Tai Chi Chuan Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Material
• Aim of the Game
• Game Preparation
• The Game
  • One Turn
  • 1. The Player Whose Turn It Is Does Not Find a Valid Word
  • 2. The Player Whose Turn It Is Has Decided to Stop Playing
• End of the Game
• Accepted Words
• Double Letters

Material

45 cards with:

• one or two letters;
• and a parasol, yin yang or Lotus symbol
• 5 rules of the game cards

Aim of the Game

The player with the most cards at the end of the game is declared the winner.

Game Preparation

Shuffle the 45 cards.

Deal one card to each player, which he will place face down in front of him, and then form a pile with the rest of the cards, to be placed face down in the middle of the table.

The Game

One Turn

The player whose turn it is turns over the top card on the deck. He must then suggest a word beginning with the letter on the card.

This letter must be the first letter of all the words suggested during this turn.

If the player decides to continue, he turns over the next card from the top of the deck and places it face up next to the previous card, and says a word which:

• begins with the first letter of the first card turned over
• also contains the letter of the second card turned over.

If the word given is invalid (word does not exist, incorrect spelling, or does not meet the criteria), the player can suggest another word.

As long as he finds correct words, the player can choose to either:

• Stop (in which case he faces a challenge, explained later)
• Or keep playing.

If he keeps playing, he turns over a new card from the pile each time and must find a word containing all the letters on the cards turned over so far. The first letter of the word must be the letter that was taken from the top of the pile first; however, the player can choose the order in which the other letters occur in the word he announces.

Warning:

1. Two words from the same family are not allowed during the same turn.
2. If the same letter appears on several cards taken from the pile, it must be used in the word as many times as it is present.

Example:

• First letter selected: S. Word announced: SOUTH
• Second letter selected: T. Word announced: SITE
• Third letter selected: A. Word announced: SATELLITE
• Fourth letter selected: A. Word announced: SATISFACTORY

The player's turn can end when:

• The player does not find a word after a reasonable length of time.
• He himself decides to stop.

1. The Player Whose Turn It Is Does Not Find a Valid Word

Going in a clockwise direction, the other players can each try to suggest a valid word. All the players who succeed in doing so win one of the cards from the ones visible, which they put face down in front of them. Any remaining cards in the centre of the table are discarded. If there are not enough cards for all the players who gave a valid word, the players take a card in turn until there are no more cards left.

The player on the left of the player who just played takes over and begins a new turn.

2. The Player Whose Turn It Is Has Decided to Stop Playing

(because he believes that by turning another card over he would not be able to provide a valid word)

In this case the other players can decide to challenge him. Each player in a clockwise direction indicates whether he wishes to take part in the challenge or not.

If no one wants to challenge, the player completes his turn by taking the card containing the commonest letter from the cards turned over. The symbol will have no bearing on the final score; only the number of cards won will count. The player places the cards he has won in front of him in a pile face down. The remaining cards are discarded and placed face up next to the main deck.

Each player wishing to take part in the challenge must "bet" by placing the last card he won face down. Initially the players only have one face down card in front of them; any player who does not have any cards in front of him cannot take part in the challenge. The player who is challenged participates automatically in the challenge without betting a card.

When all the players have stated their intention whether or not to take part in the challenge, the player whose turn it is turns over the top card on the pile. All those taking part must suggest a valid word; the quickest will win the challenge.

• If the player whose turn it was wins the challenge, he wins all the cards with the same symbol from the cards which are face up. The remaining cards are discarded. If nobody finds an acceptable word in the time allotted (to be determined by the other players), then the challenged player wins by forfeit.

• If another player wins the challenge, he keeps the card that he bet and collects all the other ones with the same symbol from the ones face up. In this case, the challenged player (as a consolation prize) wins all the other cards representing the same symbol. Any remaining cards will be discarded.

All the players who bet a card and lost must discard it.

In any case (challenge or not), the player's turn is over. The player to his left begins the next set by turning over a new card on top of the pile.

End of the Game

When the pile in the centre is empty for the first time, the discarded cards are shuffled face down to make a new pile.

When the last card of this new deck has been turned over:

• Either the player whose turn it is manages to suggest an acceptable word with the visible cards: he collects all the cards with the same symbol for the last time, and the remaining cards are permanently discarded. So no challenge can take place in this last turn of the game.

• Or the player whose turn it is does not manage to suggest an acceptable word: one last round of the table is made, and all the players having offered an authorized word collect a card in the playing order as far as possible.

The game is over. The winner is the player who has the most cards in front of him (irrespective of the symbols on them).

Accepted Words

The only words accepted are those which are main entries in a reference dictionary (N.B. plurals and conjugated verbs are not accepted). Proper nouns are not accepted. In a game with young players or novices, the players can decide to accept conjugated verbs and proper nouns.

Double Letters

Certain cards have two letters instead of one. The player can choose which letter to use, and can even change from one letter to the other for words in the same turn.

For example:

• First letter selected: M. Word announced: MAN
• Second letter selected: W/X. Word announced: MIXER
• Third letter selected: N. Word announced: RIDEN