Gong Zhu

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Gong Zhu (card game)

Alternate names	Chinese Hearts, Chase the Pig
Type	trick-taking
Players	4
Age range	All ages
Deck	52
Cards	Anglo-American
Card rank (highest to lowest)	A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Related games	Hearts

Gong Zhu is a trick-taking card game, and is a Chinese version of the game Hearts. It differs from standard hearts by assigning special point values to cards. All players start with 0 points. The goal is to not be the first person to go past -1000 points. The loser must act like the pig, as Gong Zhu means "chase the pig" in Chinese. The pig is also the name that is given to the queen of spades.

There is no passing in Gong Zhu like there is in Western Hearts.

1 Point values
2 Exposure of cards
3 Winning
4 External links

[edit] Point values

The jack of diamonds is worth +100 points
The queen of spades is worth -100 points
The 10 of clubs counts as zero points, but doubles your points at the end of a round. Generally, players go in the negative, so this card is arguably helpful. If at the end of a round a player has the 10 of clubs and no other point cards, the 10 of clubs is worth +50 points.
The Hearts:

Ace -50 points
King -40 points
Queen -30 points
Jack -20 points
10 through 5 are worth -10 points
4 through 2 are worth no points

[edit] Exposure of cards

In Gong Zhu, you may expose ("sell") the queen of spades, the jack of diamonds, the 10 of clubs, or the ace of hearts. Exposing a card doubles its effect. For example, if the queen of spades is doubled, it will be worth -200 instead of -100. In the case of the 10 of clubs, since it isn't worth anything in itself, the doubling effect of the 10 of clubs is doubled, which if exposed and taken by that same player, will quadruple the value of all the other point cards.

[edit] Winning

There are multiple ways to shoot the moon. Gong Zhu differs from hearts in that you gain points by shooting the moon, instead of other players losing points. In all cases, the jack of diamonds and the queen of spades switch values, giving negative points to unsuspecting players. Often, the same person will have won the jack of diamonds and the queen of spades, in which case these two cards cancel each other out. If you add up the value of all of the hearts, it comes out to -200 points.

If you get all of the hearts you have shot the moon, and are awarded +200 points.
If you get all of the hearts AND the 10 of clubs, you are awarded +400 points.
If you get all of the hearts AND the queen of spades, you are awarded +300 points.
If you get all of the hearts AND the ten of clubs AND the queen of spades, you are awarded +600 points (200+100)*2.

The game is only finished once someone has reached -1000 points, in which case they are named the loser.