Tong-its is a three-player rummy

Rummy

Rummy is a group of card games notable for gameplay based on the matching of similar playing cards. The Mexican game of Conquian is considered by David Parlett to be ancestral to all rummy games, which itself is derived from a Chinese game called Khanhoo and, going even further back,...

 type of game that gained popularity in the 1990s

1990s

File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...

 in Luzon

Luzon

Luzon is the largest island in the Philippines. It is located in the northernmost region of the archipelago, and is also the name for one of the three primary island groups in the country centered on the Island of Luzon...

, the largest island of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

.

This game is played using the standard 52 deck of card

Playing card

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...

s. Its origin remains unknown but the game rules and the very name can be associated with the American card game, Tonk.

Rules

Note: Like many popular card games, there are variations to these rules. Rules with variations are noted where possible.

Objective of the game

The objective of the game is to empty your hand of all cards or minimize the count and the scores of unmatched cards that are still on the player’s hand by forming card sets (melds), dumping cards and calling a draw. The player who gets rid of all the cards or has the least number of total points wins the game.

How to Play

The game begins after the dealer dumps a card. The next person can either pick up the disposed card or get one from the central stack. Collect hand combinations and dump unnecessary cards. The
picking and discarding of cards goes on until someone wins by Tong-its, calls a draw or until the
central stack runs out of cards. If this happens, the players tally the points of the cards they have at hand.

Meld

Meld

Meld (cards)

In card games, a meld is a set of matching cards, typically three or more, that earn a player points and/or allow him to deplete his hand. Melds typically come in sequences of ascending cards belonging to the same suit or groups of cards of identical rank .Melding is typical in games of the Rummy...

is a set of cards of matching cards a player needs to collect in order to win the game. When a player collects a meld, he has the option to either lay it down, or keep it. However, a player must expose at least one meld to call or challenge a draw. If a player fails to lay down a meld and the game ends, the player is considered “Burned” and will not be able to challenge a draw.


Three-of-a-kind: three equally ranked cards (7♣ - 7♦ - 7♠)

Four-of-a-kind: four cards of the same rank/number, also called “Secret” (J♣ - J♦ - J♠ - J♥)

Straight Flush: at least three sequential cards of the same suit (3♠ - 4♠ - 5♠) (8♦ - 9♦ - 10♦ - J♦ - Q♦)


Straight flush composed of 5 or more cards is also called “Escalera."

"Tong-its"

If the player is able to use all of his or her cards in combinations, by connecting to opponents’ or your exposed card sets (sapaw), or if the player gets rid of all his cards, then the player wins by Tong-its.

Draw

A player with at least one exposed meld and has low points can call a draw before his turn given that no other players connected to his exposed meld before that. Otherwise, the player will have to wait for his next turn to call a draw.



Once a player calls for a draw the opponents can either fold or challenge the draw. Only players who have exposed melds are given this opportunity. A player cannot call for a draw if his exposed hand(s) has been melded (sapaw) by any opponent within the round. Players with no card gets exposed are automatically folded.
When a draw has been called, the points are computed and tallied. The person with the lowest points wins. If a tie occurs, the challenger wins. In the event of a three-way tie, the player to the right of the challenger wins.

Deck pile runs out

When the central stack runs out of cards, the game ends. A player with no exposed melds automatically loses. The player with the lowest points in total wins. If there is a tie for the least
points, the player that picks up the last card from the deck wins.



A player who does not expose any melds before an opponent calls Tong-its or Draw is considered burned or “sunog”. Burned players at the end of the game automatically loses.

Winning the Pot

Bets are added to a pot. The winner who wins two consecutive games collect the pot money.

Card Points

All the cards have corresponding points. The
Rank goes: Ace 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Jack Queen
King. Ace is considered one point. All the Jacks
Queens and Kings are 10 points each. All the
other cards (namely, 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10) match
their value.