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{{Short description|Chinese lottery game}}
{{duplication|dupe=Keno#History}}
[[File:Pakapoo ticket.png|thumb|1876 Australian illustration of a pakapoo ticket]]
'''Pakapoo''' ({{zh|t=白鴿票|s=白鸽票}}; sometimes spelt pak-ah-pu or Pák Kòp Piú) is a [[Culture of China|Chinese]] lottery game popular in [[Oceania]] in the 19th century, including on the [[Goldfields region of Victoria|Victorian Goldfields]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.stevenyoung.co.nz/The-Chinese-in-New-Zealand/Current-Historical-Research/REMEMBERING-HAINING-STREET-With-both-eyes-open.html|title=REMEMBERING HAINING STREET: With both eyes open|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070818063842/http://www.stevenyoung.co.nz/The-Chinese-in-New-Zealand/Current-Historical-Research/REMEMBERING-HAINING-STREET-With-both-eyes-open.html|archive-date=2007-08-18|access-date=2009-03-29}}</ref>

A pakapoo ticket is bought, which contains rows of characters from the ''[[Thousand Character Classic]]'', an ancient poem in which no two words are repeated. The master ticket is kept hidden and is marked by the organiser of the game. The player marks a number of characters on their ticket. The ticket closest to the master ticket wins.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/EarthSeaAndSky/MineralResources/GoldAndGoldMining/10/ENZ-Resources/Standard/5/en|title=Pakapoo ticket|encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]]|access-date=2009-03-29}}</ref>

A 1921 article in ''[[The Argus (Melbourne)|The Argus]]'' in Melbourne, Australia, described the game in detail:

{{blockquote|"Pukka-poo" is a gambling game imported from San Francisco, and is based upon an attempt to select 10 winning numbers out of 100 possibles. If the selector gets five right, the player gets his or her shilling back; if six are right, the winnings are £7; if 10, £42. Otherwise the Chinese wins! The draws are called "races," and take place every hour. In some of the places devoted to "pukka-poo," dice, crown and anchor, and other gambling games are played. The police do their best to break up these haunts of vice, but little can be done unless there is actual disorder. As a rule, when a customer has lost his money the Chinese give him 4d. and suggests the loser should go for a drink. That 4d. has stopped many a disturbance.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/4640948?browse=ndp%3Abrowse%2Ftitle%2FA%2Ftitle%2F13%2F1921%2F10%2F08%2Fpage%2F415635%2Farticle%2F4640948|title=In Darkest London|date=October 8, 1921|work=The Argus|access-date=September 25, 2018}}</ref>}}

In Australian slang, "It looks like a Pakapoo ticket" is a reference to any writing that is messy or scrawled.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/pakapoo|title=the definition of pakapoo|website=www.dictionary.com|language=en|access-date=2018-09-25}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Lotteries]]
[[Category:Culture of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Chinese-Australian history]]
[[Category:Chinese games]]

{{Gambling-stub}}

Pakapoo - Revision history

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