How to play Daifugo
3-6 players Β· 52 cards and a joker Β· first to 7 points
Daifugo β 倧ε―θ±ͺ, the great millionaire β is Japan's best-known card game. You are trying to get rid of your hand, beating the last play or passing, and the first player out is the millionaire while the last is the pauper. Those titles are not decoration: they carry into the next hand as a tax, and the tax is the whole game.
Objective
Empty your hand before everybody else. Finishing first scores 2 points and finishing second scores 1; nobody else scores. The first player to 7 points wins the match. Finishing last does not lose you points directly β it costs you your two best cards before the next hand starts, which is worse.
The 3 is the worst card. The 2 is the best.
This is the one fact everything else in the game rests on, and it reads as a misprint to anyone coming from a Western climbing game. The ranking runs low to high:
The joker beats everything, in either direction β it is the one card a revolution cannot touch. All 53 cards are dealt out, so hands are uneven by design: at four players one seat gets fourteen cards and the rest get thirteen.
A round of play
Somebody leads
Any single card, or any legal combination of cards. Whatever shape they choose is the shape everyone else has to answer in.
Beat it or pass
Each player in turn either beats what is on the table with the same shape and size of play, or passes. Passing costs you nothing later β you are back in as soon as the table clears.
Everyone passes, the table clears
The cards are swept away face down, never counted or looked at again, and whoever played last leads the next round of play.
Players go out in order
The hand keeps going until everyone has emptied their hand, because the finishing order is what decides the titles and the tax for the next hand β not just who came first.
What you are allowed to play
| Shape | Example | Beaten by |
|---|---|---|
| Single | 9β₯ | a higher single |
| Pair | 9β₯ 9β | a higher pair |
| Three of a kind | 9β₯ 9β 9β¦ | a higher three |
| Four of a kind | 9β₯ 9β 9β¦ 9β£ | a higher four |
| Sequence | 5β 6β 7β | a higher sequence of the same length |
Sequences are three or more, in one suit
Consecutive ranks, all the same suit, at least three cards long. The run does not wrap around the top of the ranking, so the highest three-card sequence is K-A-2 and the lowest is 3-4-5.
The joker stands in, but does not upgrade
It can be any card inside a pair, a triple, a four or a sequence. A combination made with it is equal to the natural one, not better β so 5-5-joker does not beat 5-5-5, because an equal play never takes the table. On its own the joker is the highest single card in the pack.
House rules
Daifugo has no canonical ruleset β every group plays it differently, and that is the defining fact about the game rather than a detail. The host picks before the match starts, and the choices are locked for the whole match. Three are on by default.
Revolution β on by default
Play four of a kind and the entire ranking inverts: 2s become the worst cards and 3s the best. The flip is pending and only lands when the table next clears, which is exactly why a counter-revolution works β beat four Sevens with four Nines in the same round of play and the two cancel out before either takes effect. The joker is exempt and stays on top throughout.
Eight-cut β on by default
Any play containing an 8 clears the table immediately, without waiting for anyone to pass, and you lead again straight away. Keeping one back to escape a round you cannot win is a real part of the game.
Spade three β on by default
The 3 of spades β the worst card in the pack β is the one card that beats a lone joker. It is the game's joke about itself.
Two more, off by default
Suit lock ties the suits of a round of play once two plays in a row match them, which refuses a card for a reason that is genuinely hard to see on a phone. Forbidden finish drops you to last place if you go out on a 2 or the joker β it takes the moment you win and turns it into the moment you lose. Both are real rules that experienced tables use; neither is a good first impression.
The tax
Before the next hand begins, the player who finished last hands their best cards to the player who finished first. The cards that leave are not chosen β they are your highest, by whatever ranking is in force. The winner then chooses any cards at all to give back.
Five or six players: the pauper gives two cards to the millionaire, and the second-from-last gives one to the second.
Three or four players: just the one card, between last and first.
The asymmetry is the point, and it is the right way round: the player with no choice is the one who is winning. Taking the decision away from the loser as well would be cruel β they never had one.
Strategy tips
- π‘Count how many cards each player has left, not how good yours are. The player about to go out is the one to stop, whatever is in your hand.
- π‘Low cards are the problem, not the high ones. A hand of 3s and 4s cannot beat anything, which is why a revolution is worth starting when the rest of your hand is junk.
