ince Tichu is a card game, there will always be a significant amount of chance and probability involved, regardless of how skilled the players are. Even the best players will be beaten when faced with very lucky opponents. But is it possible to have too much luck?

I recently played two games on BSW. My opponents abandoned the first ( don’t play with “sofia” or “lhon” ) when they were losing 785 - 80. My opponents in the second accused my partner and I of cheating because our cards were so good. Needless to say, I don’t need to cheat with this hand:

Even in a game with friends, though, it’s slightly embarrassing to have a run of great cards. First of all, victory is guaranteed and not particularly satisfying. After all, it’s not your prodigious skill that’s winning the games, but the invisible, fickle hand of fate passing you bomb after bomb. Secondly, opponents tend to get bitter rather quickly when faced with a series of unwinnable hands. In short, it sucks a lot of fun out of the game.

Still, it’s important to remember that everyone will get a run of great cards from time to time, and the more you play, the more the luck will even out. Plus, a Tichu game only goes to 1000 points, so a few great hands will guarantee it ends quickly. Our advice at Tichu World is to just sit back and laugh, whichever side of fortune you happen to be on, because you’ll be on the other side soon enough.

or the veteran Tichu player, there are few horizons that remain elusive. Every situation has been encountered from the side of winner and the side of loser. Enormous leads have evaporated into thin air and comebacks have been made against seemingly impossible odds. There have been good partners and bad, fast and slow, German and Greek. What is left for the true Tichu junkie?

Tichu Chaos. It does little more than raise the stakes, but it brings a whole new set of skills to the fore. Caution is no longer an option, and no lead is safe. Here is the gist:

All rules are the same as standard Tichu, except that one member of each team MUST call “Grand Tichu” at the beginning of each hand (after being dealt 8 cards). The players are not allowed to discuss who should call Tichu, as everyone simply sits silently until the call has been made on both sides.

The permutations of this rule change are fascinating. Nearly always, it will result in around 400-point swing (minus 200 for the loser, plus 200 for the winner). Therefore, it is hugely important to support the Tichu-calling partner. It also makes a slow accumulation of points impossible, as the only option is to go for broke if a player has a hand of above-average strength. Frequently, neither player will want to call Grand Tichu.

With the point swings and stakes increased on each hand, games are faster and more heart-pounding. It may not be for every occassion, but Tichu Chaos can inject a much-needed burst of excitement into your regular game.

Have another way to pronounce it? Think you know better than everyone else?

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Team A Partner 1:
Team B Partner 1:
Team A Partner 2:
Team B Partner 2:

Leave a comment Explain why your choice is the right one!

he official Tichu rules are fairly abstract, written in a vernacular that most people find hard to understand, whether or not English is their native tongue. These rules for Tichu are written in plain English, moving from the basics of the game out to the more subtle rules and their effects. They are taken from the website of Brian Cook.

The deck consists of the standard 52 cards in the suits of stars, jade, pagodas and swords. In addition, there are four special cards: the Dragon (), the Phoenix (), the Mah Jongg () and the Dog ().

The player with the Mah Jongg goes first and may play a singleton, pair, consecutive pairs, three-of-a-kind, straight longer than four cards, or full house. The next player must follow with a higher set of the same type or pass. Once three players in a row have passed (for instance, Player A plays an Ace and Opponent 1 passes, Partner passes, and Opponent 2 passes), the winning player takes the trick and can then choose to lead with a different set, which the next player must follow or pass. The exception to this rule is a bomb, which consists of four-of-a-kind or a straight flush (straight of at least five cards in the same suit). A bomb can be played at any time by any player, no matter what type of set is led (except for the Dog), and can only be beaten by a higher bomb.

Those are the basic rules. Are you ready to buy Tichu yet? No, not yet!

First, they are complicated by the fact that a player may call “Tichu” at any time before playing his first card in a hand. By calling “Tichu”, the player bets 100 points that he will get rid of all his cards before the other three players. If he does so, his team gets 100 points. If he fails, his team loses 100 points. A player may also call “Grand Tichu” after seeing only 8 of the 14 cards she is dealt. This is the same as calling “Tichu”, except the risk/reward is 200 points.

After all players are dealt their 14 cards, each player chooses one card to give to each other player, that is one card to his partner and one to each of his opponents. He also receives a card from each player. Then the player with the Mah Jonng begins.

Calling “Tichu” is not the only way to score points, of course. The 5’s are worth five points each, the 10’s are worth ten points each, and the Kings are also worth 10 points each. The is worth 25 points, while the is worth -25 points. After 3 players have gotten rid of all their cards, the only player with cards gives the cards in his hand to the other team. He gives all the cards in the tricks that he has won to the first player to get rid of her cards, which may or may not be his partner. Then the points on the cards are added up, the successful/failed “Tichu call” points are added/subtracted, and the scores are written down. The first team to reach 1000 points wins.

The only exception is in the case of a “double win”, where both members of a team get rid of their cards before any member of the other team does. In this instance, the double-winning team gets 200 points and the hand is over.

There are four special cards, and these are their special powers:

Dragon ()- The highest singleton, only a bomb can beat it. Though worth 25 points, it can only be played as a singleton, and when it wins the trick, the person who played it must give it and all of the cards won during that trick to a member of the opposing team. The Dragon-player then leads the next trick.

