How to Play Tongits: Rules, Melds, Draw and Scoring

Tongits is a three-player rummy game from the Philippines, played with a standard 52-card deck and 12-card hands. On your turn you draw a card, lay down any sets and runs you want to show, and discard. A hand ends when someone calls Tongit by using all their cards, someone calls Draw and wins or loses the showdown, or the stock runs out and the lowest count of unmatched cards wins.

Tongits rules at a glance (November 2026)

How do you deal and start a game of Tongits?

Choose the first dealer at random. After that, the winner of each hand deals the next one. Deal one card at a time counterclockwise, starting with the dealer, until the dealer has 13 cards and the other two players have 12. The rest of the deck goes face down as the stock.

The dealer goes first and skips the draw, because that 13th card already counts as it. The dealer may lay down melds and then discards one card to start the discard pile. Play then passes to the right and continues counterclockwise.

What are sets and runs in Tongits?

A meld, which players also call a bahay, is a set or a run. A set is three or four cards of the same rank, such as three 7s. A run is three or more cards in a row in one suit, such as the 8, 9, 10 and J of hearts. A card can only belong to one meld at a time, so a 7 of hearts cannot count in a set of 7s and a heart run together.

Melds you keep in your hand do not count against you at the end. Only unmatched cards do, which is why the goal is to reduce the points in your unmatched cards as well as to build melds.

What do you do on your turn?

Every turn after the dealer's first has up to four steps, in this order:

1. Draw. Take the top card of the stock, or the top card of the discard pile. You can only take the discard if it makes a set or run with at least two cards from your hand, and you must lay that meld down straight away.
2. Lay down melds. This is optional if you drew from the stock. Your first meld on the table is what opens your hand.
3. Lay off, or sapaw. You may add cards to any meld already on the table, your own or another player's, even if your hand is not open yet.
4. Discard. Finish by putting one card face up on the discard pile.

If you hold four of a kind that you did not complete from the discard pile, you may lay it face down. That opens your hand without showing the cards and keeps the bonus for a secret set of four.

What does it mean to call Tongit?

Calling Tongit, also written Tong-its, means you have used every card, in melds or by laying off, and you win the hand at once. You can call it during or at the end of your turn, and you may either make a final discard or keep every card if your whole hand forms valid melds. Each loser then pays 3 chips instead of 1.

How does calling Draw work?

Calling Draw ends the hand in a showdown. You call it at the start of your turn, before you take a card, and only if your hand is open. You cannot call it if someone laid off on your melds since your last turn, or if you laid off on your own melds on your previous turn. That is why a sapaw on an opponent's meld is also a defensive move.

Each opponent then folds or challenges, and only an opponent with an open hand can challenge. A face-down set of four counts as open. If both fold, you win. If anyone challenges, compare unmatched points and the lowest total wins. A challenger wins any tie against the caller, and in a tie between two challengers the one to the caller's right wins. If neither opponent has opened, the caller wins automatically.

What happens when the stock runs out?

The hand ends after the player who took the last stock card finishes that turn. Anyone who has not opened loses automatically. The open players count their unmatched cards and the lowest total wins. If the player who took the last card is in the tie, that player wins it. If the other two tie below that player, the one whose turn would have been next wins.

What does sunog mean in Tongits?

Sunog means burned, and in Visayan it is paksiw. A player who ends the hand without having laid down a single meld is burned, which adds an extra penalty on top of the normal loss. Getting one meld down early protects you from it, and also lets you challenge a Draw.

How does scoring work in Tongits?

Each loser pays the winner points, usually counted in chips. A common table, from Pagat, looks like this:

Many tables also add 2 chips each to a side pot before every deal, and a player has to win two hands in a row, often called Two Hits, to take it. House rules differ from table to table and app to app, so agree on the payments first. Some tables pay 2 instead of 3 for the bigger wins, and some add a bonus for a run of five or more.

What are the basic Tongits tips for beginners?

• Get one meld on the table early, so you cannot be burned and you can challenge a Draw.
• Throw high unmatched cards first. A lone king costs 10 points in a showdown, and a lone ace costs 1.
• Watch the discard pile. It tells you which ranks and runs are already dead.
• Lay off on an opponent who looks ready to call Draw, because it blocks the call on their next turn.
• Challenge a Draw when your count is low, since you win all ties against the caller.

More card and table games to learn

The other big Filipino card games have their own pages: see how to play Pusoy and how to play Pusoy Dos. For something you can start right now in your browser, try our free Snakes and Ladders game, or read the blackjack rules.

Tongits rules: common questions

How many players does Tongits need?

Exactly three. The deal and the showdown rules are built around three hands, so it is not normally played with two or four.

How many cards does each player get in Tongits?

Twelve, and the dealer gets a thirteenth. The dealer starts by discarding instead of drawing, so all three hands settle at 12 cards.

Can you take a card from the discard pile to lay off?

No. A discard can only be taken to make a new set or run with at least two cards from your hand, and that meld must go on the table at once.

Is an ace high or low in Tongits?

Low. It counts 1 point, and A-2-3 is a run while A-K-Q is not.

Who wins a tie in Tongits?

After a Draw, a challenger beats the caller on a tie. When the stock runs out, the player who took the last card wins a tie they are part of.