Fight the Landlord

 

Fight the Landlord, also known as Dou Di Zhu, is among the most popular and widely played card gambling games in mainland China. It began as a game in Hubei, one of the remote Chinese provinces. Through the online media, it has gained more popularity over the years. The game is played by three people, each given a pack of cards that include two jokers. The objective of every player is to be the first to have no cards left. Needless to say, this card game is exciting, challenging, and fun at the same time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In every hand, a player (the ‘landlord’) plays solely while the others form a team. The aim of the landlord is basically to be the first to be able to play out all his cards on hand in any of the valid combinations. The team wins if any of them manages to play all cards before the landlord. As in most other Chinese card games, cards are not actually dealt but are taken mostly from a deck of playing cards by each of the player. One of them shuffles the cards and gives out the hands.

There is an actual ‘auction’ to determine the player who would play as the landlord. Possible bids are 1, 2, and 3. He who draws the face up card during the deal gets the chance to bid first (one card must be turned face up and inserted through the middle of a stack upon reshuffling). Every player could pass or bid higher to topple the highest bid so far. Final or highest bidder gets the chance to serve as the landlord, whom opponents should strive to beat, thus the name of the game. The landlord gets to pick up three cards from the middle of the stack.

Because all the opponents of the landlord could win or lose equally, they are expected to form temporary partnership to collectively fight and beat the landlord. During the play, it could be advantageous and strategic to help each of the partners to successfully run out of cards first. Thus, partners are set not to beat each other. The weaker partner could play to help the stronger partner and vice versa. In general, every player’s intention should be to collectively beat the landlord at all costs. Victory of one would be victory of all.

Fight the Landlord is often described as easy to learn and at the same time hard to master. It could require strategic and mathematical thinking, together with intended execution. Suits are not required to play the card game. It would be easier to play using special and specific Fight the Landlord playing cards, though there are still no cards manufactured massively for the rising number of Fight the Landlord players. This is the main reason why the game is more advantageous, fun, and convenient to be played online.

The game is played by 3 players with 1 deck of 54 cards (i.e. includes 2 jokers). The landlord plays against the other 2 players (tenants). The 2 tenants team up to "Fight The Landlord".

Dealing

17 cards are dealt to each player. 3 extra cards keep face down on the table until the landlord is chosen by bidding.

Bidding

Players bid counterclockwise. Each player can bid only once. Players can bid 1, 2, 3 points or pass (do not bid). Players must bid higher points than that previous players bid. The player bids the highest points will be the landlord. The 3 extra cards which must be shown to the other 2 players are dealt to the landlord. If no player bids, re-deal and re-bid.

The player to bid first:
For the first hand, system selects the player who joins the game first to bid first. For next hand, the next player counterclockwise bids first.

Playing

The landlord plays first with play continuing counterclockwise. Players may pass (do not play) or play cards with a higher rank than preceding cards played in that round. Cards played in a round, except for a Rocket or Bomb, must be the same kind of combination and have same number of cards as the preceding cards played in the round. A card round ends when cards played by one player are passed by the other two players. The player who played the cards wins the round and plays first for the next round. The hand ends as soon as a player runs out of cards; that player is declared the winner of the hand.

Combinations (cards can be played together)

1. Card Set Rank: Rocket > Bomb > General combinations(see above)
2. Single Card Rank: Big Joker
3. Bomb with higher Card Rank > Bomb with lower Card Rank
4. Except Rocket and Bomb, only same kinds of combinations with same number of cards can compare to each other.
5. Single card, Pair, Triple rank according to Single Card Rank
6. Straights rank with highest card according to Single Card Rank
7. Triple-plus-one rank with Triple part according to Card Rank. Kicker does not take account.
8. Plane-with-Wings rank with Triple-Straight part according to Card Rank. Kickers do not take account.
9. Four-with-Two rank with Four-card part according to Card Rank. Kickers do not take account.

Rankings

1. Rocket: Two jokers
2. Bomb: Four cards with the same rank
3. General combinations
   
   • Single: a single card
   • Pair: a pair of cards
   • Triple: Three cards with the same rank
   • Triple-plus-one: Triple plus a Single or a Pair (Kicker)
   • Straight: At least 5 cards. (2 and jokers can not be part of Straight)
   • Double Straight: straight of Pairs. At least 6 cards of three Pairs. (2 and jokers can not be part of Straight)
   • Triple Straight: straight of Triples. At least 6 cards of two Triples. (2 and jokers can not be part of Straight)
   • Plane with wings: Triple straight plus the same number of triples of Singles (Kicker) or Triple straight plus the same number of triples of Pairs (Kicker).
   • Four with Two: Four same-rank cards plus two Singles (Kicker) or Four same-rank cards plus two Pairs (Kicker).

Points

Points are calculated when hand ends.

Base Point: Bidding point (1, 2 or 3)

Multiplication Factor

Multiplication Factor is 1 initially.
Multiplication Factor is doubled for each Rocket or Bomb played by players. For example, 1 Rocket and 2 Bombs are played, Multiplication Factor becomes 8 (1 X 2 X 2 X 2).
If landlord wins and no card is played by the other 2 players, Multiplication Factor is doubled.
If landlord loses and landlord plays cards only once, Multiplication Factor is doubled

Landlord gains or loses (2 X Base Point X Multiplication Factor) points
Each of other 2 players gains or loses (Base Point X Multiplication Factor) points

Penalty for exiting game

3 points if player exits the game after cards are dealt and before bidding. (3 X Base Point X Multiplication Factor) points if player exits the game after bidding. Each of the other 2 players gains half of the points of the penalty.

Points to demo Dollars
Dollars = Points X Stake of the table.

Games are played at "Table Stakes". This means that a player can not gain or lose more than the chip value the player has on the table at the start of a given hand.