Zheng Shangyou is a card game I’ll never be able to pronounce properly. I first learned how to play the game earlier this month with a couple of friends and a lot of bubble tea.
The goal of the game is to be the first person to get rid of all the cards at hand. When I thought about, I realized that there are actually a large number of card games that have that as their objective. At first, I assumed it was a different version of BS. Once we started playing the game, I learned that this was primarily true aside from a few interesting twists.
The deck gets divided among the players, and each player is allowed to look at their hand. Similar to BS, one can strategically plan out their cards with the turns of the game. In contrast, Zheng Shangyou does not necessarily have a certain order to it. Each player has an opportunity to lose cards when it is their turn; however, the game is not strictly restricted to straights. This means that a player can start a trend of doubles as opposed to only numbers in a row. The trend circles through players until no one can play any more cards to follow it. The player who finished the trend gains the ability to start a new trend. This continues until cards run out.
Regardless if one person has gotten rid of all their cards, everyone else must continue the game until it is down to the last two people. The first few games resulted in me coming in last place every time. Over and over again I was rewarded with the loser title, but there was one actual perk that came with this. The person who comes in last place gets to start the next game.
Starting a game is quite vital especially if used to one’s advantage. One can control the entire game if they have it thoroughly planned out. Since it was my first try at the game, I understandably did not have anything thought out. I carelessly threw cards in the center and hoped for the best. This was not too bad because it only meant I started the next games too.
After watching experiencing defeat again and again, I picked up on a few strategies. I watched my friends hesitate to play in certain scenarios and strike down cards on the table with complete confidence in others; these actions only furthered my enlightenment regarding Zheng Shangyou.
After a long period of losing, my enthusiasm for the game began to falter. It was not as fun seeing close to zero progress being made on my part. On top of that, I was playing against people who have played the game thousands of times before. I did stick with it though, and eventually, I turned things around. The feeling afterward was quite worth it.
Thanks for reading me learn yet another fun card game! Would you ever want to try this game? I highly recommend Zheng Shangyou; it gets easier unlike its pronunciation and bubble tea always makes everything better:) Let me know in the comments and leave any other card game suggestions as well!:)
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