Rules
Cho-Han is a bet on a coin flip made of dice. Two dice are thrown; you bet on the parity of their sum:
- Chō (丁) - the sum is even.
- Han (半) - the sum is odd.
Set your stake, then call it. Even sum pays Chō, odd sum pays Han, both at even money (1:1) - win your stake or lose it.
You start with a bank of 500. Break the bank by reaching 2,000, or get cleaned out at 0.
Odds
On two six-sided dice the eleven possible totals split exactly down the middle - 18 of the 36 combinations are even, 18 are odd:
- Even (Chō): 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 → 18 ways
- Odd (Han): 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 → 18 ways
So the base game is a true 50/50 with no house edge - the fairest bet in the collection. Historically the edge came from the house taking a cut of the pot, not from the odds; here the dice are honest and the stake is yours to press or protect.
History
Chō-Han Bakuchi (丁半博打) is a centuries-old Japanese gambling game, run by itinerant bakuto and later woven into yakuza lore and countless samurai-era films. The classic ritual: a dealer shakes two dice inside a bamboo cup (the tsubo), slams it face-down on a tatami mat, and players bet Chō or Han before it’s lifted - traditionally by a bare-chested dealer, tattoos on display, to prove nothing’s up his sleeve.
The purity of the odds is the point: with an even-money, even-chance bet, the only real question is nerve and stake management - exactly the muscles Craps will ask of you next.
References