Khanhoo or kanhu is a non-partnership Chinese card game of the draw-and-discard structure.

It was first recorded during the late Ming dynasty as a multi-trick taking game,[1] a type of game that may be as old as Tien gow (Tianjiu "Heaven and Nines"),[2] revised in its rules and published in an authorized edition by Emperor Gaozong of Song in 1130 AD for the information of his subjects.

[3] Adapted to the western taste by Sir William Henry Wilkinson, British sinologist and Consul-General in China and Korea from 1880 to 1918, it belongs to the same family as Mahjong.

Variants of the Qing version of the game are still played in China and Vietnam such as Tổ tôm.

It was a multi-trick game where players try to take tricks with one or three cards with the latter composed of different types of melds.

By the late Qing dynasty, the rules as recorded by Wilkinson and Stewart Culin had changed considerably.

The changes may have occurred during the 18th and 19th centuries when trick-taking fell in favour of shedding type games like mòhú (默和) and pènghú (碰和) which are regarded as the ancestors to mahjong.

[5] The various homonyms of hu, whether they mean harmony, pots, or points is equivalent to "meld".

A similar related card game in the Philippines is known as Cuajo in Spanish and English, and Kuwaho in Filipino/Tagalog,[6] which Manuel (1948) points to Hokkien Chinese: 看好; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khòaⁿ-hó.

It uses a madiao deck but strips it of the suit of Tens with the exception of the Thousand Myriad card.

Three types of melds can be led: This game is played by two or more persons with one complete pack of one hundred and twenty cards.

The deck contained two sets each of Ace through Nine of Hearts, Clubs and Diamonds, with two specially-designed Jacks, Queens and Kings standing in for the "extra cards" and two Jokers.

As the years passed, his passion for the game became so great that in his last books he was designated as William "Khanhoo" Wilkinson.

In turn, the first player draws, melds if possible and discards one face up to the table to form a waste pile.

A variation of the game can be played by using three decks comprising 90 cards, plus two Jokers to form a new sequence of meldings.

The player sitting left of the dealer receives one extra card and has the privilege of leading first.

[9] The following additions to the number of possible tricks may add an interesting feature to the game: