Zhēng Shàngyóu (River Rumble)
- 👤 Players:
- 2-4
- ⏱ Time to play:
- 30 minutes
- ♟ Equipment:
- 52 card deck + 2 jokers.
- 🧠 Designer(s):
- Uncredited
This is a variant of Zhēng Shàngyóu / 争上游 (which roughly translates to Struggling Upstream, or if you're a fan of alliteration: River Rumble) as catalogued by John Owen on BGG.
Setup #
- 2 players = 26 cards
- 3 players = 18 cards
- 4 players = 13 cards
- 6 players = 9 cards
Card Order #
The card rankings in ascending order:
- 3 through Ace, as normal
- 2, wild
- Black Joker, wild
- Red Joker, wild
Suits do not matter!
Combos #
- Single: One card played by itself.
- Pair: Two cards of the same rank.
- Trip: Three cards of the same rank.
- Full House: Three card of the same rank plus two cards of the same rank. Ranked by triple.
- Straight: Five or more cards of consecutive rank. No 2s or Jokers allowed.
- Stair: Two or more pairs of consecutive rank.
- Plate: Two or more triples of consecutive rank.
Clarifications:
- Natural combos beat wild combos.
Bombs #
- Quad: Four cards of the same rank
- Rocket: Black Joker plus Red Joker
Rules #
The player holding the 3 of Spades leads first (but is not required to play the 3). This player may lead with any combination.
Standard climbing rules apply:
- A player must follow the lead combination, play a bomb, or pass.
- If a bomb is played, it can only be beaten by a higher bomb of the same type or a higher ranking bomb (higher quad beats lower quad, ultra bomb beats all quads)
- If any player passes, they may still play cards in the future if the play comes back around to them.
- When all players pass except one, then the table is cleared and the last person who did not pass leads any combination.
Goal #
First player to shed out wins. Last place shuffles for the next game.
Scoring #
Score isn't always kept, but if desired:
- 1st out scores 2.
- 2nd out scores 1.
- 3rd out scores 0.
First to make 6 points wins. If there's a tie, play another hand to break the tie.
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