In Greece, there is a must-play card game among college students. Its package features a Chinese dragon, with cards categorized as Jade, Sword, Pagoda, and Star. The design alone makes people associate it with Chinese culture. However, if you ask your Chinese friends, 99% of them won’t recognize the game. So what is it?
It’s called Tichu, and it was invented by Swiss game designer Urs Hostettler, who once lived in Nanjing, China. It is generally played as a 2v2 card game, with each team competing for the right to play first by calling out “Tichu!” at the beginning of each round. Players then use combinations of cards to advance the game, while special combinations—such as bombs—can override previous plays.
Anyone with a deep knowledge of Chinese games might recognize the influence found in Tichu from several traditional Chinese card games. The name “Tichu” itself is a variation of “Di Zhu (地主).” Dou Di Zhu is a widely played three-player card game in China, best known for its landlord role and fast-paced competitive structure. Tichu also combines elements from other Chinese climbing-style card games, such as Zheng Shangyou (争上游), which are popular across China and vary by region. These games are popular enough to have televised tournaments on local TV programs.
Today, Tichu is especially popular in European countries, including Switzerland and Germany, but most of all, Greece. People gather for long game nights, gaining a small taste of Chinese culture through play. The collage-like cultural references are also visible in the card design. For example, while a standard Dou Di Zhu deck uses either 54 or 108 cards, Tichu includes four additional special cards—an example of one being called Mah Jong, clearly inspired by the Chinese tile game Mahjong.
No matter its origins, Tichu continues to conquer European youth with its aesthetics and addictive gameplay more than 35 years after its birth—turning a hybrid cultural product into a lasting social ritual.
Cover Image via Board Game Geek.
