History of Keno - Page 2

The most significant aspect of this keno history is a Chinese poem of a thousand numbers. The 'thousand character classic' as it is known is a set of independent characters placed in a rhymed form. When keno originated about 200 B.C in China characters were used in the body of the ticket rather than numbers 1 through 80. These characters are known as the 'thousand character classic'.

Originally a new way for children to learn, the poem is so well known the characters are often used as a romantic numbering system. So instead of having a board of just numbers on the original keno boards, they used these characters. Originally as many as 120 characters were used in the game; only after it left china would the number drop to a more familiar 80.

The Thousand Character Classic was used in China as the second primer for teaching reading and writing to children. By putting one thousand characters into a more or less coherent rhymed form, learning was presumably made easier and more interesting. It is something of a very great achievement in that no character is repeated. This poem was so well known in China that its one thousand characters, arranged in order, were often used as a fanciful way of notation or counting from one to a thousand. It is something of a very great achievement in that no character is repeated.

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