ZHENG FEN



OBJECT OF ZHENG FEN: The objective of Zheng Fen is to obtain the highest point cards during the hand and be the first player to reach the target score.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 to 6 Players

MATERIALS: 52 Card Deck and 2 Additional Jacks

TYPE OF GAME: Climbing Card Game

AUDIENCE: Adults


OVERVIEW OF ZHENG FEN

Zheng Fen is a climbing type card game, sharing similarities with Big 2 and Hundred. The goal of the game is to get rid of all of your cards while accumulating tricks like a trick taking game. the first player to go out gets to keep the last player’s tricks, building their points drastically. This is a perfect strategy game for those who like to think and plan ahead!

SETUP

To begin setup, add two additional Jokers to a deck, ensuring that they are easily distinguished from one another. One Joker will be labeled as the Big Joker and the other one will be labeled as the Small Joker. Someone will shuffle the deck, each player will then draw a card to determine the seating order. 

The player with the highest card will choose their seat first and the player with the lowest card will choose their seat last. The deal will begin after the seating order has been chosen. The dealer will shuffle the cards and place them in the center of the table. The first drawer is chosen, and each player will subsequently draw one card at a time until the deck is diminished.

The game is ready to begin!

GAMEPLAY

To begin, the first player will lead the trick with one or more cards in a legal combination. Each player after must try to play a greater combination. Plays must be of the same type but a greater rank to be considered a legal play. The ranking of the cards are in ascending order from Big Joker, Small Joker, two, ace, King, Queen, Jack, and then ten to three.

Players must pass if they are unable to play a better combination. If all players pass, the last bidder may play another combination if they are able. Gameplay continues until there have been three passes made.

Jokers may be used as a wild card, allowing it to hold the place of any other card in a combination. It cannot be used in special combinations, however. After three passes have been made, the player with the last legal bid may collect all the cards played.

Gameplay continues until all but one player has played their combinations. The last player to get rid of all of his cards must give all of his won cards to the player who emptied their hand first. Scoring is done once the hand is finished. A new hand may begin after scoring is complete.

Combinations

Solo Card- Any single card played.

Pair- Two cards of the same rank.

Triple- Three cards of the same rank.

Quartet- Four cards of the same rank.

Sequence of Pairs- Three or more cards in sequence with at least two cards being of the same rank

Sequence of Triplets- Three or more cards in sequence with each card being represented by three cards of that rank

Sequence of Quartets- Three or more cards in sequence with each card being represented by four cards of that rank

Full House- combination of five cards including the following: Three cards of the same rank and two other cards, three cards of the same rank with a three and any other card, three cards of the same rank and two cards that are a sequence

Suit Sequence- Five or more cards with the same suit in sequence.

Special Combinations

Four Twos- four two cards

Five, Ten, King Same Suit- a five, ten, and King of the same suit

Five, Ten, King Mixed Suit- a five, ten, and King of mixed suits.

Scoring

King- 10 points

Ten- 10 points

Five- 5 points

Others- no points

END OF GAME

The game comes to an end when a player has exceeded 500 points. The first player to do this, or the player with the highest points wins the game!

Nakoa Davis
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