Sumida River
Sumida River Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- 52 Playing Cards
- 12 Wild Cards
- 4 Meld Cards
The Hook
A shedding/climbing* game where players play different melds into the trick. It's a must-not-follow climbing/shedding game.
*See below for description of a Shedding/Climbing game.
Setup
Give each player 2 Black A cards and 2 Red A cards. A cards are wilds with regards to rank, not suit. More on A cards later. These are placed on the table in front of the player, so everyone can see them.
Place the 4 Meld cards onto the table in ascending order.
Shuffle and deal 13 cards per player. (At 3 players, the remaining 13 cards are left undealt.)
Gameplay Flow
Players will play a number of rounds equal to the number of players.
Each round has 2 phases: Trade Phase and Shedding Phase.
Trade Phase
After everyone looks at their hands and is ready, players will simultaneously declare whether they want to Trade their hand or Keep their hand. You may only call Trade if you have A cards on the table in front of you.
If a player says Keep, they hold onto their hand and are out for the rest of the Trade Phase.
If multiple players say Trade, all the Trade players will add an A from their A cards to their hand and pass the entire hand (including the newly added A) to the next player clockwise who also declared Trade. Players may choose to add any A they have in front of them (Black or Red).
If only 1 player said Trade, that player adds any number of As to their hand, but does not pass their hand after.
If any trading happened, players who traded may repeat the above steps over and over until either everyone declares Keep, or a single player declares Trade and follows the solo Trade player flow. The Trading Phase will then end.
Example:
Players 1, 2, and 3 all declare at the same time. Player 1 says "Keep" while Players 2 and 3 say "Trade." Players 2 and 3 will add an A card to their current hand, then trade each other their hands. After looking at their new hands, Players 2 and 3 will declare again at the same time. Players 2 and 3 say "Trade" again, so they each add another A card to their current hand and trade again. After looking at their hand again (their original hands with 2 A cards), Players 2 and 3 will declare again at the same time. Player 2 says "Keep" while Player 3 says "Trade." Since only one player said "Trade," this ends the Trade Phase after Player 3 adds any number of A cards to their hand.
Shedding Phase
Players will now try to shed out as fast as possible.
The start player to the first trick is whoever has the Red 3. Playing with 3 players, the Red 3 may not be dealt, in this case the start player is the player with the lowest score, or random if lowest is tied.
Sumida River's cardplay involves playing different melds to the trick, but once a player has played a certain meld to the trick, nobody can play that same meld until the trick ends.
Valid Melds
- Singles
- Black Pair
- Red Run of length 2
- Red Triple*
- Black Run of length 3*
- Black Four of a Kind*
- Red Run of length 4*
*Starred melds have special aspects, noted below.
The start player will place their card(s) to the section for the corresponding meld type.
After the start player plays, the following players must either pass or play higher or equal cards, but never of a used meld (one that has cards already on its section).
Note: when playing to the trick, the same rank is ok. The climbing of the game is in the same rank or higher, not the meld type. Players may play a single after a pair (and vice versa). But the Rank of the Single that follows the pair, but be higher than the pair. [Source text is garbled here; it reads as printed.]
When finding the rank to compare for a run, it is the lowest number of the run.
If a player passes, they may not play again until the trick is over (Hard Pass).
If all but one player passes, that remaining player discards all played cards and becomes the new start player. They then play any valid meld, as all are now allowed to play again. This new trick allows once blocked melds from the last trick, to now be available again.
Example:
Player 1 has the Red 3 and leads a Black 4 to the Single Black space. Player 2 passes. Player 3 plays a Pair of Black 5s to the Black Pair space. Player 1 plays a run of Red 6,5 to Red Sequence space. Player 2 is out for the trick and is skipped. Player 3 plays a Red 5 to the Single Red space. Player 1 passes. Player 3 wins the trick and clears all the cards.
Player 3 then leads a Pair of Black 4s. Player 1 plays a Red 10. Player 2 plays a Black 10. Player 3 passes. Player 1 passes. Player 2 wins the trick and clears all the cards.
Special Melds
- Red Triple and Black Run of length 3: These 2 melds are special in that they may include a card of the opposite colour, if desired.
- For example: You may play 3 of the same Red numbers or 3 of the same numbers, 2 Red and 1 Black.
- Or you may play a run of all 3 Black or 2 Black and 1 Red.
- Black Four of a Kind: After playing this meld, the player may end the trick immediately. The player who played here clears all the cards played.
- [Source text is truncated here: the printed line "the played cards and is the new start player." follows the sentence above with no clear antecedent. It is transcribed as printed.]
- Red Run of length 4: After playing this meld, the player may discard any card in their hand, if they have 2 or more cards remaining.
Example:
Player 2 leads a Pair of Black 6s. Player 3 plays a Red run of 9,8,7,6, and discards a Black 7, since they had more than 2 cards left in hand. Player 1 plays 4 Black 8s, but chooses not to end the trick early. Player 2 passes. Player 3 plays a Triple of Two Red 9s and One Black 9. Player 1 passes. Player 3 wins the trick and clears all the cards.
A Cards
Players may use any number of A cards when they play a meld.
An A card is ignored for the climbing purposes: A run with 10,9,A has the lowest rank of 9, so players playing after much play a 9 or higher, not an 8. [Source reads "much" where "must" is presumably meant; transcribed as printed.]
When the meld only has A card(s), the rank is treated as the lowest possible: a pair of As is a pair of 3s if a single 3 was played before. A lead of a solo A is a lead of 3.
A cards on the table are not available to use during the Shedding Phase.
Scoring
The above flow continues until any player sheds out, including A cards. When this happens, that player scores 1st place points, seen in the table below. The remaining players keep playing until all but one player remains. That player gets 0 points.
| Place | 4 Players | 3 Players |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 3 Points | 2 Points |
| 2nd | 2 Points | 1 Point |
| 3rd | 1 Point | 0 Points |
| 4th | 0 Points | — |
End of Round
Players play rounds per player, redealing the playing cards, but not the As. The played As get removed from the game and the As in front of the players hold over to the next round. [Source sentence reads "Players play rounds per player" as printed; the intended meaning is taken from Gameplay Flow above, where the number of rounds equals the number of players.]
End of Game
The player with the most points wins!
If tied, the tied player who has the fewest As left on the table in front of them wins.
If still tied, it is a shared victory!
What is a Shedding/Climbing Game?
A Shedding/Climbing game is a type of card game where players take turns playing melds, or combinations/sets of cards. The goal of Shedding games is to play out all of your cards first, or to shed out. The Climbing aspect refers to the cardplay, where players must play stronger or higher melds in order to play at all. The first player, or Start Player, will play a certain meld and the following players can either play a stronger set of cards or pass. Passing is declaring that the player is out until a new Start Player is determined. A new Start Player is determined when all but one player passes. That remaining player will start play again by playing any valid meld. Play continues until someone has shed out.