Welcome to Chinese 51!

In Chinese 51, we have a fun card game that’s perfect for 3 to 4 players, although it can be played with 2 to 5 players as well. Our main aim in this game is to be the first player to score 500 or more points, or have the highest score if multiple players reach that goal at the same time.

How do we achieve this goal? Well, it’s all about putting together a hand of 5 cards, all of the same suit. Each card has a value associated with it, and at the end of the round, we tally up those points to see who’s on top.

Getting Started

So, here’s the deal: before we start playing, we need to figure out who goes first. We can do this by randomly picking a starting player. Once we’ve got that sorted, the turn order will go to the right for each new round.

When it comes to distributing the cards, anyone can shuffle the deck. Then, starting with the starting player (obviously), each player will draw one card from the shuffled deck in a counterclockwise direction. The other players will end up with 5 cards, while the starting player will have 6. The remaining cards that weren’t drawn will be set aside as the stockpile for the game.

Card Ranking and Values

Now, here’s something important to keep in mind: the ranking of the cards doesn’t really matter in this game. But what does matter is the suit. To score your hand, all the cards in your hand must be of the same suit. Easy enough, right?

Oh, and the cards also have values attached to them. The numeric cards have their printed values as their values. For example, if you have a 2 of hearts, its value is 2. Face cards like jacks, queens, and kings, on the other hand, have a value of 10. Lastly, aces have a value of 11. Got it? Great!

GAMEPLAY

When I first start playing the game, I’ll put one card from my hand onto the table beside the pile of unused cards. Then, it’s the next player’s turn. They can choose to do one of the four things I’m going to tell you about.

First, a player can say “call.” This means that all the cards in their hand have the same pattern. They want to finish the game and get points for the cards they have.

Second, a player can draw a card from the pile of unused cards and then put one card from their hand onto the table next to the cards that were discarded before. These new cards shouldn’t overlap with the old ones. If there are already five cards there, though, you’ll have to pick them up and put them aside. Then, you can start a new discard layout.

If you want, you can choose to take all the cards from the discard pile, but only if there are less than five cards in it. Here’s how you can do it: first, you need to discard an equal number of cards from your hand as there are cards in the discard pile. After that, you can draw all the cards from the discard pile and swap them with the ones you just discarded. It’s important to remember that you have to draw all the cards before discarding any more.

When there are five cards in the discard layout, you have the option to exchange one card with a card from the discard pile. To do this, you need to discard a card from your hand and then draw the card from the discard pile, placing your discarded card in its spot.

So, here’s the deal. If, at the end of my turn, I have a total of 51 points in my hand (that’s an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10, all from the same suit), I can declare it right then and there to end the round. But there’s a catch – if I have less than 51 points in my hand at the end of my turn, even if I have a hand full of cards from the same suit, I can’t declare it just yet. I’ll have to wait for my next turn to do that.

When you have less than 51 points, you need to place your hand facedown on the table. This gives the other players a chance to challenge you. Anyone who wants to challenge reveals their hand, along with yours. All the hands are compared, and the player with the highest value wins. They score points for all the hands, while the other players who took part in the challenge get nothing. The advantage for you as the caller is that your hand can be equal to or even better than the highest challenger’s hand, while all the challengers must have a higher hand than you or the other challengers. If there’s a tie, the last player to challenge wins. Players who don’t participate in the challenge, or if there’s no challenge at all, score their hands in the usual way.

The round ends when a player calls or when the stockpile is empty.

SCORING

To win a hand in this game, I need a hand with five cards of the same suit. I add up the values of the cards in my hand, and that becomes my score for the round. But here’s an interesting twist: if I call a hand of 51, I get double the points, so I’ll score 102 for that round.

Game Over

The game ends when someone reaches a score of 500 or more. If multiple players reach this score at the same time, the player with the highest score wins. But what happens if there’s a tie? Well, those players keep playing additional rounds until there’s a clear winner.

The game ends when someone reaches a score of 500 or more. If multiple players reach this score at the same time, the player with the highest score wins. But what happens if there’s a tie? Well, those players keep playing additional rounds until there’s a clear winner.