imma explain the rules by starting with basic concepts and then adding complexity, but if you'd rather just read the rules they're google-able
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Tichu is a team game for four players - you are partnered with the player across from you. It uses a regular deck of cards (but the suits are different) plus four additional special cards (more on those later). It's a trick-taking game where the main goal is to empty your hand before the other team.
There are different kinds of card combinations that can be played that are mostly, but not exactly, the same as poker hands: singles, pairs, triples, full house, straight (minimum 5), and consecutive pairs (e.g. 8899 or 2233445566). There's also four-of-a-kind and straight flush (minimum 5), which are a special kind of combination called bombs.
The basic sequence of play is:
1) Someone has the lead, and plays one of the above combinations.
2) The next player in turn order has the option to either play a higher combination of the same type and length, or pass.
* When you pass you are just passing for that one opportunity to play; the next time it is your turn again in that trick you still have the option to play
* Aces are high
* For full houses, the tripled card is the value of the full house
3) If it's your turn and you were the last person who played (i.e. everyone else passed), you take that trick and now have the lead. Back to step 1! (but you can choose a different combination)
* If a player is out of cards and would get the lead, the next player in turn order gets the lead
(An example: 2 is lead, 3, 7, pass, 10, pass, pass, Q, pass, pass, pass -> the player who played the Queen takes the trick and now has the lead. They lead 24567 (6 card straight), pass, pass, 456789, pass, 9 10 J Q K A, pass, pass, pass, 9-A takes the trick and has the lead. 333KK (full house 3s), pass, pass, pass. And so on.)
This continues until two players on the same team have both gone out (i.e. emptied their hand).
Bombs are special in that
1) They can be played on top of any non-bomb. Once a bomb is played, the trick type changes to "bomb", and only higher bombs can be played. Unlike other trick types, a longer (i.e. more cards) bomb is considered higher, and can be played on top of a shorter bomb. For example: 2222 < QQQQ < 45678 suited < 56789 suited < 234567 suited.
2) They can be played out of turn order. This leads to some weird gray area on paper, but they're usually not a problem in practice. The easiest way to think of it is that after each pass there is a "bomb window" where a bomb can be played.
ok, but how do you win? each hand each team will score some amount of points, and the first team to some point total (usually 500 or 1000) wins. ok, how do points work? a few things
1) Each hand starts with each player having 14 cards ((52 + 4)/4). At any time before you have played a card (i.e you still have 14 cards in your hand), you can call "Tichu" to wager 100 points that you will be the first player to go out. So if you call and go out first your team gets 100 points, if you call and do not go out first your team loses 100 points.
2) If you and your partner both go out before the other team (one-two, or one-two-ing), that's worth 200 points (and 0 to the other team), which is very good!
3) At the end of a hand that doesn't end in a one-two, certain cards are worth points. But if you're reading this to learn the rules my advice is: don't worry about the card points at all. Instead, pretend you are playing under Richard Garfield's simplified scoring system where instead of cards being worth points, going out first is worth 40, going out second or third is worth 30 points, and going out last is worth 0.
The way that card points actually work, if you really want to know:
ok, but what about the special cards?
The Mah Jong (also known as the 1) has a few properties
* The player with the 1 gets the first lead
* It's the lowest single. Can either be played as a single, or in a straight (e.g. 12345)
* When you play the 1, you may "wish" for any non-special card. Until the wish is fulfilled, if it is a player's turn and that player has a copy of the card that was wished for and has a legal play that includes that card, they must make a play that includes that card, at which point the wish is fulfilled. If the current player does not have a legal play that includes the wished for card they play normally.
The Dog can only be played with the lead. It immediately gives the lead to your partner.
The Dragon is the highest single. It can only be played as a single, but it beats any single, and no single can be played on it.
* When the Dragon wins a trick, you must give away that trick to an opposing player (this only matters for card points; you still get the lead)
The Phoenix is a wild card, and can be used to represent any non-special card. For example you could play a 23 Phoenix 567 straight, or a 22334 Phoenix 55 consecutive pairs.
* Cannot be included in a bomb
* Can be played on any single other than the Dragon, at which point is is valued at that card "and a half" (e.g. if played on a Queen then can be beaten by a King or higher, if played on an Ace can only be beaten by the Dragon). If led, valued at 1.5.
* Does not count as a copy of a card for the purposes of a wish, but you can still be forced to play it due to a wish. If on your turn 12345 is the last played combination with a wish for a 4 and you have 23 Phoenix 56 (and no 4) then you do not have to play, but if you have 234 Phoenix 6 (and no 5) then you are obligated to play.
only two more rules! both of them are about the beginning of a hand:
1) instead of just dealing 14 cards to everyone, each player is dealt a pile of 8 cards and then a pile of 6 cards. before you look at the pile of 6 cards you can call "Grand Tichu" - this is the same as regular Tichu, except it's for 200 points instead of 100.
2) before the hand begins, each player exchanges a card with each other player.
let me know if you have any questions or things you are confused about!
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you can play online here https://www.onlinetichu.com/
if people are interested then maybe we could play some time! either four of us or just two of us teaming against randos