If you end up going out first in a Grand Tichu hand, you score lots and lots of points – 200, to be exact. This allows you to pause before picking up your ninth card in case you want to call a special hand known as a Grand Tichu. Traditionally the deck is set in the center of the table, and players draw cards from the top in turn until all cards are gone. Typically you play to 1000 points, so you will need to play several hands per game. All 56 cards are “dealt” each hand. The reason for 2 decks is so that the game can move along more quickly from one hand to the next. That is, the faces are the same, but the backs are different so you don’t get them mixed up. When you purchase the standard game of Tichu, you get 2 identical decks of cards. Technically you can play it with other numbers of players, but Tichu really was designed for exactly 4 players with partners sitting opposite each other. The first team to 1,000 points wins.Tichu is a fun card game for 4 players. If both players on a team exit a round prior to either player on the opposite team, then no points are scored for cards and the winning team earns 200 points (with Tichu/Grand Tichu bonuses and penalties being applied as normal). Cards are dealt at the start of a round in a group of eight and a group of six a player can call 'Grand Tichu' after looking at only her first eight cards for a ☒00 point bonus. This indicates that she thinks that she can empty her hand first this round if she does so, her team scores 100 points, and if not, it loses 100 points.

At the start of a round, each player can call 'Tichu' prior to her playing any card. Fives, tens and Kings are worth 5, 10 and 10 points, with each hand worth one hundred points without bonuses - but the bonuses are what drive the game. The last player out in a round gives all the cards he won to the player who exited first, and the last player's unplayed cards are handed to the opposite team. The card led determines the only combination of cards that can be played on that trick, so if a single card is led, then only single cards are played if a straight of seven cards is led, then only straights of seven cards can be played, etc. If play passes all the way back to the player who laid the top cards, he wins the trick, clears the cards, and can lead the next one. When it's your turn, you may either beat the current top card combination - single card, pair of cards, sequence of pairs, full house, etc. The deck is a standard 52-card pack with four special cards added: dog, phoenix, dragon and Mah Jong.

Tichu is a partnership climbing card game, and the object of play is to rid yourself of your hand, preferably while scoring points in the process.

Hound in tichu