Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord)

🕹️ How to play

1. How bidding for landlord works in Dou Dizhu: Dou Dizhu uses a 54-card deck: each of the three players gets 17 cards and 3 go face down as the kitty. Players bid once each, in turn: pass, or bid 1, 2 or 3 — always higher than the current bid. A bid of 3 wins at once; otherwise the highest bidder becomes the landlord, and if nobody bids the cards are redealt. The landlord takes the kitty (shown to everyone), holds 20 cards and leads first. On your bid, the status line rates your hand, e.g. “3 big cards, 0 bombs, about 7 plays → bid 1”.
2. How to play cards in Fight the Landlord: Play goes You → Right → Left. Whoever leads may play any valid hand type; each next player must beat it with the same type and number of cards but higher, or pass. Bombs and the rocket beat any type. When the other two players pass in a row, the last player to play leads again. Tap cards to select them or drag across to select several; the status line tells you at once whether the selection is playable and why not. Stuck? Tap Hint — each tap cycles to the next option.
3. How Dou Dizhu is scored: The side that empties a hand first wins: the landlord alone against the two peasants. The round is worth base 10 × the bid × 2^k, where k counts the bombs and rockets played, plus one for a spring. When the landlord wins they take twice that and each peasant loses it once; when the peasants win it is the other way round, so the three scores always sum to zero. The result card itemises the multiplier, reveals all remaining hands and the kitty, and shows the deal code — Replay this deal plays the same cards again (not scored).

📖 Rules & variants

Dou Dizhu card ranking: the deck is 52 standard cards plus a small and a big joker, and suits never matter. Single cards rank 3 < 4 < 5 < 6 < 7 < 8 < 9 < 10 < J < Q < K < A < 2 < Small Joker < Big Joker. Straights, pair chains and airplanes run up to the ace at most — they can never include a 2 or a joker, so J-Q-K-A-2 is not a straight.

Dou Dizhu hand types (14 in total): single; pair; trio; trio with a single (QQQ+5); trio with a pair (QQQ+55); straight (5+ consecutive singles, 3-4-5-6-7); pair chain (3+ consecutive pairs, 33-44-55); airplane (2+ consecutive trios, 777-888); airplane with singles (one single per trio, 777888+3+K); airplane with pairs (one pair per trio, 777888+33+KK); four with two singles (9999+3+5); four with two pairs (9999+33+55); bomb (four of a kind); rocket (both jokers).

Kicker rules in Fight the Landlord: kickers can never match the rank of the trio or four they ride on. Single kickers may repeat a rank, but a hand can never carry both jokers, because the two jokers together are the rocket. Pair kickers must all be different ranks, and the jokers cannot count as a pair. Wings are all singles or all pairs — mixing one single and one pair is not allowed. Four with two is not a bomb: only a higher four-with-two, a bomb or the rocket beats it.

Beating a play: the rocket beats everything; a bomb beats every non-bomb, and bombs compare by rank; every other type must match the previous play exactly in type and size (and chain length) and be higher. When a set of cards can be read in more than one way, it is legal if any reading beats the last play — 333444555666 is a four-trio airplane, or a three-trio airplane carrying 666 as wings.

Multipliers and spring: the base is 10 and there is no cap. Each bomb or rocket doubles the round, and the Round cell of the top bar always shows base × bid × multiplier = round value. A spring is a landlord win in which neither peasant played a single card; a reverse spring is a peasant win in which the landlord played only the opening lead. Either one doubles the round once more. Example: bid 3, one bomb, landlord springs — 10 × 3 × 2 × 2 = 120, so the landlord scores +240 and each peasant −120.

The three computer levels: Easy makes mistakes and barely teams up; Normal breaks up hands when it must, never beats its teammate, and plays pairs when the landlord is down to one card; Hard also tracks the cards that are out, leads the unbeatable play when closing out, and bombs when it can then finish in two plays. The computers only see their own cards and the public table — never yours — and every deal is decided by its code alone, never by who is winning.

Dou Dizhu strategy: before bidding, count your big cards (jokers, 2s, bombs) and roughly how many plays your hand needs — few big cards and many plays means let someone else be landlord. As landlord, lead short straights and pair chains to clear small cards and keep big cards to win the lead back. As a peasant, don't beat your teammate, feed them low singles when they are down to one card, and never lead a single when the landlord has one card left.

❓ FAQ