fan-tan. 1. : a Chinese gambling game in which the banker divides a pile of objects (such as beans) into fours and players bet on what number will be left at the end of the count. 2. : a card game in which players must build in sequence upon sevens and attempt to be the first one out of cards.

The fan was popularized during the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220) when the simple bamboo fan and the cattail-leaf fan were invented. These fans were most popular among the common people during the Song Dynasty (420-479).