Daifugo (Tycoon)

How to play Daifugo

• Deal out the whole deck (52 cards plus Jokers) to 3 to 5 players. Take turns playing cards onto the table. The first player to empty their hand becomes the Tycoon, the next the Rich, and so on down to the Beggar.
• Card strength runs 3 < 4 < … < K < A < 2 < Joker. You must match the play on the table (a single, a set of 2 to 4 of a kind, or a run of 3 or more in one suit) with the same number of cards and a stronger rank. If you can’t or don’t want to, pass. When everyone else passes, the table clears and the last player to play leads again.
• From the second round, the Beggar gives their 2 best cards to the Tycoon (who gives back any 2), and the Poor and the Rich swap 1 card the same way.

How to play on this page

• You play against 3 computer players (3 to 5 players and the number of Jokers are in Settings). Choose Easy, Medium, Hard or Expert. Expert remembers the cards played and plans ahead.
• Press Friends to make a link and send it, and you can play with friends online, each on their own phone or computer (no sign-up, 3 to 5 players; the computer fills empty seats). Players, Jokers and house rules are those of the person who made the link, who presses Start once everyone is in.
• On your turn, tap the cards you want to play (tap again to unselect) and press Play. Cards that can’t be part of a legal play are dimmed. Select a Joker with other cards and it fills in as a pair or a run naturally. Press Pass to hold your cards; if you have no legal play, you pass automatically. Passing doesn’t stop you from playing on your next turn. Hint lights up a good play in blue.
• The Settings button (the one showing the number of players) turns each house rule on or off: 8-Stop, Revolution, Run revolution, Suit lock, Jack back, Spade 3, 5 Skip, 7 Give, 10 Discard, Tycoon falls and Banned finish. The most common ones (8-Stop, Revolution, Suit lock, Jack back, Spade 3, Tycoon falls) start on.
• Daily, in the heading, is a single round with the same deal for everyone, changing at midnight Japan time (Medium on weekdays, Hard on weekends, default rules). Go out first to clear it; if someone beats you, try the same deal again as often as you like. Following the hints will make you the Tycoon. Press Daily again to return to your game.
• Marks at the top left of the table show Revolution, Suit lock (with the suit) and Jack back. The top right shows the round and your total points.
• A game is 5 rounds. Each round scores by rank (with 4 players: Tycoon 3, Rich 2, Poor 1, Beggar 0) and the total decides the final standings. A random player leads round 1; from round 2 the last Beggar leads. In the card swap from round 2, if you are the Tycoon or the Rich, you choose the cards to give back.
• On a keyboard, Tab to your hand, use the arrow keys to move between cards, Space to select, Enter to play, P to pass and H for a hint. If you close the page, you can pick up where you left off.

Also known as

Daifugo (“grand millionaire”) is also called Daihinmin (“grand pauper”), and in English Tycoon, President or Scum. It is the Japanese version of the climbing game known as President: the same “beat the table or pass” play, but with its own set of house rules. This page uses the Japanese rules, so a Joker beats everything, the 8-Stop and Revolution are on by default, and cards are swapped between rounds. To get closer to the President you know, turn off house rules or play without Jokers in Settings.