If in the West when people say “play dominoes” they mean the game of blocking dominoes. But in China they mean the trick taking game, such as Whist. In the West there are also games which use a set of dominoes to play trick taking games, but these are more the exception than the rule.
All Chinese domino trick taking games are similar to each other and can be considered variants of the same game – Heaven-Nine (天九, TianJiu or Tien Gow). All of them utilise the same suits, the same hierarchy of dominoes and the same pairs. I already wrote about the hierarchy and pairs in the article The seniority of tiles and pairs, please read it if you haven’t yet. As a reminder, here is a photo of all the pairs (11 civilian, 4 military and 1 supreme):
Basic rules
It is played with a standard set of 32 tiles. Four players play. Each gets eight tiles. The banker leads to the first trick (in the first game banker is chosen by lot – in the following games the winner of a round becomes the next banker), the one who took the previous trick leads to the next trick. To lead into the trick the player places one tile or a combination of tiles (more on combinations later) and each subsequent player must either beat the tiles or place the corresponding number of dominoes face down. If the trick was of one tile, then it can be beaten only with a higher tile of the same suit. If it is from a combination, then it can be beaten only by a higher combination with the same composition of suits. After all four players have played their tiles, the player with the highest played tile (or combination) takes all the tiles for himself and leads to the next trick. After the last trick was taken, points are counted. The one who took the last trick wins. The next round he becomes the banker and leads to the first trick in the next round. Of course, sometimes the overall winner is not the one who wins the most times, but the one who loses the fewest times, but this is not only true for the Tien Gow.
The principle of the game is similar to such trick taking games as Whist or Skat. But I will emphasize the differences:
- If the player cannot beat the trick, then he discards his tiles into a trick face down (he puts them below the first tiles, or simply puts them nearby).
- It is not necessary to beat, and even to follow a suit. You can just put the tiles down if you wish to.
- You can start a trick not only from one tile, but also from a combination.
- If the player took a trick from a combination of two or more tiles then two or more tricks are credited to him, respectively (so taking two three-tile tricks is equal in points to taking six one-tile tricks).
- The winner is not the one who took the most tricks, but the one who took the last one.
Combinations
A classic two-tile combination is a civilian, military or a supreme pair. Civilian pairs are beaten only by civilian pairs, military by only military, and the supreme pair cannot be beaten, but neither cannot beat anything – since it’s a suite of its own. In the past such pairs were the only possible combination and mixed combinations or combinations of more than two tiles were not allowed.
In modern times, mixed civil-military combinations are allowed, but not in any way, but strictly according to the hierarchy. Since in the military the hierarchy is Nines-Eights-Sevens-Fives, and in civilians it is Heaven-Earth-Man-Harmony, the only possible combinations are Heaven-Nines, Earth-Eights, Man-Sevens, Harmony-Fives. In the photo above – with all the dominoes sorted by suits – tiles that can be combined are located strictly one under the other. Such mixed combinations can be of two tiles (one civilian, one military), three (two civilian and one military, or vice versa) and four (two civilian, two military). A combination can only be beaten by a higher combination consisting of the same number of civilian and military tiles. That is, if someone lead to a trick with Earth-Earth-Eight, then this combination can only be beaten by Heaven-Heaven-Nine, but not Heaven-Nine-Nine.
Counting points
Whoever took the last trick won.
In the classic Tien Gow, all calculations take place with the player who took the last trick. Other players pay according to the following scheme: if he did not take any trick, then he pays 5 chips to the winner. In all other cases, he subtracts the number of tricks he took from the four and gives that number of chips. That is, with one trick he gives three chips (4-1 = 3), with four he gives nothing (4-4 = 0), and with six he receives two chips from the winner (4-6 = -2). Even if the winner has to pay something to someone, he will still receive more chips from others than he gives away.
All settlements with the banker (player who lead to the first trick) are multiplied by two. That is, if the banker won, he receives (and pays) double the number of chips from other players. If the banker lost, he gives the winner double the number of chips.
Additional rules
Sometimes the rule is used that if a player remains a banker, his points multiplier increases by one. That is, in the next game, numbers of chips he takes or gives is tripled, and in the next game is multiplied by four. Once someone else wins, the multiplier is reset. In such a variant, it may happen that with a large multiplier, the banker will take more than four tricks, but not the last one, and the winner will be forced to pay the banker more than he will receive from other players. In order to prevent this, the banker receives the usual number of chips from the winner (rather than double, triple, etc.) if he took more than four tricks. Increasing the multiplier by one looks like a gambling moment so you can play without it.
You can also agree on the “early death” rule. If the last trick is a one-tile trick, then the players who did not take any trick before that are forced to drop their tile spots down, even if they could have taken a trick. This rule prevents the situation where a player holds a strong tile until the end and does not take any tricks, hoping to take only the last one. It should be noted that if the last trick consists not of one tile, but of a combination, even a player who has not taken a trick before has the right to take it.
Sources
Description on English Wikipedia
Description on Pagat
You can try playing this game against a computer on the Online Domino Games website
Chinese Dominoes GuPai 