Da Bai Fen (meaning 'contesting 100 points') is a trick taking card game for four players in fixed partnerships, with considerable depth and scope for skill. It is popular over a wide area of China. There is also an expanded version Zhao Pengyou (Looking for Friends) for six to twelve players with variable partnerships. Research Da Bai Fen
Looking for Friends is a Chinese trick taking card game for between six and twelve or more players and is an expanded version of the well known four player card game of Hundred (Da Bai Fen). Looking for Friends is played with multiple decks and has several extra features: at any time there are two teams but the partnerships are variable and unknown at the start of the play (hence the name of the game), and there are extra opportunities to play several cards at once to a trick. Looking for Friends is one of the most successful games for six or more people, and is almost the only trick-taking game of this size that works well.
Looking for Friends is played with two or more identical standard decks shuffled together. Six or seven players use two decks, between eight and eleven players use three decks, and twelve or more players use four decks of cards. Sufficient red and black jokers are included so that all the cards can be distributed equally to the players, with a 'kitty' of six cards left over. Research Looking for Friends
Zheng Fen ('competing for points') is an interesting hybrid card game between a climbing game and a point- trick game. The mechanics are like those of Zheng Shangyou or Big Two but the primary aim is to win points rather than necessarily to get rid of cards as quickly as possible. The point values of cards are the same as in the popular Chinese point-trick game Da Bai Fen (Hundred). From three to six people can play and a 54 card pack is used, consisting of the standard 52 cards plus two distinguishable jokers, big and small. Generally the red or colourful joker is agreed to be the big one. The object is to win valuable cards in tricks. The fives are worth 5 points each, and the tens and kings are worth 10 points each. All the other cards are worthless. There are therefore 100 points in total to be won on each hand. A target score for the game is agreed - generally 500 or (for a longer game) 1000. The winner is the first player whose score reaches or exceeds the target. Research Zheng Fen
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Da Bai Fen
