Gong Zhu♠

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Chinese Hearts and the chosen rules

Gong Zhu, written 拱猪, is a Chinese trick-taking game often translated as Chase the Pig. Its pig is the queen of spades; the diamond jack is the sheep, and the club ten changes the value of captured scoring cards. The game belongs to the Hearts family but has its own scoring and exposure decisions. Chinese clubs, families and software use different conventions. This guide selects an individual, single-pack profile with counterclockwise play and optional public exposures before the opening lead. No exact inventor or creation date is established here; treating this social tradition as a single universal tournament code would be misleading.

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Players, ranks and first lead

Use 52 cards without jokers for 4 individuals. Shuffle and distribute the whole pack, 13 cards each, taking cards in turn counterclockwise from a face-down stack if following the traditional procedure. There is no stock, trump or card-passing phase. Ranks run high to low A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. After any agreed exposures, the holder of 2♠ leads the first deal; that card need not itself be led. On later deals, the previous captor of Q♠ leads first. Announce this starting convention because some other versions begin with a club.

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Playing and keeping scoring cards

The leader plays any permitted card, then each other player contributes a card counterclockwise. Follow the led suit whenever possible; when void, discard any suit. The highest card of the led suit wins all cards in the trick and leads next. You need not overtake. Hearts and spades may be led immediately: no heart-breaking rule applies. Only a previously exposed card can impose the special restriction described below. Keep captured hearts, Q♠, J♦ and 10♣ visible in front of their captor, including zero-value hearts; put ordinary captured cards aside face down. Nobody draws replacement cards. Resolve all tricks before scoring the deal.

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The complete score table

Before exposures, Q♠ is −100 and J♦ is +100. Hearts score: A −50, K −40, Q −30, J −20; each of 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 is −10; each of 4, 3, 2 is 0. These hearts total −200. Other ordinary cards score nothing. If 10♣ is your only scoring card, it gives +50. With any other scoring card it contributes no separate bonus: instead multiply the algebraic total of your other scoring cards by 2. Zero-value hearts still count as scoring cards, so 10♣ plus 3♥ gives 0, not +50. Apply the multiplier to your whole deal’s captures, not separately to each trick.

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Collecting all hearts

Capturing all 13 hearts changes their subtotal to +200 instead of −200. You need the low zero-value hearts too, but do not need Q♠ for this achievement. If the same player also captures Q♠, that pig becomes +100. J♦ remains an additional +100 for its captor in this profile. Thus all hearts with pig and sheep total +400 before the club multiplier; adding an unexposed 10♣ makes +800. This is not an automatic flat bonus. If another player holds the pig, it remains negative for that player. Do not import a variant that reverses everyone’s pig and sheep when somebody sweeps.

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Optional exposure before play

Before any lead, holders may publicly expose A♥, Q♠, J♦ or 10♣; showing them does not remove them from the hand. Exposed A♥ doubles all hearts, including a sweep to +400. Exposed Q♠ is −200, or +200 for its captor who also sweeps hearts. Exposed J♦ is +200. Exposed 10♣ multiplies by 4 instead of 2, or gives +100 when alone. Effects stack. An exposed card cannot be played on the first trick led in its own suit if its holder has another card of that suit. This includes leading the suit yourself. A singleton is exempt, and discarding it while void in another led suit is allowed. Later leads of its suit lift the restriction.

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A trick and three score checks

In the diagram A leads A♣, B follows 10♣, and C and D, both void in clubs, discard Q♠ and J♦. Assume these special cards were not exposed. A wins because only clubs compete for the trick. If those are A’s only scoring captures for the deal, the pig and sheep cancel: 2 × (−100 + 100) = 0. In a separate deal, 10♣ with Q♠ and 7♥ gives 2 × (−100 −10) = −220. If that ten and queen were both exposed, the same capture instead gives 4 × (−200 −10) = −840. Separately, 10♣ with only 3♥ is 0; the zero heart prevents the isolated-ten bonus.

← On a small screen, scroll the diagram horizontally. →

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Match result and useful habits

After each deal, check hearts for a sweep, apply exposure values, then apply the club multiplier or isolated-ten bonus. Add each signed result to that player’s running total. Continue until someone is at or below −1000 after a completed deal; that player loses. If several cross the limit together, our table agreement names the lowest total as loser, with a shared loss for equal lowest totals. Track which suits opponents lack and whether each exposed suit has already been led. Avoid collecting a multiplier with penalties unless a plausible heart sweep changes the calculation. Team play, different heart values, automatic exposures and fixed grand-slam awards require separate agreements.

Common questions