For example, if I lay a pair, you have to follow with a better pair – that fantastic run you have is useless for now. However, don’t be fooled into playing Tichu with the strategy of Poker, as once a style of hand is laid, all players most follow in-kind. A general knowledge of Poker will help as the cards you can lay when your the lead player are similar to poker hands. The general premise of Tichu is to rid yourself (and your partner, seated opposite) of all your cards by playing combinations that can’t be bettered by your opponents. And those four special cards really help with that. What was I getting that I couldn’t get with a standard deck of cards? The answer soon became clear, not just in the simple, lovely artwork that sends you to the back table of a Chinese drinking den as old-timers furiously and passionately slap their cards down on tables, but also in the wide-ranging strategic options available on almost every turn. On first viewing, Tichu is a standard deck of cards with four added extra cards adorned with intricate animal pictures on them. My introduction to Tichu – a trick-taking, climbing card game played in pairs – was as an answer to the question ‘what card game would be good to play on holiday with my family to gently introduce them to games with a little more strategy than Snap?’ Tichu wasn’t that (it turns out my family can’t manage much more than Snap to be honest), but it is many things: ‘thinky’, rewarding, complex, funny… and, given the paired teams element to the gameplay, with the potential to make or break just about any relationship!

Tichu games