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Tong-its

Tong-its
Origin Philippines
Players 3
Skills required Strategy
Deck Anglo-American
Card rank (highest to lowest) A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Random chance Medium
Related games
Tonk, Mahjong

Tong-its is a 3 player rummy type of game that gained popularity in the 1990s in Luzon, the largest island of the Philippines.

This game is played using the standard deck of 52 cards. Its origin remains unknown but the game rules and the very name can be associated with the American card game, Tonk, and also share its similarities of Mahjong.

Note: Like many popular card games, there are variations to these rules. Rules with variations are noted where possible.

The objective of the game is to empty your hand of all cards or minimize the count and the scores of unmatched cards that are still on the player’s hand by forming card sets (melds, also called a "Bahay"(pronounced Ba-Hi), or "Buo" in some dialects), dumping cards and calling a draw. The player who gets rid of all the cards or has the least number of total points at the end of the game (when the central stack is empty) wins the game.

Each player is dealt 12 cards while the dealer gets 13 and the rest of the cards are left as a central stack. The game begins when the dealer dumps a card. The next person can either pick up the disposed card or get one from the central stack. Collect hand combinations and dump unnecessary cards. The picking and discarding of cards goes on until someone wins by Tong-its, calls a draw or until the central stack runs out of cards. If this happens, the players tally the points of the cards they have at hand and the one with the lowest wins. In case of a draw the last person to take a card from the central deck wins. .

Meld (Bahay) is a set of matching cards a player needs to collect in order to win the game. When a player collects a meld, he has the option to either lay it down, or keep it. However, a player must expose at least one meld to call or challenge a draw unless the player has a "Secret" or "Sagasa" in which case he can challenge (but not call). If a player fails to lay down a meld and does not have either special melds when the game ends, the player is considered “Burned” and will neither be able to challenge a draw (if one is called) nor eligible to win in the end tally count (if the central stack runs out).

Three-of-a-kind: three equally ranked cards (7♣ - 7♦ - 7♠)

Four-of-a-kind: four cards of the same rank/number, opened or held at the same time. is also called “Secret” or "Special" (J♣ - J♦ - J♠ - J♥)

Four-of-a-kind: four cards of the same rank/number, opened as a three of a kind, then the fourth card of same rank/number is added by the same person when displayed and the fourth card is drawn from the deck. This is called "Sagasa". Otherwise this can become a "Secret" or "Special"


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