Fan Tan
Fan Tan Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Players and Cards
A standard international 52-card pack is used. Within each suit, the cards rank A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2, ace high.
From 3 to around 8 people can play. 4 to 6 players is probably the best group size. Deal and play both proceed clockwise around the table.
The Deal
Any player may deal the first hand; after that, the turn to deal passes to the left after every hand.
The dealer shuffles thoroughly, and the player to the dealer's right may cut the pack. The dealer then deals out the entire pack, one card at a time, clockwise, starting with the player to the dealer's left.
Unless there are exactly four players, the deal will not divide evenly, so some players end up with one more card than others. This is not a real disadvantage: players with a larger hand simply get more chances to play early, and since the deal rotates around the table, everyone takes their turn holding the larger hand over time.
Play
As the game is played, cards are placed face up onto a shared layout in the middle of the table. The layout ultimately forms one row per suit, each row starting with that suit's seven in the middle, extending downward (6, 5, 4, 3, 2) to one side and upward (8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A) to the other.
The player to the dealer's left plays first, and turns proceed clockwise from there. On your turn, you must play a card to the layout if you are able to. The cards you may legally play are:
- Any seven. Playing a seven starts a brand-new row in the layout for that suit.
- Any card that continues an existing row. A card can be added if it is the next rank up or down, in the same suit, from a card already on the layout — for example, once the seven of a suit is down, that suit's six or eight may be played; once the six is down, the five may follow; and so on. Lower-ranking cards build to one side of the seven and higher-ranking cards build to the other.
If there is enough room on the table, players may spread the cards out so each suit's row eventually forms a neat line of up to 13 cards. In practice, a more compact layout — piling the higher cards onto the eight and the lower cards onto the six of each suit — is usually more convenient, as long as it stays clear which card currently caps each end of each row.
Passing
If, on your turn, you have no card that can legally be played to the layout, you must pass. Passing is sometimes signaled by knocking on the table.
You may not pass if you are holding any card that could legally be played — passing is only allowed when you genuinely have no playable card.
Winning
The first player to play every card from their hand wins the game immediately; play stops as soon as one player has emptied their hand.
Variations
These are optional house rules seen among different groups that play Fan Tan / Sevens. Unless a group agrees otherwise, the base rules above apply.
Betting Pool
Before the deal, every player contributes one chip to a shared pool. During play, any player who has to pass adds one more chip to the pool. When a player wins the hand, they take the entire pool, and in addition collect one chip from each opponent for every card still left in that opponent's hand.
Opening with the Seven of Diamonds
Instead of the player to the dealer's left playing first, whoever holds the seven of diamonds must play it as the very first card of the hand, and play continues clockwise from that player.
Ace Low
Some groups rank the ace as the lowest card in each suit (below the two) instead of the highest card (above the king). Under this variation, each suit's row builds from seven down through ace on the low side, and from eight up through king on the high side.
Domino (French Variant)
In France, an equivalent game is called Domino. Rather than always starting each suit's row with the seven, the first player to lay a card may choose any rank to open the layout, and every other suit's row must then also start with that same rank.