Tongits Go is very easy to play. Even a kid knows how to play this easy game. All you need to do before learning how to play Tongits is prepare a standard Anglo-American deck of 52 cards with four types. This card game can be played without jokers. The number of players involved is not that many, it only takes three to start playing. Next, choose a player to be the dealer who is familiar with how to play Tongits go , and the dealer will deal cards to each player in counterclockwise order until the dealer has 13 cards and the other two players have 12 cards. The remaining playing cards are used as the pot for Tongits, and the dealer will be the first to start the card game. This is very interesting and fun, and it is a very popular card game in the Philippines.
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Tongits Go - Start, Play, End
Let's see how to Play Tongits!
When all three players, know how to play the Tongits go, are together, find a flat table and start playing. Each player takes turns rolling one or two dice. The player with the highest dice point is chosen as the dealer. The dealer deals the shuffled cards without jokers to himself and the other two players in order until the dealer himself has 13 cards and the other two players have 12 cards. And then put the remaining card in the center of the table without exposing it. The Card Game will start after the dealer discards one card in hand and puts it facing up next to the stock deck.
Each turn of Tongits Go
Step1- Pick up a card
The player next to the dealer needs to pick up a card from the center deck or the card discarded by the previous player if the discard card is able to be matched to a meld set. Beginners who are just learning how to play Tongits often forget to pick up a card.
Step2- Meld, Drop, or Connection
When the card is drawn, the Tongits player needs to check whether the card can be formed into a meld. If the player has a meld, he or she can hide it first or drop it on the table and show it to other players. Then see if there is a meld on the other player's table that allows him or her to connect the cards.
For example, if a player drops or melds a set of kings of threes in the previous rounds when you have kings in your hand, you can connect your kings to that player's threes into a four-of-a-kind. The other example is, if one of the players puts down a 2, 3, or 4 straight flush of spade, you can connect to that meld with 1 of spades or 5 of spades and then 6, and 7 of spades. This rule is very new to players who are just learning how to play the Tongits Go.
Step3- Discard
When the player is unable to lay off any more cards, he or she must choose a card to dump as a discard next to the stock deck. At this point, the turn for the player is complete.
If you want to win right after you just know how to play Tongits, you must find a way to make the cards in your hand as meld as possible, or make the sum of the points of the hands that cannot make meld as small as possible.
Also pay attention to the meld in front of the other player’s table when choosing the discard card. Try not to pick cards that can be connected to the displayed meld as your discard.
End the Tongits Go
Every round has a beginning and also an end, the most exciting moment.
- When the center deck on the table is drawn, Tongits go ends automatically.
Then came the moment to decide the winner. Calculate the sum of the points on hand that cannot make up the meld. The player with the lowest number wins. Point of the number cards is the number value. For example, 7 points for 7 of each suit, ♠7, ♣7, ♥ 7, ♦ 7. The point of Jack, Queen and King is 10. - When one Player “Tongits”, the game ends.
- When one Player calls “Fight” or “Draw”, one winner will be picked.
Meld or Group:
Players who know how to play Tongits will try their best to meld cards to make themselves have a higher chance to win the game. Meld or Group cards means matching at least 3 poker cards that are the same number or Straight Flush. Three cards of the same number in different suits are called Three of a kind and four cards of the same number are called Four-of-a-kind. When you already have these cards in your hand, you can hide them from being displayed on the table. If you need to combine your hand cards with a discard card from the player before you to make a combination (meld), it must be exposed on the table in front of you.
Sometimes players don't really want to show a straight flush to others. For example, if you expose a straight flush on the table, the other players can connect the cards to your straight, which helps them reduce the number of cards in their hands.
*Specified card type : If you have four cards with the same number, you can group it as specified card type, also known as Four-of-a-kind, such as ♠7, ♣7, ♥ 7, ♦ 7.
Notice: Unlike other poker games, Tongits Go only accepts numbers of the same suit to form a straight flush, and does not accept ordinary straights. The connection method starts from 123 to JQK. There is no QKA connection method.
Drop:
If you have at least one meld set in hand, you can drop the meld to the table after you draw a card from the central stack. The second situation is that when your previous player's discarded card can be combined with a certain two cards in your hand to make a three of a kind or four of a kind or a straight flush, you can also drop the meld cards in your hand on the table.
