Beginning about 1865, a new wave of some five thousand Chinese had immigrated, not as contract laborers, but on their own account. Many came from California, seeking better conditions for themselves than in the American West, where they had participated in the Gold Rush of 1849 and been the subject of racist persecution. A much smaller group than the main wave of coolie laborers, some had made money running service businesses, and their capital fueled the growth of Havana's burgeoning Barrio Chino, or Chinatown. In 1867 the society Kit Yi Tong was founded, the first of a number of Chinese social clubs based on family or regional origin, business, politics, sports, and arts. Havana's Chinese community became the largest in the Western Hemisphere, with Chinese banks, newspapers in Chinese, and theaters that played Chinese musicals. In 1875 the Sun Yen, a Chinese opera theater, was inaugurated with Chinese performers from California.38

They went into the traditional businesses known throughout the Chinese diaspora: laundries, restaurants, small stores, and street vending. They introduced their gambling game la chiffra, also known asla charada china (Chinese charade), a lottery that featured thirty-six traditional figures: 1 = horse, 2 = butterfly, and so forth. The table of thirty-six was expanded to one hundred; the lottery came to be called la bolita (the little ball) from its system of choosing the winner by drawing a numbered ball. Known in the United States as the numbers racket, bolita was introduced from Cuba into Florida in the 1880s, and spread from there to other parts of the United States, becoming part of US folk culture. Many Cubans committed the table of figures to memory, which gave rise to a popular system of number mnemonics. In 1998, the singer Miguel "Lele" Rasalps memorized my phone number by saying to himself “cochino, tigre, espejo” (pig, tiger, mirror), remembering the charade figures.

RIFA CHIFFA O CHARADA CHINA

La rifa Chiffá es uno de los juegos prohibidos en este país; mas que juego es una estafa preparada por el chino banquero para desplumar a los que pretenden adivinarle cual sea el bicho que anteriormente haya colgado, por medio de combinaciones o acertijos (este es el engaño) que los puntos no entienden ni podrán jamás entender porque tales rompe-cabezas están subordinados a la mala fe del primero, la cual se justifica con solo tener presente que dicho empresario puede, caso de que le acierten el bicho, cambiarle por otro menos cargado de, apuestas, escamoteo que le es fácil realizar, puesto que él es su guardador, de cuya operación resultan siempre reventados los incautos. Para mejor inteligencia, seguidamente insertamos los números y nombres de los 36 bichos, que, representando la figura de un chino dividida en igual número de partes, a las cuales denominan con el de alguna persona o animal, comerciantes, guapos, etc., formadas con las mismas unidades, cuyos grupos también se expresan :

A striking example is furnished by the success of the "Chinese charade" (Rifa Chiffa) in Cuba. This lottery, described by Lydia Cabrera as "an incurable cancer of the economy" is played by means of a Chinese figure divided into thirty-six parts, to which are assigned an equal number of symbols — human, animal, or allegorical — eg horses, butterflies, sailors, nuns, tortoises, snails, dead men, steamships, precious stones (which may represent beautiful women), shrimp (also, the male sex), she-goats (also, a sordid affair or the female genitalia), monkeys, spiders, , pipes, etc. The banker places a corresponding series of designs in a carton or box. One of these is drawn by lot, wrapped in a piece of cloth, and shown to the players. The operation is called "hanging the animal." Next, he proceeds to sell tickets, each of which bears the Chinese character standing for one or another figurine. Meanwhile, his confederates go through the streets taking bets. At a designated time, the emblem is unwrapped, and the winners receive thirty times what they have wagered. The banker gives ten per cent of his profits to his agents.

The game thus turns out to be a more embellished version of roulette. However, while in roulette all numerical combinations are possible, the symbols of Rifa Chiffa are assembled according to mysterious affinities. In effect, each possesses or does not possess one or more companions and valets. Thus, the horse has the precious stone for a companion and the peacock for a servant; the big fish has the elephant for a companion, but the tortoise is his valet. Conversely, the shrimp has the deer for a companion, but no servant. The deer has three companions — the shrimp, the goat, and the spider — but has no valet, etc. Naturally, it is necessary to play the chosen symbol, his companion, and his valet at the same time.

In addition, the thirty-six lottery emblems are grouped in seven unequal series (quadrillas) — merchants, gentlemen, drunkards, priests, beggars, cavaliers, and women. Moreover, the principles dominating the division now seem more obscure. For example, the priest series is composed of the big fish, tortoise, pipe, eel, cock, nun, and cat. The drunkard series contains the dead man, snail, peacock, and little fish. The universe of the game is ruled by this strange classification. At the beginning of each game, after having "hung the animal," the banker announces a charade (charada) intended to guide (or mislead) the participants. What is involved is an intentionally ambiguous statement such as the following: "A man on horseback is riding very slowly. He is not stupid, but drunk, and he and his companion make a lot of money." As a result, the player imagines that he ought to play the drunkard or cavalier series. He can also bet on the animal commanded by one or the other. However, there is no doubt another, less clearly expressed word which provides the clue to the charade.

Another time the banker declares, "I want to do you a favor. The elephant kills the pig. The tiger suggests it. The deer goes to sell it and carries the package." An experienced player explains his reasoning:

The toad is a sorcerer, the deer is the sorcerer's helper. He carries the evil package which contains he black magic that an enemy has contrived against someone. In this case, the tiger against the elephant. The deer leaves with the package in order to place it where the sorcerer told him to. Quite clever, isn't it? Very clever! Thirty-one, the deer, will win, because the deer starts off at a run.

....

A whole chapter is about Charada China.

La Charada : “un preso que vive libre”

Los chinos introducidos en Cuba como colonos a mediados del siglo pasado se dice que fueron los que expandieron el juego del “paco pío” y el “cheffá”, luego llamado “charada”.
Esta última es una palabra de origen francés y viene a ser como un tipo de adivinanza.
De donde resulta que la charada aplicada al juego es una adivinanza que teóricamente da la pista de un número guardado en un sobre y que se cuelga a la vista de los participantes.
El simbolismo cabalístico de la charada comprende varios animales o “bichos”, a cada uno de los cuales corresponde un número.
Por eso, cuando el sobre con el número premiado aún no ha sido abierto se dice que “el bicho está colgao”.
¿Como se juega a la charada en la capital? ¿Cuándo se tira? ¿Qué se gana? Actualmente se está tirando la charada —en diversos lugares— dos veces al día: por la tarde y por la noche. Se juega por “cuartillos” (tres centavos o dos números por un medio) que ganan, cuando sale el número, $1.50 aunque el público a veces sólo recibe como pago $1.40. La tirada se efectúa una o dos horas antes de la bolita, para dar chance a los jugadores a efectuar un “pase” a esta última. Digamos que el verso era “una niña que todo lo brinda”, y que hay un feliz mortal que engrampa el 16 con un cuartillo. Entonces, su premio ($1.40) o parte de éste, previo acuerdo con el intermediario del banco de apuntación queda automáticamente invertido en un número de la bolita. El pase es el modo de vinculación entre la charada y la bolita. Pero hay otros nexos, como enseguida vamos a ver.

As in both Trinidad and Jamaica, the Chinese lottery became very popular among working class Creoles. But many unlucky people did feel that they had been cheated by unscrupulous Chinese gambling managers. Fortunately this never boiled over into racial violence against the Chinese.
Gambling in fact facilitated a measure of cultural integration between the Chinese and members of the host society, not on the basis of Chinese.