Chu Han is a card game for two people. You play many rounds. You win a round by playing all your cards before the other player. You get points based on how many cards your opponent has left. There are other ways to get points too. The game stops when someone gets more than 31 points.
Cards go from 1 to 9. There are nine 1’s, eight 2’s, seven 3’s and so on up to just one 9. There is also a single 0. There are no suits in this game. When you play cards, you play either single cards or multiple cards with the same number. There are no straights or full houses or any other special combinations. Smaller numbers might seem weaker, but it’s easier to make bigger sets with them. For the higher numbers you can’t make bigger sets because there aren’t that many cards in the game.
So far, nothing too strange yet. What makes the game fun is the special abilities of some cards. Every 3 and 6 has a special power. The 0 is a wild card and can be any number you want. If you manage to play six 2’s you immediately get 6 points, which is a lot. The 0 (wild card) can help you with this because it can be your sixth 2 when you only have five.
Every round after cards are dealt, there are still some left in the deck. You will have some idea which cards your opponent might have, but not exactly. This is something you have to think about. There are 46 cards in the game, and each player gets 15, leaving 16 in the draw pile. If you don’t have a card, there is about half a chance that your opponent has it. You can draw two cards on your turn by taking a writ. There are two risks. You might draw bad cards which make it harder instead of easier to get rid of your cards. Also if your opponent wins the round, he gets extra points based on the writs you have taken.
The 3’s and 6’s have many different powers. One 6 can be played to specifically beat the single 9. So your 9 is not always the best card. Another 6 lets you not respond, making your opponent play the next set to beat his own set. Using this power sometimes lets you win the hand because your opponent can’t respond. There is a 3 which lets you play a set of different numbers, and they are treated as the smallest number in the set. This can let you play many cards at one time, taking your opponent by surprise. It can even help you play a set of six 2’s and get the bonus. There is a card which cancels the power of another card just played. And then there is a card which cancels this cancel power.
You can look at the discard pile, so the game becomes quite strategic. Based on how your opponent has been playing, you can make good guesses at which cards he might have left.
This above was one interesting situation. I played against Han. I had only one card left. He played a 9, the highest card in the game. Normally only one card can beat that, the 6 named Liu Bang. However my last card was Xiang Yu (also a 6). Xiang Yu’s power was to double the victory points for the rest of the hand while passing. Technically I lost this hand, because I passed, but I had played my last card, which meant I won the round. The different interactions of the card powers create interesting situations like this.
Chu Han certainly gives you the shedding game experience. You have to start making a plan to get rid of all your cards right from the beginning. Or if your cards are really bad, maybe you can only plan for losing as few points as possible. The game is not about playing as many cards as possible right away. You might feel a lot of pressure if your opponent plays many cards early in the round. However your main goal is to get rid of all your cards. You don’t necessarily have to rush. It is very much possible to come from behind, if you are able to keep playing sets that your opponent can’t beat. Based on how your opponent plays, you get hints about what kind of cards he might have.
The special powers of the cards make this game special. It is not just the card distribution and the basic rules. The game becomes more fun after you learn about the special cards. You start thinking about counter moves, and how to beat those counter moves. You can better guess what your opponent will do. I find Chu Han exciting and clever.
Chu Han was designed by Tom Lehmann. His Race for the Galaxy is one of my favorite games, a game I have played more than 2200 times. Chu Han is published by Matagot, and so is my game Dancing Queen. It’s exciting for me to know that I
