Tichu

Prepare the table

Use one fifty-six-card Tichu deck: four suits ranked two through ace, plus Mah Jong, Dog, Phoenix and Dragon. Partners sit opposite. Play counterclockwise. Shuffle and let each player take one card in turn until each has fourteen; pause after eight cards for optional Grand Tichu declarations before anyone sees a ninth card. Each player secretly passes one card to each other player, selecting all three before picking up incoming cards. The Mah Jong holder leads first but need not lead that card.

Play a turn

Lead a single card, pair, three of a kind, full house, sequence of at least two consecutive pairs, or straight of at least five cards. On your turn pass or beat the current play with the same combination type and number of cards. Compare ranks, using the triple in a full house. Suits do not break ties. Passing does not stop you playing later in the same trick. After the other players pass, the last player to play takes the trick and leads again; if already out, the next active player in the play direction leads.

A bomb is four equal ranks or a straight of at least five cards all in one suit. It beats an ordinary play and can be played out of turn. A straight-flush bomb beats a four-card bomb; longer bombs beat shorter ones, then compare rank. Allow a clear pause for bomb opportunities before collecting a trick.

Mah Jong counts as one and may join a straight. Its player may wish for an ordinary rank. The next player on their normal turn who can legally include a real card of that rank must do so, even with a bomb; otherwise the wish persists. An out-of-turn bomb need not fulfill it. Dog can only lead an empty trick: it passes the lead to your partner, or the next active player after that partner, and cannot be bombed.

Phoenix can replace one normal card in a combination, but cannot make a bomb. As a single it is half a rank above the previous single, or 1.5 when led; it cannot beat Dragon. Dragon is the highest ordinary single and cannot join combinations. If it wins, give the whole trick to an opponent of your choice while retaining the lead. If bombed, the bomb winner keeps the trick.

Before playing your first card you may call Tichu: your team gains one hundred if you personally go out first, otherwise loses one hundred. Grand Tichu, declared before seeing a ninth card, instead risks two hundred. A Grand caller cannot also call small Tichu. Calls are individual; no hand discussion or signaling during play.

Finish and score

If partners finish first and second, stop immediately: their team scores two hundred and the other zero, before calls. Otherwise stop when only one player holds cards. Give that player's remaining hand to the opponents and their captured tricks to the first finisher. Score fives as five, tens and kings as ten, Dragon as twenty-five and Phoenix as minus twenty-five; all other cards score zero. Add each declared call separately.

Play further hands until a team has at least one thousand at a hand's end. Higher total wins; if tied, play another hand. The previous first finisher shuffles the next hand.

Host the first game

A Reddit return-to-Tichu report describes the game opening up once players understood helping a partner finish, rather than merely clearing their own hand. Teach an example where passing protects your partner's lead. Write the current Mah Jong wish where everyone can see it and erase it once fulfilled.

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Ideas & Twists

Choose a variation together before you start.