Winner (card game)
Winner () is a card game similar to the game President, the game Big Two, and other shedding games. It is the game from which Tien Len and other similar games are derived. It is popular in Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu. Rules. Cards. The game uses a standard 54-card deck, with thirteen cards in four suits plus two jokers, one red and one black. Diamond is the lowest suit, followed by clubs, then hearts, spades. Like Big Two, twos rank high, and the rest of the deck ranks as usual: aces above kings, kings above queens, and  so on, with threes being the lowest. The Jokers are the highest singles, and the red joker ranks higher than the black joker. Two decks may be used for four or more players. Valid Combinations. Cards may be played as singles, pairs, three of a kind, full house, four of a kind, straights (5 or more in a row), pair straights. etc. The leading card to a trick sets down the type of play. The allowed combinations are as follows. Different combinations do not beat each other, the only exception is the bomb. Dealing and Playing. The dealer (who may  be chosen by cutting the cards, as usual) shuffles the deck, to begin with and begins dealing out the cards singly, starting with himself, in a clockwise manner around the table. The cards are dealt out entirely. At the beginning of the first game, the player with the "trick card" starts first, with the trick card determined by the dealer, placed face up in the pile of cards he/she deals. Whoever it deals to starts. Play proceeds clockwise, with normal climbing-game rules applying: each player must play a higher card or combination than the one before, with the  same number of cards. Players may also pass, thus declaring that he does not want to play (or does not hold the necessary cards to make a play possible). A pass does not hinder any further play in the game, each being independent. When all but one of the players have passed in succession the trick is over, and the cards played are gathered up, and discarded and a new trick is started by the last player to play with their remaining cards. When a player plays the red joker as a single/double or a pair of 2s, it  is sometimes customary for that player to restart play immediately by leading a new card or combination since the red joker cannot be beaten as a singleton, nor the pair of 2s, and the passes are mere formalities (except in the rare cases of another player having a bomb). End Game. The game continues until the Winner and Loser have been determined, the winner is the first person to play all their cards, the Loser is the player still holding cards when everyone else is out. After a Winner and Loser are established, the Loser must shuffle and deal  out the next game. In one variation, the Loser must then give their highest card to the Winner in exchange for one card out of two cards of the Winner's choosing. The cards exchanged will be shown to the other players. Scoring. Scoring varies from place to place, and it is extremely rare to keep score. The most common version is that after a game each player with cards remaining scores -1 point for each unless they have 10 or more remaining, in which they score -2 for each. If they didn't get to play any cards at  all, they score -3 for each. Then the winner of the hand scores +1 for every -1 his opponents got. (So, for example, if North won, and East, West, and South respectively still had 3, 11, and 8 cards left, East would score -3, West would score -22, South would score -8, and North would score +33.) Likewise, for a 3-player game, a player with 17 cards remaining is deducted triple points. A player with more than 11 cards and less than 17 cards remaining is deducted double points.