Pai Gow is a popular Chinese domino game that originated in the 19th century. It is most often played with tiles, and the object of the game is to create two hands – one that consists of five tiles, and one that consists of two tiles.
The tiles are divided approximately in half between the “Front” and “Back” hands. The Front Hand must be of greater total value than the Back Hand, otherwise you cannot win the game. The highest-value possible is known as a “Pai Gow” and consists of a 5-5 hand (five tiles of the same value).
Players are usually dealt four tiles each. The tiles are read from top to bottom and left to right, and sets of matching tiles are used to determine which tiles go in each hand. The player’s goal is to create two hands that are matching of equal or close to equal value.