Panguingue

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Melds
4. Conditions
5. Setup
6. Staying in or dropping out
7. Playing a turn
8. Going out
9. Penalties
10. Winning the game
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Panguingue – "Pan" for short – is an old American gambling game of the rummy family, played with a huge pack of eight decks. You lay out your cards face up in front of you in groups called melds. Some melds, called conditions, earn you chips from every other player the moment you put them down. The first player to have eleven cards melded wins the hand and collects again. There is no final score: each hand is settled in chips at once.

• Players: 2–8 (at some tables even more); best with 6–8.
• You need: eight standard 52-card decks with all 8s, 9s, 10s and jokers removed – 320 cards, shuffled together – and chips or counters for paying.

Everyone plays for themselves.

The cards

Each of the eight packs has 40 cards: A 2 3 4 5 6 7 J Q K in every suit. The order is K Q J 7 6 5 4 3 2 A (Ace low). Because the 8s, 9s and 10s are missing, the 7 and the Jack are next to each other.

The 3s, 5s and 7s are special: they are called valle cards ("valley"). All other ranks are non-valle cards.

Melds

A meld is a group of at least three cards that you lay face up in front of you. There are two kinds:

• Set (also spread): three or more cards of the same rank, either all of the same suit or all of different suits. Two cards of one suit and one of another is not allowed: 6♥ 6♥ 6♥ and 6♥ 6♣ 6♠ are sets, 6♥ 6♥ 6♣ is not. Exception: Aces and Kings may be mixed any way you like (A♥ A♥ A♦ is fine).
• Sequence (also rope): three or more cards of the same suit in a row, e.g. 5♣ 6♣ 7♣ or 6♦ 7♦ J♦. The Ace is only low (A-2-3); K-A-2 is not a sequence.

You only ever meld in front of yourself and only add to your own melds:

• a same-suit set grows only with cards of that rank and suit;
• a mixed-suit set grows with cards of that rank in any suit;
• a sequence grows with the next card at either end in its suit.

Conditions

Certain melds are conditions. When you lay one down, every other player still in the hand pays you at once:

"(spades)" means the condition pays double if it is all spades. Every card you later add to a condition pays you its value again.

Example: Anna lays down 5♠ 5♠ 5♠. That is a same-suit valle set in spades: every other player pays her 4 chips. Later she adds another 5♠ – everyone pays her 4 more.

Ask for your chips before you discard – if you don't, the others don't have to pay.

Setup

1. Everyone draws a card; the lowest card deals first.
2. Play and dealing go to the right (anticlockwise). The player to the dealer's right plays first.
3. The dealer deals each player ten cards, two at a time.
4. The rest of the cards form the face-down stock (draw pile). Turn the top card face up next to it to start the discard pile.

Staying in or dropping out

Before the first turn, each player in turn (starting at the dealer's right) says whether they will play the hand. A player who drops out pays a forfeit of 2 chips – the "tops" – which go to the winner of the hand. They take no further part: they neither pay nor collect for conditions.

Playing a turn

On your turn:

1. Draw one card: the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. - A card from the discard pile must be melded at once. - A card from the stock must be melded or discarded: if you don't meld it, it is your discard for this turn. - Either way, the drawn card never goes into your hand.
2. Meld (optional): lay down new melds from your hand and add cards to your melds.
3. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile (the drawn card, if you didn't meld it).

After every turn, your hand and your melds together hold ten cards.

Borrowing

A meld of four or more cards may be split up or give up cards to form a new meld, as long as every meld left on the table is still valid. If this creates a new condition, you collect for it as usual.

Example: Ben has 4♦ 5♦ 6♦ 7♦ on the table and draws 7♥. He holds 7♣ in his hand. He takes the 7♦ from his sequence and melds 7♦ 7♥ 7♣ – a mixed valle set, so everyone pays him 1 chip. 4♦ 5♦ 6♦ is still a valid sequence.

Forcing

If the top card of the discard pile fits onto one of your melds, any other player may demand that you take it as your draw and add it to your meld. You then have to discard, even if that spoils your hand.

If the stock runs out, leave the top card of the discard pile face up, shuffle the rest and use it as a new stock.

Going out

The first player with eleven cards melded wins the hand. Since you only have ten, you need the drawn card as the eleventh: once all ten of your cards are down, you keep drawing and discarding (with an empty hand) until you draw a card you can add to your melds.

The winner collects from every player who stayed in:

• 1 chip for winning, plus
• the value of all conditions they melded during the hand, once more.

They also get the tops (the forfeits of those who dropped out). The winner plays first in the next hand; the player to their left deals.

Example: Six play; Emil drops out and pays 2 chips. Anna goes out with two conditions on the table: 5♠ 5♠ 5♠ (4 chips from each player already collected during play) and J♥ Q♥ K♥ (1 already collected). At the end, Ben, Carla, Dan and Eva each pay her 1 + 4 + 1 = 6 chips, and she collects Emil's 2.

Penalties

• Wrong number of cards before your first draw: throw in your hand and take a new one from the stock. After your first draw: you drop out of the hand, pay back what you have collected and keep paying the others.
• Invalid meld: fix it when asked; if you can't, return what you collected for it. If it is only noticed after your discard, you drop out as above.
• If the next player has ten cards down and you avoidably discard a card they can add to their melds, you pay everyone's losses for the hand.

Winning the game

Play as many hands as you like; the player with the most chips at the end is the winner.

Tips for beginners

• Valle cards are gold: hold on to 3s, 5s and 7s, especially spades.
• Watch the discard pile: a card that fits the next player's melds can be forced on them – or win them the hand if they have ten down.
• With a poor hand, dropping out for 2 chips can be cheaper than paying for everyone else's conditions.
• Keep melds flexible: four-card melds let you borrow later.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Going out pays 2: Wikipedia describes 2 chips for going out instead of 1.
• Melding only with the drawn card: some descriptions let you put down melds from your hand only in a turn in which you also use the drawn card.
• Fewer packs: some tables use five, six or eleven packs, or remove one set of spades.
• Fifteen-card Pan ("Fifteen"): deal 15 cards; going out needs 16 melded.