Why does Tongits Go have “drop” action? Some players are lucky enough to be able to meld their hands at the very beginning of the Game. Additionally, players can also win Tongits Go by calling a fight or draw. The premise of calling a fight is to have a set of exposed meld on the table. When the player is unable to choose a card from the discarded cards to form a meld, he or she can choose to drop a meld set to the table.
Discard or Dump:
Tongits players can end their turn by dumping one useless card facing up to the table as discarded cards, also called disposed cards. Regardless of whether you have formed a meld or connected with other players' meld on the table, players must choose a card from their hand to discard in order to end their turn and the game can keep going.
Fight or Draw:
The Tongits Player can fight others only when there is at least one Meld exposed in front of the player’s table. Once a Fight is called, three situations will be faced by other players: Challenge, Fold and Burned.
When one of the players thinks that he or she has a high chance of winning, the player can call a fight when it is his or her turn, at which point the other players have two choices.
The first option is to call a “challenge”. If the player thinks that the total number of points in hand is low and probably fewer than the player who calls the fight, the player can choose to challenge.
The second option is to choose to “fold”. Some players are lucky enough to be able to meld or group multiple hand combinations at the beginning which lead to the low sum of the remaining hand points. As a result, the fight is proposed by the lucky player not long after the game starts. At this point, most players are still trying to meld or discard high-points hands. So when you encounter a fight, you can only choose to fold and lose a chance to win the Tongits go.
When encountering a fight, there is another situation called “burn”. When one player doesn't have any set of melds, he or she is unable to challenge or fold. The player directly loses the qualification to participate, which means that the hand is burned.
About the Fight in the Tongits Go, there are rules to be aware of:
- When a player calls a fight and you choose to fold the card, but when everyone opens the card, you find that the total number of points in your hand is fewer than that player, you have no way to win the game at this time. Only when you choose a challenge can you compare the sum of the points in the hand with the player who proposed the fight.
- There is a situation where you have a good composition in your hand but you can only lose the Game. Several matches of card set and very low point sums in your hand. But when a player calls a fight before you expose, you can do nothing but burn your cards! How can this happen? Because whether you propose a fight or challenge another player's fight, you must have a set of meld in front of your table. Be sure to pay extra attention to this rule for this game.
- When two players join the fight with the same total points, the player who challenges the fight will be the winner of the Card Game. When a fight is challenged by the other two players and the sum of points is all the same (three-way tie), the player who sits to the right of the challenger wins the Card Game.
- If the player’s exposed meld is connected by other players, the player can only call a fight after exposing a new meld.
Tongits or Tong its:
The most anticipated outcome of playing this game is, of course, Tongits. When it's your turn, as long as the cards in your hand can all form a meld, congratulations on reaching Tongits and winning the game.
How to win the Tongits Go?
After players know how to play this card game, the next question is how to win the Tongits Go. First, the fate of the opening is decided by rolling the dice to choose the first dealer. Everyone rolls the dice once, and the player with the highest number becomes the dealer, and the winner of each subsequent round becomes the new dealer. What are the advantages of being a dealer? It means that you can get a card first at the beginning of the game. If you get a good card, you might have the opportunity to land more points and someone calls Draw or “Tongits” in your hand.
Second, in order to win when being in progress, except for trying to combine the cards in your hand into a straight flush or 3 or more cards of the same number, you must remember the cards discarded by each player. There are only 52 cards at most, and the number of JQK cards adds up to a total of 12 cards. You can count the cards in your hand to calculate the probability of the opponent taking the JQK cards, and then use the cards played by the opponents to estimate each player how many JQK cards they hold in their hand. If the number of JQK cards in your hand is not large, the probability that the opponents may hold JQK is high. So during the game, remember as much as possible the cards discarded by the opponent and the cards on the table, which will help you win when you initiate a Fight. In this way, you call a Fight to make the opponents have doubts when you find that JQK cards in the Tongits Go have been played on the table.The opponents might hold to end this round.
It can be seen that Tongits Go needs to focus on its own card combination, and also need to pay attention to the cards discarded by the opponents. If the cards in your hand have a straight flush or 3 or more cards of the same number, you do not need to discard the combination of these cards. Such behavior can cause the opponents to have no more cards to discard or be unable to "Meld" which can increase the chance of winning for you.
