The Game of Keno

We describe modern and ancient rules of Keno by focussing on ways to win and also relate the history of the game.

What is Keno?

Keno is a game similar to Bingo or a lottery. The game originates from an ancient Chinese game called The Game of the White Dove. Its modern name is inherited from a similar game played in bingo format in the United States in the 19th century. The Game of the White Dove was brought to the United States with the influx of Chinese during the gold rush, and the name Keno was assigned to it in the late 1800s.

The Game of the White Dove was first introduced by Cheung Leung of the Han Dynasty about 187 BC. The city was under siege and the governors needed to collect more contributions from citizens to support the army. It was not easy to achieve, because people hardly had anything to eat. Hence a game of chance was established. 120 characters were chosen and 8 were put for one subdivision. People could purchase subdivisions for three li and get a chance to win ten teals. After ten days running two games in the morning and two in the evening, more then 1000 pieces of silver was gained.

Later on, the game was changed. 80 characters were borrowed from the Thousand Character Classic and 10 were placed for one division. Now people could win five li guessing five characters, five candareens guessing six characters, five mace guessing seven, two taels guessing eight, five taels guessing nine and ten taels guessing ten. Because of the lack of long distances between houses and lack of communication, people used white post doves to send the winning characters, thus the game has received the name of the Game of the White Dove.

Modern Keno:

Modern Keno is a numbers game. Keno players pick the numbers for their tickets from a Keno cards with 80 numbers. A player can pick as many numbers as desired circling with a pencil. When the numbers are chosen, players must bring their cards to the Keno clerk that issues a receipt after recording the numbers. After this, the game starts. Winning numbers are light up or displayed on a video monitor. Players mark them on their cards. If five or more numbers the player chose at the beginning match the winning numbers, the player wins money. The winning ticket must be taken to the keno booth immediately. Drawings usually take place every five minutes, and if a new drawing starts, all unredeemed tickets from previous drawings become void.

To avoid this unpleasant situation, keno players can purchase multi-race or stray-and-play tickets that can serve for multiple number games and can be redeemed after the maximum number of games is reached, or in the case of stray-and-play ticket, up to a year after purchase.