▶shirokuro jung rule
2-3 players / 15 min / Ages 8+
■omponents
- 30 Cards
- 2 Summary Card
*You will also need: Score tokens
■How to Read the Cards
Each card has a black number and a white number.
The number you can read from your point of view is the upright number. Only the upright number is valid. The upside-down number is ignored.
■Story
Two cats tumble, tussle, twist, and turn.
Over and under, they roll and return.
Land on your paws and win the cat fight!
■Overview
Arrange the cards in your hand to make Sets of the same number or Runs of consecutive numbers.
When your unmatched cards are low, Knock to end the round.
If your score is lower than the other players', you gain Victory Points.
The first player to reach 30 Victory Points wins the game.
■Setup
(1) Choose the Dealer
The player who most recently drank Japanese brown sugar shochu becomes the Dealer.
If no one has, choose by any method.
(2) Prepare the Hands
Starting with the player to the Dealer's left and proceeding clockwise, the Dealer deals 8 cards face down to each player. Place the remaining cards face down in the center of the table as the draw pile.
After the cards are dealt, each player picks up their hand. From now on, players may not rearrange the order of cards in their hand.
At this moment only, each player may rotate their entire hand 180 degrees, without changing the order of the cards. Once the game begins, players may not rotate their hand again.
(3) Reveal the Discard Pile
Reveal the top card of the draw pile and place it face up next to the draw pile as the discard pile.
The player to the Dealer's left becomes the Start Player.
■How to Play
(1) Draw a Card
The active player draws 1 card from either: the top of the draw pile, or the top of the discard pile.
(2) Add the Card to Your Hand
Insert the drawn card anywhere in your hand, in any orientation.
【Example】
Vodka draws a card with white 2 / black 5. In Vodka's hand, black 4 and black 6 are next to each other. Vodka inserts the card between them so that black 5 is upright.
(3) Discard a Card
Choose any card from your hand and place it face up on top of the discard pile. The card's orientation in the discard pile does not matter.
You may discard the card you drew this turn.
After you discard, the turn passes clockwise to the player on your left.
【Optional Action: Knock】
During your turn, after you draw a card and before the next player draws a card, you may declare a Knock. You may declare a Knock either before you discard or after you discard.
You may say "Knock" aloud, actually knock on the table, or say "Cat Punch" instead. When you Knock, the round ends immediately.
【When the Draw Pile runs out】
If a player draws the last card of the draw pile, that player finishes their turn. Then the round ends.
■End of the Round
(1) Count Scores
When any player Knocks, or when the draw pile runs out, all players reveal their hands and count their scores.
Cards that are part of a Meld score 0 points.
Unmatched cards score points equal to their upright number.
【Melds】
・Set
A Set is a group of 3 or more adjacent cards with the same color and the same number.
A Set may be a three-card, four-card, or five-card set.
If another card is between them, the Set is not valid.
・Run
A Run is a group of 3 or more adjacent cards with the same color and consecutive numbers.
The numbers may be in ascending or descending order.
If the numbers are not in order, or if another card is between them, the Run is not valid.
【Example】
Vodka's hand is: white 2 / white 2 / white 2 / white 1 / black 2 / black 3 / black 4 / black 1.
The white 2s form a Set, and black 2-3-4 forms a Run.
The unmatched cards are white 1 and black 1, so Vodka's score is 2.
(2) Gain Victory Points
各プレイヤーの点数を比較し、最も少ない点数のプレイヤーが、そのラウンドの勝者です。
Compare all players' scores. The player with the lowest score wins the round.
If the player who Knocked has 0 points, they complete Kokuto. They gain Victory Points equal to the difference between their score and the second-lowest score, plus a 5-point Kokuto bonus.
If the player who Knocked wins the round, they gain Victory Points equal to the difference between their score and the second-lowest score.
If a player who did not Knock wins the round, this is called an Underknock. That player gains Victory Points equal to the difference between their score and the Knocking player's score, plus a 5-point Underknock bonus.
If the scores are tied, Underknock does not occur.
【Example】
Vodka Knocks and the round ends. Vodka has 10 points, Vermouth has 5 points, and Tequila has 8 points. Vermouth has the lowest score, so Underknock occurs. The difference between Vodka and Vermouth is 5 points. Add the 5-point Underknock bonus, for a total of 10 Victory Points.
Vermouth gains 10 Victory Points. Vodka and Tequila gain no points.
If the draw pile runs out, the player with the lowest score gains 5 Victory Points. If multiple players are tied for the lowest score, all of them gain 5 Victory Points.
(3) End of the Game
When any player reaches 30 Victory Points, the game ends and that player wins.
If multiple players reach 30 Victory Points at the same time, the player among them with the highest total wins. If they are still tied, they share the victory.
(4) Next Round
If no player has reached 30 Victory Points, the Dealer position moves to the player on the left. Start again from "Setup (2) Prepare the Hands".
■About This Game
Gin Rummy is one of the great classic two-player card games, loved by players around the world as a game you can enjoy all night.
Kokuto Rum keeps the essence of Gin Rummy, but uses fewer cards and a shorter play time while aiming for the same kind of enjoyment.
The name Gin Rummy combines rum, a sugarcane spirit, with gin, a spirit loved in America.
For this game, we added the name of a sugarcane spirit born in Japan: Kokuto Shochu.
2-3 players / 15 min / Ages 8+
■Overview
In Shirokuro Jong, players arrange their cards to make a winning hand of 8 cards: two 3-card Mentsu and one 2-card Atama. Each Mentsu is either a Koutsu, 3 adjacent cards with the same color and the same number, or a Shuntsu, 3 adjacent cards with the same color and consecutive numbers. An Atama is 2 adjacent cards with the same color and the same number.
