How to Play Guandan

Guandan is a partnership climbing and shedding game. Your immediate goal is to empty your hand, but your team result depends on where both partners finish.

Each table play is a combination: a single, pair, triple, straight, full house, bomb, or another legal shape. Players do not follow suit. They either beat the current play, bomb it, or pass.

The first player out wins the round for their team. The partner’s finishing place decides how many levels the team gains.

Four players form two fixed teams. Partners sit across from each other, so seats 0 and 2 are one team, while seats 1 and 3 are the other team.

The game uses two standard 54-card decks, for 108 cards total. There are eight cards of each ordinary rank from 2 through Ace, plus two black Jokers and two red Jokers.

All cards are dealt out so that each player receives 27 cards.

Both teams start at level 2 and try to advance through the ranks up to Ace. The active level rank for a round changes card strength and creates wild cards.

For ordinary singles, card strength rises from 2 up to Ace. The active level rank sits above Ace and below Jokers. Black Jokers beat level-rank cards, and red Jokers beat black Jokers.

Suits normally do not break ties. A play must be strictly stronger to beat the current play; an equal-strength play does not beat it.

The heart cards of the active level rank are wild cards, called 逢人配. A wild card may stand in for any normal non-Joker card inside a legal combination, including bombs and straight flushes. It cannot become a Joker.

If a wild card is considered for tribute, it is excluded. When sequence-based combinations are checked, ranks use their natural order, so the active level rank does not jump above Ace inside a straight.

A legal play must match one recognized shape. Common normal plays include singles, pairs, triples, five-card straights, full houses, three consecutive pairs, and two consecutive triples.

A pair is two cards of the same rank. A same-color Joker pair is also a legal high pair: two black Jokers make a black Joker pair, and two red Jokers make a red Joker pair.

A full house is three cards of one rank plus two cards of another rank. A triple plus a same-color Joker pair also counts as a full house.

Sequence plays use consecutive natural ranks. Aces may be low, so A-2-3-4-5 is a valid five-card straight. The same low-Ace idea applies to consecutive pairs, consecutive triples, and straight flushes.

Wild cards can complete legal combinations, but Jokers cannot be freely substituted into normal combinations unless the specific Joker shape is legal.

When the table is empty, the player in control may lead any legal combination from their hand.

To beat a non-bomb play, you must play the same type and shape with higher strength. For example, a pair must be beaten by a stronger pair, and a five-card straight must be beaten by a stronger five-card straight.

You may also beat a normal play with any legal bomb. After a bomb has been played, only a stronger bomb can beat it.

Passing is allowed even when you could beat the current play. A pass does not remove you from the whole round; you may play again after the current table play is cleared.

When all other active players pass, the last unbeaten player takes control and leads the next table play.

Bombs, or 炸弹, are special because they can beat normal plays even when they are a different shape.

Rank bombs are four or more cards of the same rank. With two decks, rank bombs can be four, five, six, seven, or eight of a kind.

A straight flush, or 同花顺, is a five-card straight in one suit. It is also treated as a bomb.

Bomb strength rises in this order: four-of-a-kind bombs, five-of-a-kind bombs, straight flushes, six-of-a-kind bombs, seven-of-a-kind bombs, eight-of-a-kind bombs, then the four-Joker bomb, 王炸.

Within the same bomb category, the higher rank wins. For straight flushes, the higher straight wins. The four-Joker bomb beats every other play.

A player finishes when they play their last card. The first player to empty their hand is first place, often called 上游, and that player’s team wins the round.

If both partners finish first and second, the round ends as a sweep. If not, play continues until the remaining finishing order needed for scoring is known.

If the player in control goes out and everyone else passes, control passes to that player’s partner if the partner is still active. If the partner has already finished, control moves to the next active player in seat order.

When a player has 10 or fewer cards remaining, their card count should be visible or declared according to the table rules.

The winning team’s advancement depends on where the winner’s partner finishes.

If the winning team finishes 1st and 2nd, it advances 3 levels. If it finishes 1st and 3rd, it advances 2 levels. If it finishes 1st and 4th, it advances 1 level.

A 1st-and-4th result is still a round win for the first-place player’s team. It is just the weakest kind of round win.

Ace cannot be skipped. If a team at Queen or King earns enough advancement to move beyond Ace, it stops at Ace instead.

From the second round onward, the previous finishing order determines whether tribute happens before the next deal is played.

In a single-tribute round, the previous last-place player gives the previous first-place player their highest eligible single card. This is 进贡. Wild cards are not eligible tribute cards.

The tribute receiver returns one card to the tribute giver. This is 还贡. The returned card must be a normal non-Joker card, must not be the active level rank, and must have rank 2 through 10.

If one team finished first and second, both opponents give tribute. The higher tribute goes to the previous first-place player, and the other tribute goes to the previous second-place player. Each receiver returns one card to the matching tribute giver.

If the two tribute cards are tied in strength, seating order decides which tribute is treated as higher.

After tribute is completed, the player who gave the higher tribute leads the first play of the new round. In a single-tribute round, the tribute giver leads.

Anti-tribute, or 抗贡, cancels tribute when the tribute-giving side has enough red Jokers. In a single-tribute round, the tribute giver must hold both red Jokers. In a double-tribute round, the two tribute givers may cancel tribute if they jointly hold two red Jokers.

If tribute is cancelled, no cards are exchanged and the previous first-place player leads the new round.

A team must prove itself at Ace to win the match. Reaching Ace is not enough by itself.

When a team is playing at Ace, it wins the match only with a strong round win: 1st and 2nd, or 1st and 3rd.

A 1st-and-4th finish at Ace wins the round but does not win the match. That failed Ace attempt is counted instead.

After three failed Ace attempts, that team resets back to level 2 and its failed-attempt counter resets.

The first team to win strongly enough at Ace wins the match.