Gan Deng Yan

How to play

1. How to start a game of Gan Deng Yan: The page opens on a table-rules card and two rows of chips: pick 2, 3 or 4 players (3 by default) and the draw rule (everyone draws / winner draws). Tap Start this round and the cards are dealt — 6 to the dealer, 5 to everyone else, the rest stays face down as the stock. Tap anywhere during the deal to skip it. You deal the first round; after that the previous winner deals.
2. How to play a hand and why a card won't go: The leader plays anything valid: a single, a pair, a straight of 3+, a run of 2+ pairs, or a bomb of 3+ of a kind. Everyone after must play the same shape exactly one rank higher, or pass. When you follow, cards that can beat the table stay bright with a lime bar underneath while the rest dim, and the status line says exactly what you need, e.g. “To beat single 7: only 8 · or a 2 · or a bomb”. Hint only selects a legal play; it never plays for you.
3. How jokers work in Gan Deng Yan: Both jokers are wild for any rank from 3 to Ace, but never a 2, and never played on their own. Two jokers alone are the joker bomb, which beats everything. When your selection with a joker can be read more than one way (7, 8 and a joker could be 6-7-8 or 7-8-9), chips appear above the table so you choose; once played, the joker carries an “as 9” tag.
4. Drawing cards and scoring: When every other player passes, the trick ends and the last player to play leads again — but first cards are drawn from the stock: with Everyone draws, each player takes one starting from the winner; with Winner draws, only the winner does. First to empty their hand wins. Each loser pays cards left × multiplier, where every bomb played this round doubles it, never having played a card (spring) doubles it, and each joker still in hand doubles it, capped at 64. Scores always sum to zero.

Rules & variants

Gan Deng Yan (干瞪眼, “staring eyes”) is a Chinese climbing card game for 2–4 players using one 54-card deck with both jokers. The dealer gets 6 cards and everyone else 5; the rest is a face-down stock. The dealer leads. Each following player must beat the last play with the same shape exactly one rank higher, or pass. When everyone except the last player to play has passed, the trick ends and that player leads again after the draw. The first player to run out of cards wins the round.

Rank order is 3 < 4 < 5 < 6 < 7 < 8 < 9 < 10 < J < Q < K < A < 2, and suits don't matter. The “one higher” rule is where the name comes from: on a single 7 you may only play an 8 — a 9 or a 10 won't do — so often all you can do is stare. A pair of 9s can only be followed by a pair of 10s, and a 5-6-7 straight only by 6-7-8 of the same length.

Two exceptions break the one-higher rule. A 2 beats any single or pair, so a single 2 can go on an Ace or even on a 3; but 2s never appear in straights or pair runs. Bombs (three or more of a kind) ignore the rule entirely and beat any non-bomb; between bombs, more cards wins, then higher rank. Two jokers played alone are the joker bomb, which beats everything and can't be beaten.

Valid plays: single, pair, straight (3+ consecutive ranks, no 2s, Ace high at most), pair run (2+ consecutive pairs, no 2s), bomb (3+ of the same rank) and joker bomb (both jokers). There are no triples-with-kickers or airplanes in Gan Deng Yan — three of a kind is simply a bomb.

Jokers are wild for any rank from 3 to Ace but never a 2, can't be played as a single, and any number may be used in one play. The one exception is going out with a joker: if the stock is empty, it's your lead and a single joker is your last card, you may play it to win.

Drawing: after a trick closes and before the winner leads, cards are drawn from the top of the stock. This page offers exactly one rule switch — Everyone draws (starting with the trick winner, each player takes one while the stock lasts) or Winner draws (only the winner takes one). Once the stock is empty there are no more draws. Drawing makes hands grow and change during play, which is the big difference from most shedding games.

Scoring: the winner collects from every loser. A loser pays cards left × multiplier, where the multiplier is 2 to the power of bombs played this round (by anyone, joker bombs included) × 2 if that loser never played a card (spring) × 2 for each joker left in their hand, capped at 64. Scores for the table always add up to zero.

Worked example: four players, seat 2 goes out and two bombs were played this round (base ×4). Seat 0 holds 4 cards: 4 × 4 = −16. Seat 1 holds 3 cards including a joker: 3 × 8 = −24. Seat 3 never played and holds 5: 5 × 8 = −40. Seat 2 scores +80. With four bombs and two jokers left in seat 3's hand the product would be 128, capped at 64, so seat 3 would pay 320.

Strategy: track the unseen 2s and jokers — the tracker shows how many are still out, and they decide whether your play can be beaten. Lead long straights and pair runs to shed many cards at once. Don't sit on a joker; it doubles your loss if you're caught with it. And think twice before bombing with a big hand: every bomb doubles the stakes for the whole table, including you.

Regional variants include jokers standing in for 2s, three of a kind as a plain triple, two decks, different multiplier tables and a forced play when the next player has one card left. This page keeps one switch (who draws) and fixes the rest to the most common rules above: jokers never act as 2, three of a kind is a bomb, one deck, bombs/spring/jokers each double with a 64 cap, and you can always pass.

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