A player who forms all of their cards into two Mentsu and one Atama wins the round and gains Victory Points. Play 4 rounds with 2 players, or 6 rounds with 3 players. The player with the most Victory Points at the end wins the game.
■Setup
(1) Choose the Oya
The player who most recently saw a panda becomes the Oya(dealer).
If no one has, choose by any method.
(2) Prepare the Hands
Starting with themselves and proceeding counterclockwise, the Oya deals cards face down: Oya: 8 cards, Each player: 7 cards.
Place the remaining cards face down in the center as the draw pile.
After the cards are dealt, each player picks up their hand. From now on, players may not rearrange the order of cards in their hand.
At this moment only, each player may rotate their entire hand 180 degrees, without changing the order of the cards. Once the game begins, players may not rotate their hand again.
(3) Reveal the Dora
Reveal the top card of the draw pile and place it face up next to the draw pile as the Dora indicator. The white number and black number on this card are both Dora.
The Oya becomes the Start Player.
■How to Play
(1) Draw a Card
The active player draws 1 card from the top of the draw pile.
At the start of each round, the Oya already has 8 cards. On the Oya's first turn only, the Oya is treated as if they have already drawn 1 card.
(2) Add the Card to Your Hand
Insert the drawn card anywhere in your hand, in any orientation.
(3) Discard a Card
Choose any card from your hand and place it face up in front of you. The card's orientation does not matter.
You may discard the card you drew this turn.
After you discard, the turn passes counterclockwise to the player on your right.
【Optional Action: Tsumo】
During your turn, after drawing a card and before discarding, you may declare Tsumo. If you do, the round ends immediately.
【Optional Action: Ron】
After any player discards a card, and before the next player draws, you may declare Ron if you can win by inserting that discarded card anywhere in your hand, in any orientation. If you do, the round ends immediately.
【Optional Action: Pon】
After any player discards a card, and before the next player draws, you may declare Pon if you can combine that discarded card with 2 adjacent cards in your hand to make a Koutsu(Set).
If you declare Pon, place the discarded card and the 2 adjacent cards from your hand face up in front of you. You immediately become the active player. Skip "(1) Draw a Card" and "(2) Add the Card to Your Hand", and perform only "(3) Discard a Card".
【Optional Action: Chii】
Before drawing a card on your turn, you may declare Chii if you can combine the previous player's discard with 2 adjacent cards in your hand to make a Shuntsu(Run).
If you declare Chii, place the previous player's discard and the 2 adjacent cards from your hand face up in front of you. Skip "(1) Draw a Card" and "(2) Add the Card to Your Hand", and perform only "(3) Discard a Card".
【If Multiple Optional Actions Happen at the Same Time】
Resolve them in this priority order:Ron, Pon, Chii.
If 2 players declare Ron at the same time, both are valid. Each player scores separately.
【Exposed Cards from Pon and Chii】
Face-up cards you have exposed with Pon or Chii count as one completed combination for your winning hand.
■End of the Round
(1) Scoring
When a player declares Tsumo or Ron, that player reveals their hand and scores points.
Check the player's hand, together with any face-up exposed cards, for scoring patterns called Yaku. All Yaku that are completed score points. Yaku may overlap.
(2) End of the Game
With 2 players, the game ends after 4 rounds. With 3 players, the game ends after 6 rounds.
(3) Next Round
If the game has not ended, the player to the Oya's right becomes the next Oya. Start again from "Setup (2) Prepare the Hands".
【Drawn Round】
If no player wins before the draw pile runs out, the round ends.
A player gains 1 point if there is a specific card that would let them win by inserting it anywhere in their hand.
■Yaku
・1 point
- Oya
- Tsumo
- Dora: 1 point per Dora card
- Chin'itsu: all white or all black
- Tanyao: no 1s or 6s
- Toitoi: 2 Koutsu and 1 Toitsu
- Haitei: Tsumo with the last card drawn from the draw pile
- Houtei: Ron from the discard made by the player who drew the last card of the draw pile
・2 points
- Iipeikou: 2 Shuntsu of the same color
- Ikkitsuukan: same-color 123 Shuntsu and 456 Shuntsu
・4 points
- Two-Color Doujun: different-color Shuntsu
- Two-Color Doukou: different-color Koutsu
・8 points
- Suutoitsu: 4 Toitsu
・16 points
- Tenhou: the Oya wins by Tsumo on their first turn
- Chiihou: a player wins by Tsumo on their first turn
- Renhou: a player wins by Ron before their first turn
■FAQ
- Dora scores 1 point per card. If you have 2 upright Dora cards, you gain 2 points.
- Players do not pay points to each other. Whether you win by Tsumo or Ron, you simply gain points.
- Even if the Oya wins the round, the round is not repeated. In other words, there is no Renchan.
■About This Game
Mahjong is a game from China that resembles Rummy in several ways. Some researchers have suggested that the two games may share a common origin, though there are several theories.
As with Gin Rummy, we wondered whether the essence of Mahjong could be kept while using fewer cards and a shorter play time. The result is Shirokuro-Jan.
If all players are familiar with Mahjong, you may also try the following advanced options: require 2 Yaku to win, pay points between players, and allow Renchan. These variants can create a more intense game.
- Suutoitsu is a special yaku made of four Toitsu. A Toitsu is a 2-card pair: 2 adjacent cards with the same color and the same number. When you score Suutoitsu, your winning hand does not need to be the normal shape of two Mentsu and one Atama. Instead, it wins as four Toitsu.
If you have any questions regarding the rules, please feel free to contact us via the Contact form.
