Tips in Tongits 2024, If you’ve ever been to the Philippines and participated in one of the card games they play, you’ll notice that Tong-its is a popular choice. It is a fun and exciting game that also involves great betting opportunities. Although the card game is widely played in the Luzon area, its exact origin remains unknown.
Tong-its is very similar to Gin Rummy which is sometimes even called three player rummy. It also shares some similarities with Tonka and Mahjong. So if you’re curious how to play tong-its, here’s a rough guide you can use:
Tips in Tong-its 2024 – Setting Up to Play Tong-Its
As mentioned, you must have three players. But Tong-it can be played by two to four players. Remove jokers from the standard deck. Anyone can shuffle the cards, but if you want to be meticulous about it, you can decide who to deal a card to by rolling a die. For some players, getting the first hand is important because they will receive 13 cards, which is one more card than other players. This has the advantage of being able to choose which ones they want to remove from their hand.
Dealing the Cards to Play Tong-its:
The dealer deals the cards face down, clockwise, starting with them. The dealer will receive 13 cards and the rest will receive 12 cards. When playing with four players, the number of cards for each player will be ten for the dealer and nine for the other players. Since the cards will remain, they must be placed face down in the middle of the table. From this supply, players will draw cards when it is their turn.
Starting the Game:
The 13-card dealer will choose a card to discard from his hand. They will not be removed from the repository. They can choose which of their cards they do not need. Note that this move equals the number of cards per player. The latter can only be done when a set is completed with the card.
Preventing a Draw as You Play Tong-its:
There are ways to prevent a player from calling a draw. One is when a player has combined his suit, as this allows him to “bluff” his opponent as he has a good card. Another way is to discard a card on the other player’s set. For example, a combined straight flush of queens, jacks and tens can be laid down with a king and 9 cards until it reaches an ace. Remember that once you place your cards on top of the exposed meld cards, you can no longer reuse them as they are just as good as the discard cards.
If the other players fold and decide not to compete, the draw caller does not have to show their cards. This way, other players won’t know if they messed up the round. Some players will choose to draw if they believe they won’t have a way to win when it comes to calculating their score at the end of the game, to fool other players into thinking they have a better hand.
Play Tong-its to Win:
In case no player has reached Tong-its, the game will automatically end after running out of supplies. This is the time when players tally up their points. The values are again as follows:
- Kings, Queens, and Jacks are worth 10 points each.
- Number cards are worth their number value, such as 8 points for an 8, 5 points for a 5, etc.
- Aces are worth 1 point each.
If a player can play all his cards, he must declare Tong-it during his turn. This can happen if they are the first player to shuffle, fold or discard their cards. Declaring a Tong-it is only allowed during the player’s turn. So if another player can play all their cards before your turn, they win the game.
Players can also choose to call a draw and end the game early. Ideally, this must be done if you think you have the minimum number of points to count. Note that melded cards do not count against you. Only loose cards will be included in the count. For example, you have seven cards, three of them are sets of three queens, the other three are sets of 6,7,8, and you have a loose ace. Your score is 1.
Betting on Tong-Its:
Betting on tong-it can be done in different ways. The simplest would be to place a pot bet, where the first bet could be $5 for each player. After each round, each player must add $1 to the pot. This pot can only be won if the player wins two rounds in a row. The pot can actually grow if neither player can win two rounds in a row.
- For a Tong-it win, the player can get $2 from each player. If they get an Ace in their melded sets or hand, they can get $1 for each Ace.
- For winning a draw, players can get as much as $3. Similarly, they can also get $1 if they have an Ace.
- Players without a melded set are considered a burn and must pay $1 to the winning player.
