Check out this informative post over at No-sword describing the rules and the language of chou-han, (a.k.a. chou-han bakuchi) a Japanese dice game you may recognize from various movies and TV shows. It's the one where the "dealer", traditionally shirtless and tattooed, rolls dice hidden in a cup, then the players bet on either even (chou) or odd (han) numbers. Right about then, somebody usually tries to steal Zatoichi's money so he flips out and kills the guy. Good times.
I just found the same video you were speaking of, and ended up searching for the others that were displayed in the end frame. I stumbled across this blog in the searching process. Keep me posted if you find anything more.
Posted by: Adam Weyrick | December 12, 2005 at 05:37 AM
That's the game that they are playing at the beginning of "Big Trouble in Little China." Now I know what it's called.
Posted by: Robert J. Ritchie | December 12, 2005 at 08:23 AM
This game also appears in the anime series 'Samurai Champloo', wherein a bunch of yakuza-types think to roll our heroes and are subsequently sliced and diced. It's like you're not allowed to play chou-han without some badass samurai who kills a dude.
Posted by: tom | December 14, 2005 at 11:00 AM