Tichu took much of its rules and mechanics from Zheng Fen. It is a partnership climbing card game, and the object of play is to rid yourself of your hand, preferably while scoring points in the process.

The deck is a standard 52-card pack with four special cards added: dog, phoenix, dragon and Mah Jong (1). When it's your turn, you may either beat the current top card combination — single card, pair of cards, sequence of pairs, full house, etc. — or pass. If play passes all the way back to the player who laid the top cards, they win the trick, clears the cards, and can lead the next one. The card led determines the only combination of cards that can be played on that trick, so if a single card is led, then only single cards are played; if a straight of seven cards is led, then only straights of seven cards can be played, etc.

The last player out in a round gives all the cards they won to the player who exited first, and the last player's unplayed cards are handed to the opposite team. Fives, tens and Kings are worth 5, 10 and 10 points, with each hand worth one hundred points without bonuses — but the bonuses are what drive the game. At the start of a round, each player can call "Tichu" prior to playing any card. This indicates that the player thinks they can empty their hand first this round; if they do so, their team scores 100 points, and if not, their team instead loses 100 points. Cards are dealt at the start of a round in a group of eight and a group of six; a player can call "Grand Tichu" after looking at only their first eight cards for a ±200 point bonus. If both players on a team exit a round prior to either player on the opposite team, then no points are scored for cards and the winning team earns 200 points (with Tichu/Grand Tichu bonuses and penalties being applied as normal).

The first team to 1,000 points wins.

The Dice Cup Shipping, Delivery & Collection Terms: 

We post to the UK only.  We also offer collection from the store.

We aim to post all orders received before 12 noon on the following day.

New releases will be shipped, at latest, one day after we have received them into our stock.

During the run up to Christmas and during other busy periods (including when we have a sale) there may be short delays in dispatching goods due to the volume of orders.

Games are sent by Royal Mail or DPD Local Courier for heavier orders.

All orders over 2 Kilos will be sent by DPD. DPD is a next working day delivery service (i.e. Monday to Friday). The charge is based on the rate for the weight of the games. We will confirm that the games have been shipped by email.

In most cases deliveries should arrive one working day after the order is placed (during the Christmas period deliveries may take longer to arrive). If there are postal strikes or severe weather these times can be significantly longer. We reserve the right to substitute one mail service for another if it is equivalent and will result in the games being delivered faster than by Royal Mail. Please note that all orders for large quantities of games will ship by courier.

The collection option is only available for those that are able to come to the store during our opening hours.

Please check Facebook for what these are as they will change as Covid restrictions change. Currently we are open AT LEAST from 11am-6pm each day. Please bring some ID as well as proof of purchase when picking up your games.

We reserve the right to change the method of shipment and there may be a surcharge if the actual delivery cost is great than the amount charged.