Tichu

Tichu belongs to a family of Chinese card games referred to as "climbing games" by John McLeod. It is an evolution of Zheng Fen ("competing for points"). Tichu shares Zheng Fen's set of scoring cards (Kings, Tens, and Fives) and a subset of Zheng Fen's playable combinations. In Zheng Fen the primary goal is to capture scoring cards during trick play. Tichu shares this goal but introduces partnership play and newer goals which focus primarily on emptying your hand of cards before the opposing team members. Tichu also introduces 4 special cards. The Phoenix and the Dragon replace the 2 jokers in the Chinese game.

The deck is a standard 52-card pack with four special cards added. When it's your turn, you may either beat the current top card combination or pass. If play passes all the way back to the player who laid the top cards, they win the trick and can lead the next one. The card led determines the only combination of cards to be played on that trick. The last player out gives all the cards they won to the player who exited first, and the last player's unplayed cards are handed to the opposite team. Fives, Tens, and Kings are worth points, with each hand worth one hundred points (without bonuses). The first team to 1000 points wins.