my current favourite is "Tien Len", or in america, its called "Thirteen"
it is best played by 4 players, each player gets dealt 13 cards. can be played with 3 or 2, but 4 is best. cannot be played by more than 4.
3 is the lowest card, 2 is the highest card. (this means aces are only high, and for that matter, 2s only play high also)
the objective of the game is to get rid of all of your cards
you can do this in any combination of single cards, pairs, trips, straights (3 and above). there are also some special hands, like quads, and 3 consecutive pairs (i.e 334455)
play moves in rotation with each player putting out higher card(s) than the previous. suits rank spades, clubs, diamonds, hearts. initial play starts with the [3s] but other than that the winner from the previous round starts.
so 2 of hearts is the best card to have, because it beats all other cards, including other 2s.
the exception is quads, or 3 consecutive pairs, which beat a single 2. 4 consecutive pairs beats a pair of 2s.
you can also play this game for money - when the winner goes out, all other players pay him according to the amount of cards left in their hand - say 10c or 20c a card. 2s are worth double, and each card contained in a special hand is worth triple.
you win the hand automatically if you get dealt all 4 twos, or if you have a dragon, which is a 13 card straight.
best game ever!!! i reckon we should have tourneys of tien len
