Pan used to be played in Las Vegas poker rooms, with casinos making money via a "rake" (taking money out of the wagers), as it does in a poker game. When the hold ’em craze hit, however, the last of the poker-room pan games disappeared. We suspect that pan continues to be played in a few cardrooms around the country, but we don't know of any Las Vegas poker rooms that spread it.
As to the game itself, it's a rummy derivative that was addressed in our book, The Art of Gambling Through the Ages, by Arthur Flowers and Anthony Curtis. Following is the discussion from the book (the game explanation is at the end).
PLAYING CARDS 1978 Clementine Hunter Born: c. 1886, Hidden Hills Plantation, Louisiana Died: Date unknown oil on canvas board
From the collection of Thomas N. Whitehead
Often referred to as the "Southern Grandma Moses," Clementine Hunter was one of the most prolific and successful artists of her time, despite the fact that she did not begin to paint until she was in her fifties. Her grandparents were plantation slaves in Louisiana and Clementine could neither read nor write, but she could tell colorful and joyous stories with her paintbrush. She painted strictly from memory and had a natural sensibility for brilliant hues. Her 5,000-7,000 paintings chronicled a way of life on Southern plantations. Many critics have described Hunter as a naïve and primitive artist, while others cherish her as a folk icon. Regardless of how her work is judged, Clementine Hunter remains one of America's most admired artists. She enjoyed working on her canvases well past one hundred years of age.
Rummy games of all types have been extremely popular in America since the turn of the 20th century. Indeed, most two-player depictions of card players during this era seem to represent a contest of rummy or gin. Early rummy games that sustained popularity were the Mexican-derived conquian and its American cousin coon can. The rummy game that became most associated with women, especially elderly women, however, is canasta. Today, women also gather in commercial cardrooms around the United States to gamble at the rummy derivative called panguingue, or pan.
