Chase the Pig

This is a Chinese version of Hearts. But funnier. If you lose, you become a pig. The play is in tricks. In the first hand, the holder of the two of spades leads to the first trick; in subsequent hands, the player who took the queen of spades on the previous hand leads to the first trick. The object is to take or avoid taking in tricks particular cards which carry a penalty or bonus to the person who wins them. The scoring cards are as follows:

Queen of spades (pig): -100

Ace of hearts: -50

King of hearts: -40

Queen of hearts: -30

Jack of hearts: -20

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 of hearts: -10 each

4, 3, 2 of hearts: 0 each

Jack of diamonds (sheep): +100

In addition, the ten of clubs counts +50 if the player who takes it takes no other scoring cards. If the player does take other scoring cards, the ten of clubs counts nothing in itself, but doubles the value of all other scoring cards taken by that player. Note that the 4, 3 and 2 of hearts are scoring cards, even though they score zero, so the ten of clubs plus the three of hearts score twice zero which is zero.

If one player takes all the hearts, they score +200 instead of -200. Note that it is necessary to take the 4, 3 and 2 of hearts to get this plus score, but you don't need the pig (queen of spades). If a player takes all the hearts and the pig as well, then the score for the pig becomes +100, making a total of +300. The sheep (jack of diamonds) is still worth a further +100 to a player who takes all the hearts.

There are four cards which may be exposed by their holders before the start of play: ace of hearts, queen of spades, jack of diamonds, ten of clubs.

The effect of exposing a card is basically to double its value. Specifically:

Ace of hearts exposed: All hearts are worth double. If a player takes all the hearts this will therefore be worth +400 instead of +200.

Queen of spades exposed: The pig is worth -200 instead of -100 (or +200 to a player who takes all the hearts).

Jack of diamonds exposed: The sheep is worth +200 instead of +100.

Ten of clubs exposed: The ten of clubs quadruples the value of all scoring cards taken by the same player instead of doubling them. Therefore if the ten of clubs and pig are both exposed and the same player takes both, that player gets -800 (4 x -200). If the player who takes the exposed ten of clubs gets no other scoring cards it is worth +100 rather than +50.

If you expose a card, you are not allowed to play it on the first trick in which that suit is led, unless you have no other cards of that suit. For example, if you expose the queen of spades, then the first time that someone leads a spade you are not allowed to play the queen if you have other spades. The other players can take advantage of this to get rid of their ace and king of spades safely on the first trick of the suit - safe, that is, unless you have sneakily exposed the queen of spades having no other spades.

If you lead the suit of your exposed card yourself, and the suit has not been led before, then you must not lead the exposed card itself unless it is the only card you have in that suit.

Keep a cumulative total of each player's score - positive or negative. When a player reaches minus 1000, they have lost, and a new game is started. The penalty for losing is that you are a pig.

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