How to play
Open-Face Chinese Poker is a poker game with no betting. Instead of one hand, you build three: a top row of three cards, a middle row of five and a bottom row of five. Your cards are placed face up, one round at a time, and once a card is down it stays where you put it. This table plays the popular Pineapple version against one or two computer opponents.
- First round: five cards. Everyone gets five cards in turn and places all of them. Tap a card, then an empty space in a row. Tap a card you just placed to take it back, and press Set when you’re happy.
- Next four rounds: three cards. You get three cards, place two of them and the third is discarded face down. Only you see your discards.
- Order matters. Play starts left of the dealer button and the button moves each hand. Players later in the round see more of the other boards before they place.
- Keep the rows in order. Your bottom hand must be at least as strong as the middle, and the middle at least as strong as the top. If not, your hand is fouled: you lose every row and get no royalties. The top row only counts high cards, pairs and three of a kind; straights and flushes don’t count there.
When all boards have 13 cards, every hand is compared with every opponent’s, row by row.
Scoring, against each opponent:
- 1 point for each row you win (top against top, middle against middle, bottom against bottom).
- 3 more points if you win all three rows (a “scoop”, 6 points in total).
- Royalties: bonus points for strong hands, paid even when you lose that row:
- Bottom: straight 2, flush 4, full house 6, four of a kind 10, straight flush 15, royal flush 25.
- Middle: three of a kind 2, straight 4, flush 8, full house 12, four of a kind 20, straight flush 30, royal flush 50.
- Top: a pair of 6s 1, 7s 2, and so on up to aces 9; three of a kind from 10 (2s) up to 22 (aces).
- Fouling pays the opponent 6 points plus their royalties. If both hands foul, nothing changes hands.
Fantasyland. Finish a hand without fouling with queens or better on top and you go to Fantasyland: on the next hand you get 14 cards at once, place 13 and discard one. Your opponents don’t see your Fantasyland rows until the hand ends. You stay for another hand if you make three of a kind on top, a full house or better in the middle, or four of a kind or better on the bottom.
Credits. Each point is worth 10 credits, and you start with 1,000. Points only change your credits, never the opponents’; their running totals are shown next to their names. If a hand costs more than you have, your credits drop to zero and you can sit down at a new table with 1,000 free credits. Between hands you can leave and pick a table of 2 or 3 players. Your table is saved, so you can close the page and come back to the same hand.
Strategy
Don’t foul. A fouled hand loses 6 points or more to every opponent, which can wipe out several good hands. Early on, keep the bottom row strongest. Pairs and trips usually belong on the bottom or in the middle.
Use the top row carefully. A high pair on top is worth a lot: queens score 7 royalty points and send you to Fantasyland. But a big pair on top means your middle and bottom must beat it, so only reach for it when those rows are already strong or have plenty of room.
Draw with the bottom first. Flush and straight draws fit best on the bottom, where a made flush scores 4 and a miss can still beat a weak middle. Starting a flush in the middle is riskier: if it misses, the middle can end up weaker than the top.
Count the cards you can see. Every card on every board is open. If four of your suit are already out, your flush draw is weaker than it looks. Your own discards are dead cards too.
Watch the last round. With two cards to place, check which rows still have room and what each card does to the order of your rows before you press Set. The Suggest button shows how the computer would play your cards; it’s useful while you learn.
More poker. For classic betting poker against computer players, try Texas Hold’em or Short Deck Hold’em.
If you enjoy Open-Face Pineapple, try Over/Under 21 or Pachinko Rush next.
