Gamehelptienlen

Objective

The goal of Tien Len is to be the first to get rid off all of the cards in your hand before the other players do.

Card Ranking

Tien Len is played with a standard 52-card deck with all players starting with 13 cards. Here is the ranking of card values (highest to lowest) :

2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3.

Here is the ranking of suits (highest to lowest):

Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades.

Valid Combinations

Here are the card combinations that a player may do:

Single Card
Pair
Triple
Four of a kind
Straight of 3+ cards of consecutive values, not including 2 (ex. JQK)
Double straights of 3+ pairs of consecutive values (ex. 334455)

Straights do not wrap around (ex. A345)

Gameplay

The player with the lowest card rank goes first (usually the 3 of spades). That player must use that card in any valid combination to start the round. From there, each player has a choice of playing or passing. If they want to play their cards, they must follow the same combination but with higher card rank. Only the highest card ranking from the combination is used to compare. For example, if a player starts with a pair of 3's, spades and diamonds, another player can play a pair of 3's, clubs and hearts, because hearts is higher than diamonds. When a player passes, whether or not they can actually play or not, they are not allowed to play anymore cards until a new type of combination is made (bombs not included). Once all other players pass, the player who played the last combination plays a new valid combination of their choosing. If a player were to play their last cards for a new combination, other players can choose to beat that combination or not. If no one wanted to beat it, the next player clockwise gets to start the new combination.

Bombs

A player can play bombs to beat only winning 2 combinations. Bombs do not beat other bombs. Here are the bomb combinations:

Four of a kind beats only a single 2.
3 card double straight (ex. 334455) beats only a single 2.
4 card double straight (ex. 33445566) beats a single or a pair of 2s.
5 card double straight (ex. 3344556677) beats a single, pair, or triple of 2s.
6 card double straight (ex. 334455667788) beats a single, pair, triple, or four of a kind of 2s.

Once a valid bomb has been played, the round continues with that bomb as the new combination amongst the remaining players who have not passed this round.

Win Conditions

Points are awarded to players based on when they got rid of all their cards in their hands. Here are the point distribution based on the number of players:

2-player game:
  - 1st place - 3 points
  - 2nd place - 0 points
3-player game:
  - 1st place - 3 points
  - 2nd place - 1 points
  - 3rd place - 0 points
4-player game:
  - 1st place - 3 points
  - 2nd place - 2 points
  - 3rd place - 1 points
  - 4th place - 0 points

The first player to reach either 15 or 30 points wins the game.