414

414 is a team card game from Northeast China. It is a game for at least 2 players (extendable to as many as you want) using full decks of cards (54 cards: 2-A in all suits + jokers).

If you've played Chinese card games like "guandan", "dou dizhu" "Big 2", you'll be very familiar with the mechanics. The objective of the game is to play all of your cards first AND to help your teammates play all of their cards before the other team completes. If your entire team finishes before some members of the other team, you'll advance levels. The goal is to reach level A.

Rules:
Individual cards are ranked, without suit order. To start, the order is 3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A-2-Black Joker-Red Joker.

You can play singles, doubles, straights (3+ consecutive cards), double dragons (3+ consecutive pairs). Note that you cannot have a straight past A (no K-A-2, etc).

Play is in clockwise order and you must follow the category of card that was led in a higher rank. eg play begins with a single 3, you must play a single 4 or higher.

The one exception to following the category is playing bombs. Bombs are 1) 3 or more of a kind (eg 444, 5555), 2) double joker (two black -> one black one red -> two red), 3) 414 (a pair of 4s and a single A).

Once a bomb is played, ensuing cards must be larger bombs.

Hooking:
While the standard gameplay is that play is in order, an exception is made for hooking. In hooking, if a player plays a single (let's use 3 as an example), any player can play out of turn and "hook" with a double of the same rank (here, 33). This is similar to a "peng" in Mahjong. If multiple players can "hook", the person nearest to the initial card (single 3) gets priority.

After a card is "hooked", a player can "unhook" the double with a single (3). Again, priority is given to the nearest player. This "hook"/"unhook" procedure continues until all other players pass on "hook" and "unhook", at which point the last player to hook/unhook as control of the board and can play any card.

Leveling:
If your entire team finishes before 1 player on the other team, you "catch" that player and move up 1 level. Similarly if your entire team finishes before 2 players on the other team, you "catch" 2 and move up 2 levels.

All teams start on level 2, so moving up 2 levels goes from 2->4. Once you reach level A, you must "catch" all members of the other team before winning the game.

Tribute:
If you are caught, you'll have to pay a tribute card to the top finisher. If multiple people are caught, you pay tribute cards to the top N finishers on the other team.

Givers must give their highest single card (in order: Joker, then the level card, then A on down).

Takers must return a card between 2-9, no larger.

All players will see the cards given and taken.

That's all the rules! Have fun :)