Guandan

Guandan is a shedding-type card game that originated in Jiangsu province, China.

The game is played by four players, sitting opposite each other in partnerships, and uses two decks of standard international playing cards (including the Jokers) for a total of 108 cards. The basic objective of the game is to play increasingly high combinations of cards, so as to empty your hand before your opponents. In Guandan, a team's score is expressed as a level, of which there are 13 levels in total, corresponding to the card ranks from 2 up to A (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A). In a Game-based tournament, a team only wins the game if it wins on Level A.

Etymology
The characters in Guandan (掼蛋) literally mean "Throwing Eggs", however the second character is a homophone of the character 弹, meaning bomb, which is also suggested as an origin for the game's name. An alternative name for the game is Huai'an Running Fast (淮安跑得快), referencing the city where the game originated.

History
Guandan was invented in Huai'an, Jiangsu in the 1960s. From there, it spread to neighboring cities of Huai'an such as Nanjing in the 1990s. It is estimated that there are over 20 million people who play this game in Jiangsu and Anhui province. Moreover, certain television channels have specific TV programs for Guandan and certain websites contain online Guandan games.

Rules
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Cards and Player Setting
Guandan is played by four players, who will sit around a square table. The two people who sit opposite to each other will form a team to beat the team formed by the other two. In other words, for a certain player, the two people who sit beside the player will be the player's opponents in this game.

Guandan uses two decks of standard international cards of 108 cards as a total. Therefore, each player will have 27 cards in each

Card Scores and Types
There are four suits of card types in Guandan: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs with each suit containing 26 cards(2-10, J, Q, K, A, 2 for each). Besides, there are four jokers, two red and two black.

Types

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 * Single card: Any single card
 * Pair: Two cards of the same number in any suit, but a black joker and a red joker cannot be a pair.
 * Triple: Three cards of the same number.
 * Plate: The plate is a combination of two consecutive triples. For example, three 4s and a three 5s.
 * Tube: The tube is three consecutive pairs. For example, a pair of 10s, a pair of Js and a pair of Qs.
 * Full House: The full house is a triple and a pair.
 * Straight: Straight is five consecutive cards. A can be high or low. For example, an A, 2, 3, 4, and a 5. The top straight is 10,J,Q,K,A
 * Bomb: Bomb represents a combination of 4 or more cards of the same number. For example, six 8s are a 6-bomb.
 * Straight Flush: Straight flush is a straight with all cards of the same suit.
 * Joker Bomb: The Joker Bomb is all four jokers. It is regarded as the largest bomb in the game.

Level Cards and Wild Cards
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Level Cards
The level number of the leading team determines the level cards. The level cards rank above aces but below jokers. For example, if the leading team is at level 6, then sixes are the level cards and rank above A.

Wild cards
The two level cards in hearts are wild. During the round, they can be played as any card (except jokers) to form a combination with other cards. However, they only count as normal (non-wild) cards when played as a single card. For example, when the level in the round is 7, the 7 of hearts can make a 4-bomb when combined with three 8s.

Comparison

 * 1) The normal comparison of the cards is from high to low in the order of red joker, black joker, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. It applies when comparing with a single card, pair, triple, tube, plate, straight, bomb, and straight flush. Specially, full house compares the triple in the combination only.
 * 2) Bomb depends on its number of cards. The smallest is a 4-bomb of 2s and the largest is an 8-bomb of aces. However, a 5-bomb of 2s is larger than a 4-bomb of aces. A bomb ranks above: single card, pair, triple, tube, plate, full house, straight. A straight flush is regarded as a bomb that ranks above a 4 or 5-card bomb (except the joker bomb). A bomb with 6 or more cards ranks above a straight flush. Straight flushes rank according to their largest card regardless of suits. The joker bomb is the largest bomb in the game.

Glossary
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Preparation
For the first round, the deck is shuffled and placed face-down on the table. One of the players cuts the deck, draws a card and flips it face up. If it is not a joker, the players will decide who is going to draw cards first by counting counterclockwise from the player who draws the first card from the top of the pile. The player who draws the last card will open the play.

Playing
Players will play cards in counterclockwise order. The first player can play any type of cards in his or her hand. Then the others will choose to throw higher cards of the same type or a higher ranked combination. Otherwise, the players should say "Pass" and not throw any cards. If the other three players say "Pass", the last player can continue playing cards. If the player whose turn it is to lead has no cards left, that player's partner leads. The first one to finish playing all 27 cards is called the Banker, and the game continues until three players finish. The second is called the Follower, the third is called the Third and the last is called the Dweller. If a team contains the Banker and the Follower, then the opposing team is called the Double-Dweller.

Reporting
If a player only has ten or fewer than ten cards in his or her hand, he or she must declare how many cards remain in the hand.

Leveling Up
The team with the Banker will level up. They move up three levels if the partner is the Follower, two levels if the partner is the Third and only one level if the partner is the Dweller.

Winning Conditions
In the whole game, a team can win the game if it wins at the A level and the team cannot have the Dweller.