Tong-its
Filipino rummy - draw, meld sets and runs, sapaw, and call the Draw.
What you are trying to do
Empty your hand, win a valid Draw call, or hold the lowest eligible deadwood when the stock ends.
Draw or sagasa
The dealer opens with a discard. Later turns draw from stock or take the top discard only when it is melded immediately.
Meld, sapaw, discard
Open sets and suited runs, lay cards onto table melds, then finish the turn with one discard.
Close the hand
Tong-its is immediate; a Draw can be challenged; stock exhaustion compares eligible deadwood. The room's session rules then score the hand.
Complete rules for Tong-its
These are the disclosed rules used by the room—not a simplified summary that changes once the match begins.
- 01
The DEALER holds one extra card and opens the round by discarding (no first draw).
- 02
On your turn: draw one from the stock, OR take the top discard only to immediately meld it (sagasa).
- 03
Lay down melds - a SET (3-4 of a rank) or a RUN (3+ in a row, same suit, ace low) - and lay off (sapaw) onto any meld on the table, yours or others'.
- 04
Then discard one card. Empty your whole hand to call TONG-ITS and win instantly.
- 05
Once you've opened, you may CALL A DRAW at the start of your turn: opponents fold or fight, and the lowest deadwood wins (you can lose your own call).
- 06
If the stock runs out, the lowest deadwood wins - but anyone who never melded is burned and cannot win.
- 07
Best with 3 players; 2 and 4 are supported with adjusted hand sizes.
- 08
RULESET - Classic: full house rules. Quick: two fewer cards each, so hands resolve sooner. Joker: two wild jokers join the deck and can complete any meld (a joker left in hand costs 20).
- 09
SESSION - Single round, Best of 3 (first to two hands), or Matira Matibay (3 lives each, the hand's loser drops one, last player standing wins).
Modes & room settings
Every setting below is validated by the server. The default is marked so a new host knows exactly what will run without changing anything.
Ruleset
Changes the deal or adds wild jokers to the card rules.
Full standard deal with sagasa, melds, sapaw, Draw calls, burns, and stock-out deadwood.
Deals two fewer cards per player so hands resolve sooner while the core rules stay intact.
Adds two wild jokers that can complete melds; each joker left in hand costs 20 deadwood.
Session
Controls how many hands or lives decide the overall winner.
One hand decides the session.
The first player to win two hands takes the session.
Everyone starts with three lives; the hand loser drops one, and the last player standing wins.
Three useful habits
Opening a meld enables a future Draw challenge but exposes information about your hand.
Watch what opponents take and discard to avoid feeding an obvious run or set.
Reduce deadwood before calling Draw; the caller can lose to an opened challenger.
