Tongits Online Game: Card Game for Filipino

The winning condition of Tongits — clear all the cards in your hand or do your best to make your point sum the smallest. To play Tongits, you need a deck of poker and 3 players.

• STEP1: Set up the game

Gather 3 people and a deck of playing cards with the Joker removed. Tongits is a 3 player game, so you need 3 people to play. Shuffle a standard deck of 52 cards and pull out the Joker. Tongits don’t use Jokers, so put them aside during the game. You’ll also need a flat surface to place the cards on, so sit around a table or in a circle on the floor

STEP2: Roll the dice to choose the first banker

Have everyone roll a 6-sided die and let the person with the highest roll be the first dealer. The dealer for the first hand is chosen at random, and then the winner of the next hand becomes the new dealer. Every time a new person wins the game, that person becomes the banker. If 2 or more players roll the same number, have them roll again.

Tip: The benefit of being the dealer is that you get to deal first, which means you will get 1 more card than the other 2 players. This can work in your favor if you get a good card, or it can net you more points if someone calls “Tongits” or “Draw” early in the game.

STEP3: If you are the dealer, give yourself 13 cards and deal 12 cards to others.

Pass cards face down to yourself and other players one at a time. Deal the cards counterclockwise around the table. Once completed, make sure you have 13 cards and the other 2 players have 12 cards each.

STEP4: Place the remaining cards face down in the center of the table.

Don’t shuffle the cards yet. Just place them face down. This is called the stock pile, and you draw a card from this pile or discard pile each turn.

The discard pile begins after the first player discards. Place all discard cards face up in a pile next to the stock pile. During your turn, you may draw a card from the top of the pile.

STEP5: Done paring meld deal one more card

When you don’t have any meld, you must discard a card to end this round. What card to discard requires the player’s experience.

• 1: Discard the high points, such as J, Q, and K
  Usually, players will keep high-point cards in the early stage of the game. Maybe they can have the opportunity of meld to discard cards quickly. However, in the middle and later stages of the game, if they find that there is no chance of meld, they must discard them as soon as possible to avoid a large final sum.

• 2: Discard a single card that is difficult to match
  If you have 4, 4, 6, 9, 9, then consider discarding 6

• 3: Discard the card just drawn from the stock pile
  In the later stage of the game, there is a high probability that the cards you have drawn from the stockpile will not be beneficial to the current situation, so you may discard them decisively.

STEP6: Repeat the steps until the last card

Player 1 draw > pair meld > discard > Player 2 draw > pair meld > discard > discard. The progress will keep repeating until there the stockpile has no more cards, or someone says “Tongits”!

STEP7: How to win? Winning conditions

In Tongits, there are several ways to win, and players must sum up the points of the cards they hold:

• Condition 1: When the inventory is empty
  When there are no more cards to draw, the three players can add up the points in their hands. The player with the fewest points wins, which is the more common way to win.

• Condition 2: “Tongits!”
  When a player has dealt with all their cards, shout “Tongits!” to win. You can only fuse and discard the last card of your turn, not the last card of another player’s turn.

  If another player yells “Tongits!” before you (even if you’re about to), he/she wins the game before it’s your turn.

• Condition 3: “Draw a card!”
  If you feel your total score is the lowest, shout “Tie!” when it’s your turn.

  At this point, other players have two choices: discard or challenge.

  – Give up: When other players think their score is not low enough, they can only “give up” and admit defeat.

  – Challenge: Other players can also shout “Challenge!”. The two sides compare the total points, and the player with the smallest number is the winner.

  When to shout “Draw!”: If a player has paired their cards into your combination, you cannot shout “Draw!” Don’t shout “Draw!” until the next round when there is no matching card for you to combine.