Two peasants against one landlord, with three cards face up as the prize.
Fight the landlord — the most-played card game in China, and a three-player contest of two against one.
54 cards, including both jokers. Seventeen cards each, and three left face up in the middle.
Red joker highest, then black joker, then two, ace, king, queen, jack, ten, down to three. Suits do not matter at all.
Players bid in turn for the right to be the landlord, staking one, two or three points. The winner takes the three face-up cards into hand — everyone has seen them — and plays alone against the other two, who are peasants and play as a team.
Single. Pair. Triple, alone or with one extra card attached, or with a pair attached. Chain — five or more consecutive singles, threes up to ace. Twos and jokers are never in a chain. Pair chain — three or more consecutive pairs. Airplane — two or more consecutive triples, optionally with attachments. Four with two — four of a kind plus two single cards or two pairs.
Play the same type with more cards or higher rank, or pass.
Four of a kind is a bomb and beats any non-bomb combination. The two jokers together are a rocket and beat everything, including bombs. Each bomb or rocket played doubles the stake for the hand.
If the landlord empties their hand first, both peasants pay. If either peasant goes out first, both peasants win and the landlord pays twice.
The peasants are allowed to play cards purely to help each other out, and doing so well is the whole skill of the peasant side.