Durnig our kopi-tiam session last Sat at Citi Kopitiam (where the Pudu gamers usually did their boardgaming sessions), Alan (alanwsl) first told me of the game Dao Di Zhu which he learnt from the online gaming site www.viwawa.com
I found out later Hiew has also blogged about this game in his Dec 08 trip to HK (read here). Surprisingly how you never even hear of a game and when you do, you suddenly hear about it from everywhere! :P
From Alan's description, Dao Di Zhu (斗地主 translated as Fight the Landlord) is the "original" Tichu which is based on the popular card games played in pubs here and HK - Chor Tai Tee (Big 2).
Picture (c) Hiew (hecose)
In Dao Di Zhu which is an interesting 2-vs-1 game, one player bid to become the landlord and the other two will then fight against him in a card climbing game variant. Supposing the landlord's bid is 2 (bid ranges from 1..3), if the landlord wins, he gets 2 pts from each player. If the landlord loses, the 2 players get 2 pts each from the landlord.
Bombs (sets of four) are also played here - ala Tichu and Gang of Four - and trumps other combinations. However whenever a bomb is played, the landlord's bid is doubled! In a round where there are many bombs, the landlord's stake can get so high, a win or loss can swing the game significantly.
Landlord gets 17 + 3 cards in his hands while the other two players get 17 cards each. With that many number of cards, it's not difficult to get bombs.
Instead of the Dragon and two Phoenixes (in Tichu), you get just two jokers here - so yes, this game can be played with a standard deck of cards - but both jokers can be played simultaneously. When both jokers are played at the same time, they are the highest combination and trump everything else.
Other climbing games that I've in my collection but which are not played often enough:
- Tichu - for 4p
- Big Two - for 4p, can be played using a standard set of playing cards
- Gang of Four - for 2-4p, closest to Big Two
- Frank's Zoo
- The Great Dalmuti
This Geeklist - Card Climbing Games and their Distinctions - tells a very interesting summary on the distinction of the climbing games above. Hmm.. I didn't even know there are so many other card climbing games.
Note: The other popular card game category is the Trick Taking Games of which you'll hear of Rook, Mu and More, etc