Nantong Long Cards

3 players · You against 2 AI · Single deal

1. 1

   Objective

   • Each player builds seven groups and one pair. A group is three consecutive ranks of one suit, three identical cards, or a declared kong with its replacement draw. The pair has two identical cards. Thousand, White Flower and Red Flower form identical groups only. Nine of Strings may still form a 7–8–9 run.
   • Winning ends the deal but does not guarantee the highest hu total. An exhausted stock also settles every player’s base hu. Each pair of players settles the difference between their totals. The highest total may be tied.
2. 2

   Setup

   • The library retains 125 cards. This table uses four copies each of ranks 1–9 in Myriads, Strings and Coins, plus Thousand, White Flower and Red Flower: 120 cards, excluding Fortune, Prosperity, Longevity, Joy and Wealth. The first dealer is random. Seats proceed through you, AI 1 and AI 2. The dealer receives 23 cards and each opponent 22. Turn over two indicators and remove them from the stock, leaving 51 cards.
   • The two face-up indicators increase scoring. Neither enters a player’s hand. After they are revealed, resolve opening declarations in seat order starting with the dealer. Only cards originally dealt qualify, not replacement cards.
   • Four identical cards in the original hand: you may expose them as one of your seven groups and draw one replacement from the back of the stock.
   • Three identical cards in the original hand matching an indicator exactly: you may expose them as one group, without drawing a replacement.
   • If both indicators are identical and you were dealt the other two copies, you may declare Tiandi Hezi: expose those two cards and draw two replacements. Hezi scores separately and does not count toward your seven groups.
   • During preparation, choose an opening declaration, declare ready, or finish preparing. A non-dealer who needs just one card to win may declare ready: the hand is locked and its winning hu total doubles. A ready player cannot pung or kong and must either win on a draw or discard that newly drawn card.
   • Once everyone has finished preparing, the dealer discards first. If the dealer already has a winning hand before discarding or drawing, this is a heavenly win.
3. 3

   Playing a turn

   • On your turn, draw from the front of the stock and discard one card. You may win on your own draw or declare four identical hand cards as a concealed kong, draw a replacement from the rear, and then discard or win. A fourth card matching an existing pong allows an added kong. Opponents may first rob it to win. Otherwise it becomes an exposed kong with a replacement draw.
   • After a discard, resolve wins before pongs and kongs. Competing claims of the same kind proceed from the discarder’s next seat. Only one player wins. Two matching hand cards allow a pong followed by a discard without drawing. Three matching cards allow an exposed kong with a replacement before discarding. Discards cannot be taken to form runs.
   • Only currently legal actions are available. Ready players may win or pass. Kongs require stock. After the last discard, resolve wins and pongs before declaring an exhausted deal if nobody takes it. This table applies no restrictions for previously passing a win or pong.
4. 4

   Scoring and ending

   • Scoring has three steps: calculate each player’s base hu, add the winner’s bonuses and multipliers, then settle the differences between each pair of players. Hu is a scoring unit. A player who did not win the hand can still have the highest hu total.
   • Base values: exposed pung 2 hu. Three identical cards in hand 4. Exposed kong 8. Concealed kong or four identical cards in hand 12. An opening declaration 16. Tiandi Hezi also uses the opening value of 16 hu.
   • Base-hu multipliers: Thousand, White Flower, Red Flower and Nine of Strings are the four old generals. Their base hu first doubles. Each ordinary indicator doubles ordinary groups of its rank, while an old-general indicator doubles all four old generals. The old generals form a separate group, so Nine of Strings does not double with Nine of Myriads or Coins. Both indicators can apply.
   • An exact indicator match has an extra effect: a pung doubles again, while three identical cards in hand use a base of 12 instead of 4 before multipliers. With Two of Strings and Three of Myriads as indicators, three Twos of Myriads in hand score 8 hu and three Twos of Strings score 24. Two Four of Coins indicators make the Four of Coins Hezi worth 64 hu.
   • If the winning card completes a triplet, score that triplet as a pung when won from a discard, or as three identical cards in hand when self-drawn.
   • Winning-shape bonus: seven sequences is Qing Hu, worth 100 extra hu. Triplets and kongs, with optional One–Two–Three of Coins sequences, is Piao Hu, worth 50 extra hu and a ×2 total multiplier. Other mixed shapes are Tazi Hu, worth 20 extra hu. One–Two–Three of Coins is also called Wenqian.
   • If a hand has several legal partitions, the system chooses the highest-scoring one. Three or four identical cards in hand still earn base hu even if those cards are used in sequences in the winning partition.
   • Only the winner receives the Wenqian bonus: 20 hu for one group, 50 for two, 100 for three, or 200 for four.
   • Self-draw adds 10 hu. Winning immediately on a kong replacement adds another 10. Add 10 if the winning card completes the pair, the middle of a sequence, the Three in One–Two–Three, or the Seven in Seven–Eight–Nine. This last bonus applies only once, even if several conditions fit.
   • A Floating hand without pongs is Closed Floating and doubles the total again. At least three copies each of Red Flower, White Flower and Thousand make Three Elders, which also doubles the total. A heavenly win, a win on the dealer’s first discard, an opening ready declaration, and self-draw of the final stock card each double the winner’s total. These multipliers stack. Heaven-and-Earth pairs do not count as triples or quads for Three Elders.
   • After base hu, bonuses and multipliers, round each total upward to a multiple of ten: 22 becomes 30. 20 stays 20. Settle differences between every pair. Totals of 100, 40 and 20 give +140, −40 and −100 points. Exhausted deals award no winning bonuses but still settle base hu. The next deal rotates the dealer. Restart chooses a new random dealer.