Tichu
card game
Tichu is a proprietary card game primarily classified as a shedding game that includes elements of Bridge, Daihinmin, and Poker played between two teams of two players each. Teams work to accumulate points, and the first team to reach a predetermined score (usually 1,000 points) is the winner. Tichu is the trade name for what appears to be a variant of Dou di zhu, Choi Dai Di (Cantonese) or Da Lao Er (Mandarin), meaning "big two", combined with Zheng Fen ("Competing for Points"). It is also marketed as Tai Pan in Dutch. Tichu was invented by Urs Hostettler and originally released in 1991.
Rules
The following covers the basics. However, for more comprehensive rule sets, consult the links below.
Each player sits across from their teammate so that play alternates between the two teams. The game is traditionally run anticlockwise, but is frequently played clockwise.
The game is played with a deck of 56 cards, consisting of a 52-card deck of four suits (Jade, Sword, Pagoda, Star) plus four special cards (Mah Jong, Dog, Phoenix, Dragon).
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Tichu” is card game. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Tichu, card and game, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “card game” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q851937. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1991.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tichu”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tichu primary sources, Tichu archive and Tichu research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tichu”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tichu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.