Sheng ji is a family of point-based, trick-taking card games played in China and in Chinese immigrant communities. They have a dynamic trump, i.e., which cards are trump changes every round. As these games are played over a wide area with no standardization, rules vary widely from region to region.
The game is most commonly played with two decks of cards, which can be called bāshí fēn (, 'eighty points'), tuō lā jī (, 'tractor'), shuāng kōu (, 'double digging out'), or shuāng shēng (, 'double upgrade'); another variant is called zhǎo péngyǒu (, 'Finding Friends'), which has five or more players and two or more decks. Alternatively, it can be played with one deck, in which case the game may be called dǎ bǎi fēn (, 'competing for a hundred points') or sìshí fēn (, 'forty points').
The article below mainly describes the bashi fen variant, with players playing with two decks and in fixed partnerships.
Players and objective
The game is played with four players in fixed partnerships, with players sitting across each other forming a team. Each team has a rank that they are currently playing, henceforth referred to as their score. At the beginning of a match, both teams start at a score of 2.
One team is designated the "declarers" (also known as "defenders") and the other team is designated the "opponents" (also known as "attackers"). This designation of teams is determined in the process of the game and will change frequently.
The objective and scoring for each team is slightly different:
- If the "declarers" prevent the "opponents" from taking 80 points in tricks during a round, the "declarers" score is incremented by one, and the declarers remain as the declarers.
- If the "opponents" take 80 points in tricks during a round, the "opponents" score is not incremented, but the opponents become the declarers for the next round and have the chance to increment their score. However, in some variations, if the opponents exceed 80 points in tricks, their score is incremented according to various thresholds. For example, consider the case where the dominant rank is 7 and there is no declared dominant suit:
{|class="wikitable" style="font-size:100%;text-align:center;"
|+Suits when 7 is dominant (no trump suit)
! rowspan=2
! colspan=2 style="text-align:left;" | ←Highest (within suit)
! colspan=1 style="text-align:right;" | Lowest (within suit)→
|-
! Red jokers !! Black jokers !! Dominant rank<br/>(7)
|-
! Dominant suit
| frameless|upright=0.15<br/>Red joker
| frameless|upright=0.15<br/>Black joker
| frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15<br/>
|-
! rowspan=5 | Other suits !! colspan=3 | Other cards
|-
| colspan="3" | frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15<br />
|-
| colspan="3" | frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15<br />
|-
| colspan=3 | frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15<br/>
|-
| colspan=3 | frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15frameless|upright=0.15<br/>
|}
Point cards
In the deck, only kings, 10s, and 5s are worth points when taken as a trick. All kings and 10s are worth 10 points each, while 5s are worth 5 points each,
Drawing continues until everyone has drawn 25 cards, leaving a pool of 8 reserve cards, also known as the bottom (), which will be examined by the dealer prior to the start of play. During the initial drawing of the cards, the dominant (trump) suit is determined by bidding.
Determining the dominant suit and rank
The dominant rank is always equal to the score of the declarers in any particular round. Since both teams start with a score of 2, the dominant rank in the first round is 2. When the declarers obtain a score of 5, the rank for that round is 5; when the score of the declarers is raised to 7, the rank is 7, and so on.
{|class="wikitable mw-collapsible collapsed floatright" style="width:35em;text-align:center;font-size:80%;"
|+ Suit bidding example (rank 7)
! style="width:25%;" | Bid !! Player !! Dominant suit !! Notes
|-
! frameless|upright=0.2<br/>
| N
| style="font-size:250%;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | North leads bidding with , making hearts the dominant suit.
|-
! frameless|upright=0.2frameless|upright=0.2<br/>
| E
| style="font-size:250%;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | East overrides North's original bid with an identical pair of , making clubs the dominant suit.
|-
! frameless|upright=0.2frameless|upright=0.2<br/>
| N
| style="font-size:250%;" |
| style="text-align:left;" | North reinforces original bid with another , forming a pair and reinstating hearts as the dominant suit. This should do before East override it.
|-
! frameless|upright=0.2frameless|upright=0.2<br/>black joker, black joker
| S
| No-trump
| style="text-align:left;" | South wins bid with a pair of black jokers; jokers trump all suits.
|}
The dominant suit, on the other hand, is determined during the drawing of cards: any player may bid a suit by revealing a card in the dominant rank; the suit of that card becomes the dominant suit.
The playing rules stay largely the same.
Miscellaneous optional rules
- In some variations, the playing of certain scores, especially scores involving point cards, might be mandatory and cannot be skipped. For example, if 10 is mandatory and a team goes up 2 ranks after playing 9, they will have to play 10 first, instead of going straight to jack.<!-- 必打 -->
- Sometimes, other players can change the trump after the dealer has discarded the kitty, and change the kitty again. This variation is called chao dipi (), 'bidding for the land'. and in this rule, the highest to lowest for taking chao dipi is: pair of <span style="color:red;">red</span> joker>pair of black joker>pair of >>>(of dominant rank)
- When jacks (or aces) are the dominant rank, and the opponents' team wins the last trick with a J (or an A, respectively), the scores of the members of the declarers' team go back to 2 (or J). This is also called "hook and needle" because of the shapes of J and A. The players whose rank goes down is called as being "hooked back" or "needled back".<!-- 鈎到底 -->
- The and sometimes also the may be taken as the highest cards, i.e. hong wu (), 'red five'. If a trick containing one or more red 5s (or only, depending on variant) is won by the opposing team, the player whose red 5 is captured is penalized.
See also
- Dou di zhu
- Four color cards
- Gnau
- Tien len
- Zi pai
- Wild escape
Notes
References
External links
- Finding Friends (Zhao Pengyou) rules in English