Run Fast (Paodekuai)

How to play

1. How do you start a game of Paodekuai?: Pick a preset on the opening screen. Classic 16 uses 48 cards (a standard deck without jokers, minus ♥2 ♦2 ♣2 ♠A), sixteen to each of the three players; whoever holds ♠3 opens and their first play must include it. Compact 15 uses 45 cards, fifteen each; one card is turned face up after the deal and its holder opens with no restriction. Press the deal button and tap once to skip the dealing animation.
2. How do you play a turn in Paodekuai?: Tap a card to select it; double-tap a card to select every card of that rank at once. The status line reads out what your selection is and whether it beats the standing play, so the Play button only lights up on a legal move — otherwise it names the problem: not a combination, wrong shape, wrong card count, or not high enough. If you cannot or do not want to beat the table, press Pass. The player who leads a trick is never allowed to pass.
3. What happens when a player is down to one card?: A seat holding a single card is flagged on the table. While the seat immediately after you is down to one card, any lone card you play must be the highest legal single in your hand — smaller singles are greyed out and the status line names the card you must use instead. Pairs, triples, straights and bombs are unaffected, which is exactly why they are the right answer in that situation.
4. How is a round of Paodekuai scored?: The first player to empty their hand wins the round. Scoring is shown as four lines: cards left (each loser is docked their remaining cards, the winner collects the sum), never played (a loser who never got a card down is docked a second time, doubling their penalty), bombs (each bomb pays its player 4 and costs the other two 2 each) and the total. Every line adds up to zero across the three seats. Each deal has a code such as A1739204 that you can copy as a link to replay exactly the same hands.

Rules & variants

Paodekuai basics: three players, one deck with the jokers removed and a few more cards taken out depending on the preset, all of it dealt out — there is no kitty. The only goal is to empty your hand first. Play moves in a fixed circle: you, then AI West, then AI East. Whoever leads a trick plays any legal combination; the others either play the same shape with the same number of cards and a higher rank, or pass. When two players pass in a row the trick ends, and the last player to put cards down takes the lead. The moment any seat runs out of cards the round ends.

The two presets differ only in the deck and in who opens. Classic 16 uses 48 cards (52 minus ♥2 ♦2 ♣2 ♠A), sixteen each, and the holder of ♠3 opens with a play that must contain it. Compact 15 uses 45 cards (also minus ♥A ♦A ♣A ♠K), fifteen each, and one card is turned face up after the deal — its holder opens with no restriction. The missing cards change what is possible: in Classic only one 2 exists, so a pair or a bomb of 2s can never happen; in Compact only one ace and three kings remain, which caps runs of pairs and planes at queens and kings.

Rank order runs 3 < 4 < 5 < 6 < 7 < 8 < 9 < 10 < J < Q < K < A < 2. Suits have no ranking at all. One rule catches every new player: the 2 never takes part in a consecutive combination, so straights, runs of pairs and planes stop at the ace even though the 2 is the highest single card in the game.

The eleven combinations: single, pair, triple, triple with a single, triple with a pair, straight (five or more consecutive distinct ranks), run of pairs (two or more consecutive pairs), plane (two or more consecutive triples), plane with singles, plane with pairs, and bomb (four of a kind). Comparison rules: a bomb beats anything that is not a bomb and bombs compare by rank; everything else must match in both shape and card count before ranks are compared, so a five-card straight cannot be beaten by a six-card straight. Kickers never take part in the comparison — only the triple itself counts.

The one-card rule: while the seat immediately downstream of you holds a single card, a lone card you play must be the highest legal single in your hand. When you are leading, that means every card in your hand is a candidate; when you are following, it means every single that would beat the standing play. This site enforces it up front rather than as a penalty afterwards: illegal singles are greyed out and cannot be selected, and the status line names the card you must play instead. Pairs, triples, straights and bombs are never restricted by it.

Scoring in detail: each of the three seats gets one integer and the three always sum to zero. Line one, cards left: each loser is docked their remaining card count and the winner collects the sum of both. Line two, never played: a loser who never got a single card down is docked their remaining count a second time — the same as doubling — and the winner collects it; when nobody was shut out this line is still drawn, reading 0 / 0 / 0. Line three, bombs: each bomb pays its player 4 and costs the other two 2 apiece, regardless of who won the round. Line four is the sum of the first three.

Paodekuai compared with Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord): Dou Dizhu uses 54 cards with both jokers, a bidding phase, a three-card kitty and two farmers teamed against one landlord, plus multipliers. Paodekuai has no teams, no kitty and no bidding — a few cards come out of the deck, the rest is dealt, and play starts immediately. It also has no rocket and no quad-with-kickers, and in most house rules the 2 cannot join a straight. In practice Paodekuai is the faster of the two to sit down with: two taps and you are playing, and a round takes three to six minutes.

How many players and how long a round takes: exactly three. Here you play one seat against two computer opponents, so you never have to wait for anyone. A Classic 16 round usually runs three to six minutes and Compact 15 is a little quicker — short enough for a commute or a coffee break. A round in progress is saved in this browser, so closing the page and coming back drops you into the same trick with the same standing play.

Strategy that actually moves the needle: count hands, not cards — a player with three plays left is closer to winning than one holding eight cards that need six plays. Get loose singles out early, ideally attached to a triple, because a stray low card at the end is the hardest thing in this game to dispose of. Watch the card count of the seat after you: once they are close to one card your small singles become dead weight, so spend them before that happens. Do not rush a bomb; it always pays four, but it also spends four cards at once and may not reduce your number of plays. And pass freely — trading one pass for the lead is often worth more than burning a high card.

House rules and what this site fixes: only two presets, two computer levels and two animation speeds are configurable. The rules themselves are fixed — straights of at least five, the 2 never in a run, triples with one or two kickers, bombs over everything but bombs, and the one-card rule always on. Variants you may have heard of, such as quads with two kickers, allowing a bare triple as the final play, forcing a player to beat the table when able, or four-player versions, are not offered here: every extra switch makes the first minute heavier.

FAQ