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Said to have been created around 200–300 A.D., Fan-Tan wasn’t named as such until the mid-1800s—“Fan” meaning “turn over” and “Tan” meaning “spread out.” It can be played with beads, coins, buttons, or similar items, and has also been called yanqian (“covering coins”), tanxi, tanqian, and yiqian.

Fan-Tan originated in China and spread across the nation by the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). As Chinese from Canton migrated worldwide in the 1800s, they brought Fan-Tan along, which explains its enduring popularity in casinos globally. San Francisco’s Chinatown became home to dozens of Fan-Tan houses, and it was even described as the “ruling passion” among bettors in Jacob Riis’ 1890 book, How the Other Half Lives. One famous location is Canada’s Fan-Tan Alley, which became extremely popular in the 1940s.