Judan (ジュウダン) is a two-player Mekuri variant from the city of Echizen in Fukui Prefecture in Japan.
It is traditionally played using Komatsu, a mekurifuda deck.
The game does not use card points, so players focus on obtaining as many yaku as possible to earn points.
¶ The Cards
48 cards of a Komatsu deck is used. Remove the extra “onifuda/bakefuda” from the deck.
¶ Card Names
Clubs - “Ao”
Swords - “Aka”
Cups - “Chan”
Coins - “Don”
¶ Game Setup
¶ Choosing the Dealer and Seating Position
There is no attested method for choosing the dealer, so you may use whichever method suits you.
¶ Dealing the Initial Cards
7 cards are dealt to each player, and 6 cards face-up to the table. The remainder of the deck is placed face-down to form the draw pile.
What happens if 4 cards of the same number/court are dealt to the table has not been attested - usually a misdeal is declared (since these 4 cards are impossible to capture); In this case, the cards are thrown in, shuffled again, and re-dealt. Other rules should probably be agreed upon as a house rule.
Whether or not 4 cards of the same number/court in a player’s hand constitutes as a misdeal has not been attested - the specific answer to this question should probably be agreed upon as a house rule.
¶ Gameplay
The core gameplay is identical to Hana-awase, except that instead of matching flowers, numbers/courts are being matched instead.
The round ends when all players run out of cards in hand. All remaining cards in the draw pile and on the field are considered dead cards and will not be used in scoring.
If the round ends without any player forming a yaku, then the round is considered a draw.
How to deal with a draw situation was not attested. This may be agreed upon by players via a house rule.
¶ Scoring
All points in the game will come from Dekiyaku.
Each player’s yaku points are counted and subtracted by their opponent’s yaku points to get the settlement score.
Settlement score = Player's yaku points - Opponent's yaku points
Negative score means you lose those points; Positive score means you win those points.
The player who earned more points in that round becomes the dealer for the next round.
¶ Dekiyaku
All yaku in this list STACK.
| Points | Card 1 | Card 2 | Card 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Club Dragon | Club 2 | Club 3 |
| 1 | Club 4 | Club 5 | Club 6 |
| 5 | Club 7 | Club 8 | Club 9 |
| 5 | Club Maid | Club Horse | Club King |
| 2 | Sword Dragon | Sword 2 | Sword 3 |
| 2 | Sword 4 | Sword 5 | Sword 6 |
| 10 | Sword 7 | Sword 8 | Sword 9 |
| 10 | Sword Maid | Sword Horse | Sword King |
Yaku consisting of the higher numbers/courts tend to score higher than those with lower numbers. Also, the Swords suit is twice more valuable than the Clubs suit.
Since only Clubs and Swords can form yaku, the Cups and Coins suits are considered worthless and are only used for matching the desired cards.
¶ Bibliography
- Yamaguchi Taihiko, “Saigo no Yomikaruta”