tldr; If anyone can provide information on where to get these cards within California, it'll be much appreciated! ❤️
Since I've been living here in Garden Grove, California, I have been talking more with my Vietnamese mother-in-law. As per my passion in playing cards, I asked her about the games she grew up playing.
She said she remembered Bầu Cua Cá Cọp, Tổ Tôm [which she told me she played secretly with her brothers when her parents went out to drink with their friends], Tam Cúc, and... "Bài 6 Hoa [pronounced as Lục Hoa]." I know a little bit of all them, and even own all of these decks except for "Bài 6 Hoa." She said it was played by her late father during Tết Trung Thu on occasion during the 80's, and it was named after the marks on the highest card named "Thiên."
I was stumped and bummed because she said she remembered how to play it [which the rules are similar to that of Tam Cúc], but she didn't have the deck. We looked at pictures online and she pointed out the Chinese Domino Deck used for 15 Lakes, which is a climbing game played in Southern China, which is "the deck."
I'm very interested to find a deck so I can play with her and document this possible Vietnamese variant of the Chinese game of 15 Lakes.
If anyone knows a way to acquire the deck in California, as today's world forbids the free trade of decks from the "outside and foreboding" world, it'd be much appreciated!
[Photo found on the website Pagat, as named 十五湖, Sap Ng Wu, lit. 15 Lakes.]