- π‘Hold an 8 for the round you cannot win. Cutting the table hands you the lead instead of leaving you to follow somebody else's shape.
- π‘Leading a pair or a triple is how you get rid of awkward cards. Everyone has to answer in that shape, and most of the table will not be able to.
- π‘Second place is worth a point. When first is out of reach, playing to finish second is worth more than playing not to finish last β except that last place costs you cards next hand.
- π‘As the millionaire, give back cards that are useless to you but not obviously terrible. You choose what goes back, and a pauper who gets two more 3s never recovers.
About Daifugo
Daifugo, sometimes written Daihinmin β great pauper β after the losing title rather than the winning one, is one of the most widely played card games in Japan. It belongs to the climbing family, along with the Chinese game Zheng Shangyou it descends from and the Western game Presidents, which is the same idea with American names.
The class system is not a scoring detail bolted onto a shedding game; it is the game. Winning a hand is worth less than it looks because the millionaire is a target the whole table can see, and losing one hurts for longer than a hand, because the pauper starts the next one two cards down. Japanese tables traditionally have players physically change seats to match their new rank. PlayTash keeps you in your chair β a seat number is an identity here β but the pauper leads the next hand, which is the part of the seating rule that affects play.
There is no canonical rulebook. The variations are the tradition, which is why the five house rules above are switches rather than decisions made for you.
The rules on this page follow pagat.com and Wikipedia. Where they disagree it is noted: pagat gives three to six players and Wikipedia allows up to eight, and PlayTash builds three to six because above that the deal gets thin enough that most hands are nothing but single cards. On the revolution, pagat has the flip land when the table next clears while Wikipedia has it take effect at once; pagat's reading is built, because it is the only one that makes a counter-revolution coherent.
Play Daifugo online for free, with three to six players, against friends or against bots.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the 3 the worst card and the 2 the best?
That is simply Daifugo's ranking: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A 2, low to high, with the joker above all of them. It reads strangely to anyone who has played a Western climbing game, and it is the fact the rest of the game is built on β including the revolution rule, which exists to turn it upside down.
What counts as a sequence?
Three or more cards in consecutive ranks and the same suit β 5, 6, 7 of hearts, for example. Two is not enough. The run also does not wrap around the top: the ranking stops at the 2, so the highest three-card run is K, A, 2 and the lowest is 3, 4, 5. A sequence is beaten only by a higher sequence of exactly the same length.
What does a revolution do, and when does it happen?
Play four of a kind and the entire ranking inverts β 2s become the worst cards in the pack and 3s the best. The joker is exempt and stays on top. The timing has a twist: the flip is pending and only lands when the table next clears, so if somebody beats your four Sevens with four Nines in the same round of play, the two cancel and nothing changes. That is the counter-revolution, and it only works because the first flip had not landed yet.
My joker combination lost to the same combination without one. Why?
Because a combination containing the joker is equal in rank to the natural one, not better, and an equal play never beats what is on the table. So 5-5-joker does not beat 5-5-5. The joker is enormously useful for making a combination you otherwise could not make at all β it just does not make it stronger than the real thing.
What is the eight-cut?
Any play containing an 8 clears the table immediately, without waiting for anyone to pass, and you lead again straight away. It is on by default. It is the fastest way out of a round of play you cannot win, and holding an 8 back for that purpose is a real part of the game.
What is the tax, and can I refuse to pay it?
No. Before the next hand the player who finished last hands their best cards to the player who finished first, and the cards that leave are chosen for you β your highest, by whatever ranking is in force. The winner then chooses any cards to give back, which is the asymmetry the game is about: the player with no choice is the one who is losing. With five or six players the pauper gives two cards and the second-last gives one; with three or four only the single exchange between last and first happens.
Which rules can the host change?
Five, and they are locked once the match starts, because changing what counts as a legal play between hands would rewrite the terms everyone sat down under. Revolution, the eight-cut and the spade three (the one card that beats a lone joker) are on by default β they are what most people mean by Daifugo. Two more are off by default: a suit lock, which refuses a card for a reason that is hard to see on a phone, and forbidden finish, which takes the moment you win and turns it into the moment you lose.
How many people can play?
Three to six. Two is a different game β with no third player to pass, the table clears every time your opponent declines, and the class system has nobody in the middle to be the commoner. Above six the deal gets thin enough that most hands are nothing but singles.