House Rules

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Chinese Pig is a trick-taking game for 3 to 6 players. These are our house rules for Gong Zhu (Pig / Chinese Hearts). The app tracks only the 16 scoring cards below.

Hearts

2♥ through 10♥ are worth minus their face value (-2 to -10).

J♥ = -20

Q♥ = -30

K♥ = -40

A♥ = -50

Special cards

Q♠ — the Pig = -100

J♦ — the Sheep = +100

10♣ — the Double = special rule below

All hearts: +500

Capture all 13 hearts (2♥ through A♥) and they score +500 instead of their negative values. Every heart must be yours — if anyone else took even one, hearts score their individual negative values. The Pig still costs -100 on top of the +500.

10♣ Double rule

10♣ with at least one other scoring card doubles your whole hand subtotal (hearts, Pig, and Sheep included).

10♣ as your only scoring card = +50.

Examples: J♦ + 10♣ = +200 · Q♠ + 10♣ = -200 · 2♥ + 10♣ = -4

How play works online

Any card may be led to start a hand. The first lead moves one seat to the left each hand.

You must follow the suit that was led. If you don't have that suit, you can discard any card you want.

Highest card of the led suit wins the trick, and the winner leads next.

No cards are exposed before play.

Deck setup

3 players: Remove 2♣. Deal the remaining 51 cards, 17 to each player.

4 players: Use all 52 cards. Deal 13 cards to each player.

5 players: Remove 2♣ and 2♦. Deal the remaining 50 cards, 10 to each player.

6 players: Remove 2♣, 3♣, 2♦, and 3♦. Deal the remaining 48 cards, 8 to each player.