DaGuai LuZi

DaiGuai LuZi (大怪路子; Wild Escape) is a card game originated in Shanghai, China.

Setup

• 6 people divide into 2 fixed teams. All players sit in a circle with no two team members sitting next to each other.
• 3 decks of cards (including one Big Joker and one Small Joker per deck)

Objectives

The objectives of each game:

1. The entire team needs to work together to help a team member becoming the first person to go out (i.e. plays all his cards).
2. Trap at least one player in the opponent team. And the more opponents you trap, the higher tribute the opponent team may have to pay.

The team may advance to next level when both objectives are achieved (see Scoring). The team of the higher level wins the match.

Terminologies

Trump-Maker (庄家)

The first person to play in each game. Trump-maker of the first game is decided by drawing a card randomly. The first person who goes out in a game becomes trump-maker of the next game.

Trump Cards (主牌)

Trump cards are higher than all other cards except Jokers. Trump Cards are determined by trump-maker’s level in each game. They start as Two, and may go up to Ace as the trump-maker's level advances.

Trapped (被关)

A player is trapped at the end of a game, if he still has cards in his hand after all players in the opponent team have fled.

A Legal Play (牌型/路子)

A set of card(s) that can be played at once is called a legal play. A player can play one card, two cards, three cards or five cards at once.

• Any single card can be played by itself.
• Two cards played at once must be a Pair.
• Three cards played at once must be of the same kind (i.e. Three of a kind).
• Five cards of the following patterns can be played at once:
  1. Straight (顺子)
  2. Flush (同花)
  3. Full house (俘虏)
  4. Four of a kind + any single card (炸弹)
  5. Straight flush (同花顺)
  6. Five of a kind (五同)

Rank of Plays (大小规则)

• It’s only meaningful to compare two plays which have equal number of cards.
• All suites rank equally.
• Single card: big Joker > small Joker > trump card > other card
• Types of 5-cards: five of a kind > straight flush > 4+1 > full house > flush > straight
• Rank of plays of the same type is determined by the single card rank of its “top card”. (For example, 666JJ ranks the same as 66622.)

Wild Cards (自由牌/百搭)

Jokers are wild cards. A wild card can substitute any single lower card in order to form a multi-card legal play. The highest possible rank of the play will be taken, for instance, "Joker,6,7,8,9" always counts as "6,7,8,9,10" rather than "5,6,7,8,9".

Dealing

Starting with the trump-maker, the players take turns drawing one card at a time in counterclockwise order.

Play

The trump-maker leads a game with any legal play of his choice. The next player can either follow by a higher legal play with equal number of cards, or pass to the next player. If all other 5 players pass, the player who played last can start a new lead with any legal play of his choice.

During the game, a player can ask any other player for number of cards remaining in his hand. The other player must answer truthfully if he has no more than 10 cards left, otherwise he can refuse to answer.

Continue until all players in one team are out.

Scoring

Scoring at the end of each game (in which a player in Team-A is the trump-maker):

• A Team-A player goes out first and at least one Team-B player is trapped: Team-A advances to next level. Each trapped player pays a tribute in next game.
• A Team-A player goes out first but no player in Team-B is trapped: No level change. No tribute.
• A Team-B player goes out first and at least one player in Team-A is trapped: No level change. Each trapped player pays a tribute in next game.
• A Team-B player goes out first but no Team-A player is trapped: No level change. No tribute.

The player who goes out first becomes trump-maker in the next game.

Tribute

After dealing the next game, each player who has to pay a tribute sends the highest card in his hand to an eligible opponent. Each of the top N (= number of tributes) player(s) in the opponent team is eligible for receiving a tribute. A tribute goes to the next eligible receiver according to player’s physical position.

If the tribute card is a Joker, the receiver returns any two cards of his choice. The player who pays the tribute can keep one of the two cards, or keep both cards and return a card higher than either card. If the tribute card is not a Joker, the receiver returns a single card of his choice.

The tribute and return cards are public to all players.

Tips

Team work is the key to win this game.

Help the player in your team who has the best hand (i.e., not necessary yourself) to go out first.

Choose the right play to maximize cards played by your own team and minimize cards played by opponent team.