Tichu

The following is a review of Tichu. If you have specific questions about Tichu that aren’t addressed here please check out my Tichu FAQ or feel free to contact me.

At first glance Tichu seems to be just another run-of-the-mill, trick-taking, card game. However, there are five aspects of Tichu that make it stand out from other card games:

1. Four (4) Special Cards
2. Allowances/Restrictions of Game Play
3. Scoring
4. Bombs
5. Tichu/Grand Tichu

The Components

In the box you will find an instruction booklet along with two complete decks of Tichu cards.

Each deck consists of 56 cards. There is your standard deck from 2 through Ace in four suits…

…as well as four special cards: the Dog, the Mah-Jong, the Phoenix, and the Dragon.

The Cards Explained

The four suits (52 cards) play just as you would expect. The only note here being that Aces are always high. So let’s move on to the Special Cards.

The Dog (left) can only be played when you have the lead. When you play the Dog, the lead passes to your partner (the player sitting across from you) and no cards are played by the other players.

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The Mah-Jong (right) has a value of 1 making it the lowest card in the deck. The owner of the Mah-Jong begins the hand. Also, when they choose to play the Mah-Jong, they may wish for a card (e.g. 2, 10, or Jack). They may only wish for a certain value, not a certain suit and the other Special cards may not be wished for. The next player who can legally play the card that was wished for must do so.

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The Phoenix (left) is a wild card of sorts. It can replace any card in the 52-card deck. Or, if played on its own, it takes on a value of one half higher than the card previously played. For example, if the Phoenix was played on a 2, the Phoenix’s value is 2.5. Therefore a 3 could be played on top of the Phoenix.

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The Dragon (right) is the absolute highest card in the deck. The Dragon must be played as a single card. If a trick is won with the Dragon, however, the trick is given to one of the members of the opposing team.

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The Game Play

The Game Play is simple and straightforward, yet it differs greatly from many traditional trick-taking card games. There are four basic phases of Game Play:

1. Drawing
2. Passing
3. Playing
4. Scoring

In the Drawing phase, one deck of 56 cards is shuffled and placed in the middle of the table. One player draws the top card off the deck, then moving clockwise around the table players continue to draw cards, one by one, until each player has a full hand of 14 cards.

Next, in the Passing phase, each player selects three cards from his hand. You will pass one card to each of the other players (including your partner). Thus you should also receive three cards in this process and still end up with 14 cards in your hand.

Now it’s time to actually Play the cards. As previously stated, the player holding the Mah-Jong at this point (it may have exchanged hands during the Passing phase) starts the hand. Unlike many traditional card games you are allowed to play more than one card at a time. For instance, you could lead with a pair [2,2] or three of a kind [5,5,5] or even a full house [4,4,4,J,J].

For now, let’s say I lead with a pair of fives [5,5]. The player to my left now has an option. They may either PASS or PLAY. In order to play, he would need to have a pair higher than my pair of fives. However, he is not forced to play even if he has cards that are legal to play. Play will continue around the table until three consecutive players pass. After three consecutive passes, the last player who played a card collects the trick and takes the lead.

The round ends when only one player is left holding cards. Any tricks this player has collected will go to the player who got rid of his cards first (which could be his partner). Any cards left in this player’s hand go to the opposing team. At this point the round is scored.

There are only 14 cards that count in the Scoring. The fives, the tens, the kings, the Phoenix and the Dragon.

• Fives = +5 pts each
• Tens = +10 pts each
• Kings = +10 pts each
• Phoenix = -25 pts
• Dragon = +25 pts

Now the cards are shuffled and you play the next round. A complete game is played to a predetermined score (usually 1000 pts).

If I stopped here you could easily blow this game off as just another card game. If you were paying attention though, you know that there are still two areas that I mentioned at the top of this post that I have yet to cover.

Bombs can come in two forms. A bomb is either four of a kind or a straight flush. A bomb breaks all the rules and can be played at any time. Once a bomb is played, the only thing that can beat it is a stronger bomb. Bombs are ranked firstly by the number of cards in the bomb and secondly by the value of the cards in the bomb. Therefore:

• Four two [2,2,2,2] could be beaten by…
• Four eights [8,8,8,8] which could be beaten by…
• A 5-card straight flush [2,3,4,5,6] which could be beaten by…
• A higher 5-card straight flush [9,10,J,Q,K] which could be beaten by…
• A 6-card straight flush [3,4,5,6,7,8] and so on…

Finally, I will introduce you to the name of the game: Tichu.

Tichu is a declaration that you may make at any time before you personally play your first card(s). When you call Tichu you are “betting” that you will be able to get rid of all your cards first. If you are successful, your team gains 100 points for the round. However, if you should fail to be the first player out, then your team will lose 100 points for the round.

Grand Tichu is a similar declaration and has the same goal. In order to call Grand Tichu though, you must do so in the Drawing phase before you draw your ninth card. Naturally with greater risk comes greater reward, and you can earn +/- 200 points depending on your success/failure.

Also, I should bring up one often overlooked rule. Should you and your partner get rid of all your cards in any given hand before either member of the opposing team, the round ends immediately. You score 200 points and the next round begins.

Review

Tichu is a wonderful 4-player card game. It is easy to explain and simple enough to catch on quickly. It uses a standard 52-card deck (plus the 4 special cards) which along with some common poker and rummy hands brings some familiarity to the game. That said, I believe it still takes a certain type of player to enjoy this game.

If you are expecting this to be just another card game, them that’s exactly what it will be, just another card game. But if you’re willing to take a few risks, have some fun, and play Tichu!, then I’ve got a game for you.

When playing Tichu, it helps if you know the people you’re playing with, particularly your partner. When playing Tichu, remember that the game is called Tichu, and therefore you should call Tichu. (In my family, a hand in which Tichu is not called by one or more players is few and far between, and these hands are considered dull.) When playing Tichu, you need someone who is willing to call Tichu, even when they don’t think they have the best hand. When playing Tichu, you need someone who will break up an Ace Bomb just to say they’ve done it. When playing Tichu, the bottom line is that it’s fun, if you let it be fun.

At the end of the day, I could take it or leave it. In my family though, I have a good group of players that can really get into it and make it a lot of fun. So if you decide to give Tichu a try, remember to call Tichu early and often and get your Game On!

One Response to “Tichu”

1. nina says:

   August 16, 2011 at 5:06 pm

   very nice game!!!

   Reply