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    Tong Its

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    Riley Kim
    Tong-its is a 3 player card game that originated in the Philippines in the 1990s. The objective is to empty your hand of cards through forming sets ("melds") and discarding cards, or having the fewest points left at the end. Players take turns drawing from a central pile or picking up the discarded card to add to their melds. The game ends when someone uses all their cards or calls a draw, and the player with the lowest point total wins.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Tong Its

    Uploaded by

    Riley Kim
    2K views4 pages
    Tong-its is a 3 player card game that originated in the Philippines in the 1990s. The objective is to empty your hand of cards through forming sets ("melds") and discarding cards, or having the fewest points left at the end. Players take turns drawing from a central pile or picking up the discarded card to add to their melds. The game ends when someone uses all their cards or calls a draw, and the player with the lowest point total wins.

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    Phil Games

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    Tong-its is a 3 player card game that originated in the Philippines in the 1990s. The objective is to empty your hand of cards through forming sets ("melds") and discarding cards, or having the fewest points left at the end. Players take turns drawing from a central pile or picking up the discarded card to add to their melds. The game ends when someone uses all their cards or calls a draw, and the player with the lowest point total wins.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    2K views4 pages

    Tong Its

    Uploaded by

    Riley Kim
    Tong-its is a 3 player card game that originated in the Philippines in the 1990s. The objective is to empty your hand of cards through forming sets ("melds") and discarding cards, or having the fewest points left at the end. Players take turns drawing from a central pile or picking up the discarded card to add to their melds. The game ends when someone uses all their cards or calls a draw, and the player with the lowest point total wins.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    Talabis, Krischelle Anne V.

    Anabo, Rachel Ann A.


    TONGITS
    MATERIALS NEEDED
    Cards (52)
    VENUE
    Indoors preferably, but can also be played outside
    NO. OF PLAYERS
    Three (3)
    BACKGROUND
    Tong-its or Tongits is a 3 player rummy type of game that gained popularity in the 1990s in Luzon. .
    Both the name and the structure of the game suggest a relationship to the American game Tonk. Tong-
    Its appeared in the late 20th century and seems to be an extended version of Tonk, played with 12 card
    hands.
    OBJECTIVE
    The objective of the game is to empty your hand of all cards or minimize the count and the scores of
    unmatched cards that are still on the players hand by forming card sets (melds, also called a
    "Bahay"(pronounced Ba-Hi), or "Buo" in some dialects), dumping cards and calling a draw. The player
    who gets rid of all the cards or has the least number of total points at the end of the game (when the
    central stack is empty) wins the game.
    TERMS
    MELD (bahay/buo)- To Meld is to put down at least 3 cards onto the table that make a combination. The
    3 cards must be 3 or 4 cards of the same value, i.e. three 4s, three Queens etc. (known as 3 or 4 of a
    kind), or 3 cards of the same suit (known as a straight flush) in consecutive order
    TONGITS- If you win by Tongits, this means that you have drawn a card from the deck or the dump, then
    created melds using every card in your hand except for one; the last unused card is the discard to the
    dump; When your the first one to run out of cards
    STRAIGHT FLUSH- Three sequential cards of the same suit
    THREE-OF-A-KIND- Three cards equally ranked
    BURNED (sunog)- A player is considered Burned if the player is unable to form a meld or set at the end
    game.
    DRAW- To initiate a Draw is to challenge the other players in the game to a contest of remaining points;
    in a Draw, whoever has the least amount of points in their hand is the winner
    FIGHT- To accept the challenge when a player issues a draw
    CHOW- Take a card from the discard pile if you are able to create a meld with it
    SAPAW- Add cards to sets or runs previously melded by yourself or others
    MECHANICS
    Each player is dealt 12 cards while the dealer gets 13 and the rest of the cards are left as a central stack.
    The game begins when the dealer dumps a card. The next person can either pick up the disposed card if
    that card makes a set or adds to a set he has already or get one from the central stack. Collect hand
    combinations and dump unnecessary cards. The picking and discarding of cards goes on until someone
    wins by Tong-its, calls a draw or until the central stack runs out of cards. If this happens, the players tally
    the points of the cards they have at hand and the one with the lowest wins. In case of a draw the last
    person to take a card from the central deck wins.
    NOTE: The first dealer is chosen randomly. Thereafter the dealer is the winner of the previous hand. The
    cards are dealt one at a time counterclockwise, starting with the dealer: thirteen cards to the dealer and
    twelve cards to each of the other players. The remainder of the deck is placed face down to form the
    stock.
    1. The dealer starts the play. The dealer may optionally expose one or more sets or runs face up on
    the table, thereby opening his or her hand, and must then discard one card face up to the centre
    of the table to start the discard pile.

