Teen Patti: The Indian Card Game Popular Overseas

Known as the Royal Game of Ur, an example of this early board game was found buried with Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun, a discovery that emphasizes its noble associations. Despite that, the game was actually played by the general public too.

Teen Patti

India, regardless of the era, has always existed in a strange kind of isolation, as far as card and board games are concerned. The Subcontinent tends to favor a different kind of experience to the rest of the world, with rummy and Teen Patti enjoying much greater popularity in India than Western games such as blackjack. Historically, this has also meant that Indian games don't have much visibility outside the country, despite technology and the internet enabling the exchange of all kinds of regional entertainments. Teen Patti is experiencing a bit of a popularity boost overseas, though.

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While there are plenty of mobile apps that let users play card games, casino operators are turning to previously unloved or unpopular experiences to build a more exclusive offering for visitors. This change is largely driven by the development of live casino experiences, which feature human dealers on webcam, who chaperone players through each game, placing bets and dealing cards. These titles are increasingly one of the most expansive parts of operators' websites as they're less reliant on computer systems than many other online entertainments. For instance, wheel-based game shows can usually be found in live casino sections.

Side Bets

Teen Patti has made the same transition into modernity, along with other Asian games like sic bo, bac bo, and Indian roulette. Oddly enough, most of these games are provided by the same developer, Evolution. This particular company carries a seemingly endless number of game variants, usually leading with wild versions of roulette and blackjack, like Lightning Roulette. While this is just a faster way to play the classic game, it nevertheless demonstrates just how important variety is to modern companies. How does the digital version of Teen Patti stack up against the real version of the game, though? Well, for one, the presenters speak Hindi.

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Evolution's Teen Patti uses the standard single deck of cards with the jokers removed. This 3 Card Poker-like game is played against the dealer by any number of players, who do not have to qualify (get a particular hand) to play. The croupier does, however, which means that they will not be able to participate without a queen-high hand or better. The addition of two side bets from 3 Card Poker, namely, Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus, offers players a high-risk, high-reward way of betting around or outside the standard game. It's possible to lose the game but win a side bet in this version of Teen Patti, which is also themed to mimic Asian architecture.

Andar Bahar

A question that still needs to be answered is how does Teen Patti vary from 3 Card Poker? Playing Teen Patti is a much more luck-based endeavor, which can mean that it doesn't offer the same level of excitement to players that, for example, Texas Hold'em does. It's still a game of betting and bluffing whether you're playing on a mobile device or not, though. Teen Patti players get three cards and must decide whether to place a wager or not based on the overall strength of their hand. There are no community cards and no player is allowed to have more than three cards at a time. This virtually eliminates strategy from the game, giving all its comparisons to poker a bit of an ironic edge. Still, 3 Card Poker doesn't have community cards, either.

As a final note, the Indian game of chance known as Andar Bahar has also begun to appear at online casinos. In this card game, the dealer selects a random card to be the joker (e.g. the 4 of hearts) and places it in the center of the table. Next, each player decides whether to bet on the top box (Andar) or the bottom box (Bahar). The croupier will then deal all the remaining cards one after the other into Bahar and Ander until the joker card - our 4 of hearts - appears. Bets are won by everybody who correctly guessed which box the joker would appear in.

These Indian card games might have gone unloved by casinos for much of their history but it's encouraging to see them finally make their way into modern games lists.

David Pac

Update 13 June 2022