Dou Di Zhu (Fight the Landlord)

History

Dou Di Zhu is one of the most popular card games played in China. It started out as a game in provincial China but due to the Internet, has become more popular over the years. Dou Di Zhu is played with three people with one pack of cards, including the two jokers. The objective of the game is to be the first player to have no cards left.

Number of Players

The traditional game is played with three (3) players, but can also be played with four (4). DafaGames will make use of strictly four (4) in Dou Di Zhu.

Cards

The game uses the standard 52-deck cards along with the two (2) jokers. Suits (diamond, spade, heart, and club/clover) are irrelevant to the game.

Card Rankings:

highest	Red Joker
	Black and White Joker
	2
	Ace (A)
	King (K)
	Queen (Q)
	Jack (J)
	10
	9
	8
	7
	6
	5
	4
lowest	3

Roles of the Players

As mentioned, traditionally, there are three (3) players in this game. One (1) would be the “Landlord” and the other two (2) would be the “Peasants.” If the Landlord uses all his cards first, he will win the game. Since the Peasants are considered to be a team, if one (1) Peasant would use up all his cards first, even if the other Peasant still hold cards, they would win. The roles of the player would be determined through an auction/bidding.

Bidding

The cards are dealt to the players until all of them have 17 cards each. The last 3 cards are to be left on the table (face down) and will be given to the one who wins the bidding---the Landlord.

The possible bids are 1 (lowest), 2 and 3 (highest). The player who bids the highest will become the Landlord and will have the last three (3) cards added to his 17 cards. The bids are based on the confidence of the players on his hand of cards (if the cards are high). The other two players become the Peasants. The three (3) cards that Landlord receives should be shown to the other players.

Even if not all the players have placed their bids, as long as there is a player who made a “3” (remember, 3 is the highest bid) bid, the bidding immediately stops and the game begins. Also, if two (2) players pass from bidding and only one (1) player makes a bid, that player immediately becomes the Landlord. If all the players pass, meaning they do not bid, the cards are reshuffled and distributed again.

For example,

Scenario 1
If Player A makes a bid of “1”, Player B can only bid “2” or “3”. If Player B is not confident about his cards and cannot make a bid of “2” or “3”, he may opt to pass. So Player B passes. If Player C passes also, then Player A (who bid a “1), immediately becomes the Landlord.

If Player C made a bid of “2”, then Player C becomes the Landlord. (His bid of “2” is higher than Player A’s bid of “1”)

Scenario 2
If Player A immediately calls out a “3”, then the bidding stops. Player A immediately becomes the Landlord even if Player B and C has not yet made a bid.

How the Game Is Played

Now that the roles of the players have already been determined, the Landlord begins the game by placing a hand of card or cards on the table. The peasants try to beat this hand. The peasants are not obliged to put down a hand. If they are unable to beat the Landlord’s hand, then the Landlord wins the round. The Landlord begins another round by placing another hand on the table. If a Peasant is able to beat the hand of the Landlord, then the Landlord should put down a hand higher of the peasant’s and so on until either Peasant or Landlord is unable to beat the other anymore. The second Peasant may choose to “pass” and not put down a hand if he feels that the first Peasant’s hand is enough to beat the Landlord’s cards. If the Landlord is unable to beat the hand of the Peasants, then the Peasants win that round.

The play continues clockwise until all the cards are used up or until two consecutive passes are made by the players. If that happens, a new round begins with the Landlord putting down the first hand of card or cards again.

Card Combinations

There are eleven (11) different card combinations in Dou Di Zhu.

Remember that a player can only beat the player with a hand that is of the same combination. For example, if the Landlord puts down a 3-of-a-Kind, then the Peasant can only beat the Landlord with another 3-of-a-Kind.

Scoring

There is a formula to compute for the winnings of each round.

Or

The Landlord always get double the winnings or losses. The amount of Bet depends on the table that the players join.

Base Score = also the winning Bid (remember the bidding done at the start of the game? This is just it.)

Multiplier = the default Multiplier is 1, if no Rockets or Bombs are used during that round. If there are Rockets of Bombs used by either Peasant or Landlord, then the Multiplier will be two (2) for every Rocket and Bomb used.

Example

Scenario:
The highest bid was 2. Base Score = 2
There were 1 Rocket and 3 Bombs used. Multiplier = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 16
The bet is 20 per Base Score.
The Landlords loses.

Computations of winnings/losses:

Landlords loses: - (20 x 2) x (2) x (16) x 2 = - 2560

• This is the total losses the Landlord will give out to the Peasants. Each Peasant will receive 1280.

Peasants win: (20 x 2) x (2) x (16) = 1280

• This is the amount that each Peasant will win from the Landlord.

Notice how the losses of the Landlord match the winnings of the Peasants.

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