🪜Thirteen
A climbing game (Tien Len) — beat the last combination or pass.
- 4 players
- ~12 min
- medium
- Free
Dealing…
How to play Thirteen
Objective
Be the first player to play out all thirteen of your cards.
Setup
- Four players receive thirteen cards each — the entire deck.
- The holder of the 3♠ leads the first round.
Rules
- Card ranking runs 3 (low) up to 2 (high); suits rank ♠ < ♣ < ♦ < ♥ as a tiebreaker.
- Play a combination that beats the previous one: single, pair, triple, four of a kind, or a run of three or more.
- Your combination must match the type and size of the one it beats.
- Pass if you can't or won't beat it; when everyone passes, the last player to play leads a fresh combination.
Strategy tips
- Twos are the strongest singles — hold at least one for the endgame.
- Breaking up a pair to win a single is usually a mistake.
- Watch for players holding four of a kind; they can bomb a 2.
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