Phoenix () - A joker. The Phoenix may be used as a wildcard, but cannot be a part of a bomb. When played as a singleton, it is one-half higher than the last card played. So when played with an 8, it makes a pair of 8’s. When played on top of an 8, it becomes an 8.5 and can be beaten by a 9. It is worth -25 points, so the team who wins the trick it is played in loses 25 points.

Mah Jongg () - Also called the Sparrow. It’s holder starts the hand and may or may not play the Mah Jongg, which is equal to a 1. When the Mah Jongg is played, the person who played it may make a request, which subsequently must be satisfied at the first possible opportunity. Therefore, if the Mah Jongg player plays it as a singleton and wishes for a 3, and the next player must play a single 3 if possible. This wish remains in effect until it is satisfied.

Dog () - The Dog has no value and so it must be lead, since it cannot beat anything. It immediately gives the lead to the player’s partner. It cannot be bombed.

These simple rules and special cards combine to make an extremely deep game, and the line between strong and weak Tichu players is very fine. Try to learn with a group of friends, so that no one has the considerable advantage of experience. After getting comfortable with the mechanics of the game, it’s a good idea to read about strategy, especially passing strategies, which can help prevent opponents from getting bombs and give your team the best chance to go out first. Check out the rest of the site for strategy and discussion!

ost of the time, the priorities of players during a Tichu Hand should be thus:

1. Making a Tichu call by you or your partner.
2. Stopping a Tichu call by one of your opponents.
3. Getting rid of your cards first.
4. Securing a “double win”.
5. Getting as many card points as possible.

In Tichu, five types of cards have point values:

= 5 points
= 10 points
= 10 points
= 25 points (but must be given to an opponent if it wins a trick)
= -25 points (that is, minus 25 points for whoever ends up with it at the end of the hand)

Toward the end of the game, when it becomes obvious where the last few tricks will probably go, you should consciously think about collecting points. If Player A wins a trick with the dragon, he will typically want to give the trick to Player D, who he thinks will be the last player to go out. That way, if Player A or his partner go out first, and Player D is in fact the last out, Player A’s team will get the 25 dragon points back, plus any others in the trick. Any cards left in the hand of the last player out will also go to the opponents, which should also be considered.

The process of going out first offers the most opportunities to save points. If Player A has the lead and:

The best way to save points is by playing the straight first, which, barring bombs, will win the trick (and save 20 points), then play the pair of Sixes, which the opponents are likely to want to beat to make sure they get the lead. In doing so, they’ll be taking -25 points. If they don’t beat it, it will give your partner a chance to steal the lead.

While the other concerns of making/stopping Tichu, going out first and securing a double-win are paramount, taking points, especially in the end-game can be the difference between winning and losing the whole shebang.

here is a very broadly accepted passing convention used in Tichu developed orignally by Aaron D. Fuegi and Andy Latto. Most players you meet will know this strategy and when playing on sites like BrettspielWelt, using this convention is a *given* that your partner (and opponents) will expect of you.

The convention states:

Pass your lowest expendable odd card to the left.
Pass your lowest expendable even card to the right.

This is often shown as follows:

<< LEFT RIGHT >>

Following this convention prevents you and your partner from passing cards of the same rank (say both 4s) to the same opponent. Needless to say, if you don’t follow some sort of convention like this, your partnership runs the risk of giving an opponent at the very least a pair, if not a tichu enabling / crushing bomb.

What to pass your partner is highly dependent on the rest of your hand and will be explored in more depth in other posts. Having a possible tichu-calling hand or alternately a terrible un-tichu-able hand will shape your pass to your partner considerably, and there is quite a bit of gray area in between.

For more information on the Fuegi/Latto Passing Convention, check out the original post where it is proposed which contains some supporting statistics and justification.

hy is the the most powerful card in Tichu. The second-highest single card, and a wild-card to boot, it’s -25 point stigma is well worth absorbing in almost every case. Let’s take a closer look at just why the Phoenix is so powerful.

AS A SINGLE CARD
The Phoenix has the remarkable ability to beat any single card (except the Dragon), by one-half. By holding onto the Phoenix until late in the game, no player can play an Ace with much confidence unless they know the locations of the Phoenix and the Dragon. If the Dragon has already been played, the Phoenix is now potentially the highest single card in the game, although it can always be played on any single card. The threat of the Phoenix may be enough to dissuade a player from calling “Tichu”, potentially saving your team 100 points.

AS A JOKER
While the Phoenix has a great deal of power as a singleton, where it really shines is as a joker. Once again, holding it late into the game allows its versatility to rise to the fore, combining with another card, especially an Ace, to form a strong pair that can help you go out. It can also give you a three-of-a-kind or a straight that can prevent an opponent from going out. Earlier in the game, the Phoenix can be used to tie an enormous straight together. Wisely, the game designers prevented the Phoenix from being used in a bomb. Otherwise, it would be rather unstoppable.

Conclusion
Saving a Phoenix until late in the game can stop an opponent from calling “Tichu”, make players think twice about playing an Ace, and give you flexibility to beat a wide variety of hands in an end-game scenario. Before you play it early just to beat an Ace, you should have a plan for your next move, whether or not your Phoenix is beaten by the Dragon. If you find yourself with a couple of Aces, the Phoenix and the Dragon, you should probably call Tichu, because all of those cards are singleton winners (barring bombs). Long live the Phoenix!

ichu is all about luck and strategy. Since you can’t control luck, you’d better know how to make the most of your cards. Here, we provide several articles on various parts of Tichu strategy, from passing conventions to end-game scenarios to situation analysis and beyond. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts, and add to the growing body of knowledge here at Tichu World.