    2. The next player may CHOW the card or PICK from discard pile. You may only take a card from
    the discard pile if you are able to create a meld (a set or run) with it, and you are then obliged to
    expose the meld.

    3. Laying off. (sapaw) This is also optional. If you wish, you may add cards to sets or runs
    previously melded by yourself or others. There is no limit to the number of cards a player may
    lay off in one turn. A player need not have opened their hand to lay off. Laying a card off on
    another player's exposed meld prevents that player from calling Draw on his or her next turn.

    4. Discard. At the end of your turn, one card must be discarded from your hand and placed on top
    of the discard pile face up.

    WINNING THE GAME

    "Tong-its" or Tongits

    If the player is able to use all of his or her cards in combinations, by connecting to opponents or the
    exposed card sets (sapaw), or if the player gets rid of all his cards, then the player wins by Tong-its. A
    person can discard of his cards by forming melds and laying it down or making a "sapaw" on one of the
    other players' laid down meld. A meld consists of at least three cards (three-of-a-kind or straight flush)
    and a sapaw would be the fourth of those three, or the continuation of that straight flush.

    Draw

    A player with at least one exposed meld and has low points can call a draw before his turn given that no
    other players connected to his exposed meld before that. Otherwise, the player will have to wait for his
    next turn to call a draw.
    Once a player calls for a draw the opponents can either fold or challenge the draw. Only players who
    have exposed melds are given this opportunity. A player cannot call for a draw if his exposed hand(s) has
    been melded (sapaw) by any opponent within the round. Players with no card sets exposed are
    automatically folded. When a draw has been called, the points are computed and tallied. The person
    with the lowest points wins. If a tie occurs, the challenger wins. In the event of a three-way tie, the
    player to the right of the challenger wins.

    Deck pile runs out

    When the central stack runs out of cards, the game ends. A player with no exposed melds automatically
    loses. The player with the lowest points in total wins. If there is a tie for the least points, the player that
    picks up the last card from the deck wins.

    A player who does not expose any melds before an opponent calls Tong-its or Draw is considered burnt
    or sung. Burnt players at the end of the game automatically lose.

    Winning the Jackpot or "Two Hits"

    Bets are added to a pot. The winner who wins two consecutive games collect the pot money. This can
    also be changed to 3 consecutive games wherein upon the second win the player gets an additional
    payment.

    CARD POINT VALUE

    Ace = 1 point Cards 2-9 = Face value points Card 10-KING = 10 points

    POINTING SYSTEM

    1.0 for the most number of wins

    1.25 for the 2nd lowest number of wins

    1.50 - for the least number of wins

    VALUES AND SKILLS NEEDED

    Honesty, Mind and eye coordination, Sportsmanship, Diskarte, Patience, Ability to read other players.

    REFERENCES

    Tong-Its rules on Pinoygame.net. (2016, January 29). Retrieved from


    https://www.pinoygame.net/news/detail/4/Tong-Its-rules-on-Pinoygame-net.html

    History of Tongits. (2017, September 20). Retrieved from https://www.tongits.net/History_of_Tongits

    Tong-its. (2017, September 11). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tong-its

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