Tichu

Classic four-player play uses one 56-card deck, with partners opposite and 14 cards per player. The booklet has players take cards individually counterclockwise. Each then passes one card face down to each other player; send all three before picking up received cards.

Call Grand Tichu before taking the ninth card: personally finishing first earns the team an additional 200 points, otherwise it loses 200. Call Small Tichu before playing your own first card for an additional plus or minus 100. Declaration points are independent of ordinary card points.

After passing, the Mah Jong holder leads, without having to lead that card. Normally play proceeds counterclockwise: pass or play a higher combination of the same type and size. Straights need at least five cards; full houses compare their triples. Bombs are an exception.

After the last play, three players passing in order closes the trick. Its highest player takes it and leads again; if that player has finished, the lead passes right to someone still holding cards. Passing does not permanently exclude a player from the trick; they may play when their turn comes again.

The Mah Jong ranks 1 and can join a straight. Playing it permits a wish for an ordinary rank, lasting until fulfilled. On a normal turn, a player holding that rank must fulfill the wish if legally possible, even through a bomb or a legal combination using the Phoenix. The Phoenix alone does not count as holding the wished rank.

The Dog can only be led as a single card, immediately giving the lead to the partner. If the partner has finished, pass the lead to the next player on the partner's right still holding cards. The Dog cannot be bombed.

The Phoenix substitutes for an ordinary card in combinations but cannot form a bomb. As a single it ranks half a step above the card it beats, or 1.5 when led, and cannot beat the Dragon. The Dragon is the highest non-bomb single and cannot join a straight; if it actually wins a trick, give the entire trick including the Dragon to an opponent of its holder's choice.

A bomb is four of a kind or a straight flush of at least five cards. It beats any non-bomb; compare bombs by card count first, then rank. Bombs may be played out of turn or led. The official FAQ requires an existing table combination when interrupting rather than leading, and resolves simultaneous bombs in normal play order.

The hand ends immediately when only one player holds cards. That player gives the remaining hand to the opponents and collected tricks to the first finisher. Fives score 5 each, tens and kings 10 each, the Dragon plus 25 and Phoenix minus 25, totaling 100 ordinary points. The last trick closes immediately when the third player finishes; a winning Dragon still gives it away.

If partners finish first and second, the hand ends immediately with a double victory: skip card counting and award their team 200 points, with Tichu declarations scored separately. At a hand's end, if a team has at least 1000 points, the higher total wins. A tie continues until the threshold is met without a tie.