was every housewife's pastime. runners were aplenty; they could be one of your neighbours or the proprietor of the neighbourhood provision shop.
unlike 4-d lottery, which was a weekend happening, you could bet on chap-jee-kee any day and every day. i do not think there was a rest day. even on the first day of the lunar new year, you could still play this illegal 12-number game.
i figure it was more popular than 4-d because the stakes were smaller. you could bet with as little as ten cents. also, your chances of striking were better. my parents had some luck now and then, however the winning sums were not something to be excited about.
although both my parents were illiterate, when it came to writing out the characters for the number game, they did not need any help from us. to place your stake, you used symbols to represent the amount. if i remember correctly, one circle represented ten cents, one circle with a stroke across it was fifty cents and one circle with a cross meant one dollar.
when the characters were written horizontally, it could be read in both directions. for example, if you placed your bet on ' 3, 8', you would win as long as the winning combination were 8 and 3. however, if you were to write '3, 8' vertically, then you would not be paid if the winning numbers were 8, 3 in that order. of course, if you got it correct vertically, the pay-out was more.
i believe there were at least two big operators in those days - tau por & siow por. today, this game, though not as popular as it was in its heyday, is still being played by some housewives and hawkers.
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