Marriage

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Melds
3. The tiplu and the wild cards
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. Seeing the tiplu
7. Ending the deal
8. Scoring
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Marriage is the great rummy game of Nepal, played above all during the festivals of Dashain and Tihar. It uses three decks and gives everyone 21 cards. First you must lay down three pure melds – that earns you a look at the secret tiplu, the card that decides which cards are wild. Then you try to fit your other cards into melds too, using those wild cards. Whoever does it first ends the deal – but the big points are in the maal, valuable wild cards in your hand.

• Players: 2–5, each playing for themselves.
• You need: three standard 52-card decks without jokers (156 cards), shuffled together, and paper and pen.

Melds

In Marriage every meld has exactly three cards. With three decks there are three copies of every card.

• Pure sequence: three cards of the same suit in a row, e.g. 3♠ 4♠ 5♠. The Ace can be low (A 2 3) or high (Q K A), but not in the middle (K A 2 is not a sequence).
• Tunnela: three identical cards – same rank and same suit, e.g. 6♥ 6♥ 6♥.
• Triplet: three cards of the same rank in three different suits, e.g. K♠ K♥ K♦. 9♠ 9♠ 9♣ is not a triplet.
• Dirty sequence / dirty triplet: a sequence or triplet in which a wild card stands in for a missing card, e.g. 7♥ 8♥ + wild. Any two wild cards plus any third card also form a meld.

Sequences and tunnelas without wild cards are pure melds. A wild card can never help make a tunnela, and two identical cards plus a wild card (5♦ 5♦ + wild) is not a meld at all.

A dublee is a pair of identical cards, e.g. 9♣ 9♣. Dublees are a second way to play – see below.

The tiplu and the wild cards

Nobody knows the wild cards at the start. During play, one card is chosen at random and hidden under the stock: the tiplu. Only players who have laid down three pure melds may look at it. It makes these cards wild – they can stand in for any card in a dirty meld:

• the other tiplus: the other copies of the same card (only two are in play; the third lies under the stock);
• the poplus: the three cards one rank above the tiplu in its suit;
• the jhiplus: the three cards one rank below the tiplu in its suit;
• the ordinary jokers: the nine cards of the tiplu's rank in the other three suits.

For this, the Ace counts above the King and the 2 above the Ace. Tiplu, poplu and jhiplu are the maal – the cards that score points. One jhiplu, one tiplu and one poplu together are a marriage, the most valuable combination in the game.

Example: the tiplu is the J♣. The two other J♣ are tiplus, the three Q♣ are poplus, the three 10♣ jhiplus, and all nine J♦, J♥ and J♠ ordinary jokers. 10♣ J♣ Q♣ is a marriage.

Setup

1. Choose the first dealer at random. After each deal the player on the left deals next. Play goes clockwise.
2. The dealer shuffles all 156 cards and deals 21 cards to each player.
3. The next card is turned face up to start the discard pile. The rest go face down as the stock (draw pile).
4. Tunnela at the start: a player dealt a tunnela may lay it face up on the table straight away. Only a tunnela shown now can score points at the end.

Playing a turn

The player on the dealer's left begins. On your turn:

1. Draw one card: the top card of the stock, or the top card of the discard pile. (On the very first turn, that is the card the dealer turned up.) Spread the discard pile so everyone can see what has gone, but only its top card may be taken.
2. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile. You may not throw away the card you just took from it.

Melds stay hidden in your hand – except for the tunnelas shown at the start, the three pure melds that let you see the tiplu, and your final melds when you end the deal.

Seeing the tiplu

Your first goal is three pure melds: pure sequences or tunnelas, in any mix. When, after drawing, you have them, lay them face up on the table before you discard.

• If you are the first to do so, take a card at random from the middle of the stock, look at it without showing it, and put it face down under the stock. This is the tiplu.
• If someone already chose it, you may now look at the tiplu under the stock.

From now on you know the wild cards and may use them. One restriction: once you have seen the tiplu, you may not take a wild card from the discard pile – draw from the stock instead.

Dublees: instead of three pure melds you can collect seven dublees (pairs of identical cards). Lay them down to see the tiplu. Wild cards never help make a dublee. After seeing, a dublee player may take a card from the discard pile only if it completes the eighth dublee.

Ending the deal

The deal ends when a player who has seen the tiplu can, after drawing, show:

• the three pure melds, plus four more melds (dirty or pure), and discard the last card – 22 cards in all; or
• eight dublees, and discard – the five other cards don't matter.

You may do everything in one turn: draw, show three pure melds, look at the tiplu, find that the wild cards complete your hand, and end.

If the stock runs out, shuffle the discard pile except its top card and lay it face down on top of the tiplu as the new stock.

Scoring

First every player counts their maal points – for the maal in their hand and on the table, and for tunnelas shown at the start (these count only if the player has seen the tiplu). Each card counts in only one line:

Example: tiplu J♣. Ben holds 10♣ J♣ Q♣ and one more Q♣: a marriage (10) plus one poplu (2) = 12 points.

Then the players settle up. Nobody gets points "for free": every point one player wins, others lose.

1. Maal: every two players compare maal points; the one with fewer pays the other the difference. Quick way: with n players and a total of T maal points, your result is n × your points − T.
2. Ending the deal: every other player pays the winner 3 points if they have seen the tiplu, or 10 points if they haven't. After a win with eight dublees, everyone pays the winner 5 more.

Example: four players, Anna ends. Maal: Anna 5, Ben 2, Carla 10, Dan 3 – total 20. Maal results: Anna 4 × 5 − 20 = 0, Ben −12, Carla +20, Dan −8. Ben and Carla have seen the tiplu and pay Anna 3 each; Dan hasn't and pays 10. Final: Anna +16, Ben −15, Carla +17, Dan −18. Carla gains more than the winner – that's Marriage.

Winning the game

There is no fixed end. Agree on a number of deals, e.g. until everyone has dealt twice. The highest total wins.

Tips for beginners

• Go for pure sequences first. With three copies of every card they are easier to find than tunnelas.
• Keep an eye on the discard pile before you see the tiplu: you might be throwing away maal without knowing it.
• See the tiplu early. Until you do, you can't use wild cards, and ending the deal costs you 10 instead of 3.
• Hold on to maal. A marriage is worth 10 points even if another player ends the deal.
• Dublees are a good plan when you are dealt many pairs of identical cards.

Variants

Rules vary a lot between families and apps. Agree on them beforehand.

• Anticlockwise: according to Wikipedia, many play to the right; the deal then passes to the right too.
• Printed jokers: add jokers (the Bhoos app uses three). They are wild, and some count them as maal worth 5 points.
• Alter cards: the cards of the tiplu's rank in the other suit of the same colour are extra maal (5 points each at some tables).
• Murder: players who haven't seen the tiplu score no maal points.
• Kidnap: the winner also collects the maal points of every player who hasn't seen the tiplu.
• Open joker: anyone may look at the tiplu, but wild cards may still only be used after showing three pure melds.