i've seen many chinese people play cards since i've been here, especially groups of people sitting on stools around small tables along the street. and chinese friends have told me they play card games. i like card games. so i said, "teach me how to play!" i have said this to several friends in the past, and you know what they all said, "no, it's too hard." and they refused to teach me!! what?? this was slightly insulting to me, because for the most part i can learn games well, even ones with complicated rules. and most of the people i asked to teach me spoke english, so they would have been able to explain well enough for me to understand, and even if it wasn't perfect, i probably could have figured it out from playing. yeah. so i have been slightly miffed in the past that no one would teach me any chinese card games.
yesterday i FINALLY learned my first chinese card game from a friend who actually wanted to teach me. all my other friends were right, it was definitely complicated. but it was not beyond understanding. the rules were not what americans would expect them to be and didn't follow the kind of logic that americans would probably expect from card games. once i accepted the rules for what they were and didn't try to make them make perfect logical sense, the game was not difficult, it was just a matter of remembering all the rules. and i had a nice friend who would remind me of some of the rules of i forgot. =)
in this particular game, there is a hierarchy of cards. there is always a special card in the hierarchy that changes, and it changes based on which team most recently won, and whichever number it is keeps track of which team is ahead and by how much. then there is also a hierarchy of combinations of cards you can play together.
the hierarchy of cards is like this, starting from the lowest: 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, [3], Joker, 4-A-4. 4-A-4 is a special combination of cards that always beats every other possible card combination, and i believe it is also one of the names of this game. the number in brackets is the special number that changes. for example, if one teams is up to 8, the hierarchy of the cards would be like this: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, [8], Joker, 4-A-4. so 8 would be the special card, and 3 would be a normal card in the line-up.
ok, so then when you actually play, you try to play things that beat what the previous person played, and when no one else can play anymore, the person to play the highest the last time gets to start again. the person to get rid of all their cards first wins the round.
the combination of cards you can play are where it gets interesting. single cards are the lowest. there is also two of the same card, and three of the same card, four of the same card, five of the same, etc. (you play with two decks). any more than five of the same card is rare. but you can also play runs (suit doesn't matter) and then another player would have to beat your run by playing another run with the same number of cards but with higher numbers. you can also play double runs.
example 1: 5, 6, 7, 8 is played, then 6, 7, 8, 9 or any higher run would beat that
example 2: 7 7, 8 8, 9 9 is played, then 8 8, 9 9, 10 10 or any higher run with double numbers would beat that
you can't play a run with more cards to beat it, just one with higher cards. if you don't have a run, other things can beat it. three of the same card can beat single runs. i think four of the same card can beat double runs. or two jokers can beat a single run, and three jokers can beat a double run. two jokers is better than three other cards the same, and three jokers is better than four other cards the same. when playing single cards, a colored joker can beat a black and white one. 4-A-4 always beats everything. an all red 4-A-4 can beat a 4-A-4 that has a black card in it.
if you start by playing single cards and no one has any single cards left, you can't play double cards to beat single cards, but you can play triple cards. you can start out playing double cards though, and then people can play higher double cards or they can play triple cards. you can't play a run anytime except at the beginning, after starting over. the only other time you can play double cards, besides as mentioned above and as a part of a run are if people are playing single cards and you have double cards that match a single card that is played. then you can play your matching double cards out of turn. nothing can beat that except one more single card of the same number or 4-A-4. there is no other circumstance where you can play out of turn.
are you confused yet? haha. it was a bit at first, but once i played several times, it all fit together and somehow make sense, but maybe you see what i mean about it being complicated and not necessarily seeming logical at first. so interesting though! i'm interested to see what other chinese card games are like in the future. =)
Fun! I've played a game similar to that, and if you won the round you moved to the "King's" chair. Second place was in the second chair and so on. If you were the king and you didn't win, you automatically went to the bottom chair.
ReplyDeleteThe significance of the chairs is that, the bottom chairs have to give some of their good cards to the top chairs, and the top chairs have to give some of their bad cards to the bottom chairs.
ie, if there are six chairs:
King Second Third
Sixth Fifth Fourth
And they're sitting in order like a circle, then the sixth person gives the king their top three cards, and likewise the king will give three bad cards to the sixth. The fifth person gives two cards to the second person. The fourth person gives one card to the third person.
This gives the king lots of good cards, which is why there is an extra penalty (going all the way to the bottom chair) if they lose.
yes!! i played the card game you are describing when i was in japan and i actually thought of it when i was writing this. the idea is similar, just the rules aren't quite as complicated.
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