Tongits – A Card Game in the Philippines

Tongits (also spelled Tongit) is a two to five player card game. The game is based on rummy. It is the most popular card game in the northern Philippines. This card game is played in single and multiplayer mode.

The basic objective of the game is to gain points by forming sets and runs. Each player receives 13 cards, 4 at a time, the rest will be dealt out. The game then proceeds clockwise. Every time you are dealt a new card, you are supposed to place it down on the table face down, and on the first turn of the game you should be dealt at least one set, which could be a run or an entire set of cards. When you have collected four cards at the end of the first turn, you should be dealt another round, and so on. This is to ensure that every player gets at least one set. The game then starts anew, and the players will continue to deal out cards. The two, three, and four player games are played with the same basic rules. The number of players and the game settings are adjusted to ensure that the game progresses at a reasonable speed and that the maximum amount of games per day can be accommodated.

For a two player game the cards are dealt clockwise: First the dealer receives 13 cards. Then the second player receives 13 cards and the first player draws four cards from the stock to start the game.

The three player game is played in a manner similar to the two player game, except that the three players take turns in taking and discarding cards, until a player has 13 cards.