China · Trick-taking · 4–5 players
拱猪 Chase the Pig
Keep the pig away, bring the sheep home, and decide how much danger to reveal before the first card is played.
Choose any special cards to expose, then start the hand.
Hand scores
This table uses the four-player individual game with optional exposures. Positive scores help; negative scores hurt. A player loses the match on reaching −1,000 or below.
Four players use all 52 cards, with no Jokers and no passing. Each receives 13 cards. Play runs anticlockwise, from You to East, North, West and back to You. Aces are high. The holder of the 2 of Spades leads the first hand, but need not play that card. In later hands, the player who captured the Queen of Spades leads first.
There are no trumps. Follow the suit led whenever possible; if you have none, play any card. The highest card of the led suit wins the trick and its winner leads next. Hearts and spades may be led from the beginning. Keep all captured hearts and special scoring cards face up.
The Queen of Spades is the pig and normally scores −100. The Jack of Diamonds is the sheep and scores +100. Their values become −200 and +200 respectively if exposed before play.
The Ace of Hearts scores −50, King −40, Queen −30 and Jack −20. Hearts from 10 down to 5 score −10 each. The 4, 3 and 2 score zero, but still count as scoring cards. All thirteen hearts together normally total −200. Exposing the Ace doubles every heart's value.
If it is your only scoring card, the 10 of Clubs gives +50. Otherwise it doubles the combined value of your other scoring cards. An exposed 10 instead gives +100 alone, or multiplies your other scoring cards by four. Even a zero-point heart means it is not alone: the 10 of Clubs plus the 3 of Hearts scores zero.
You may expose any of these cards you hold: Ace of Hearts, Queen of Spades, Jack of Diamonds or 10 of Clubs. Their increased effects apply to whoever eventually captures them. On the first trick led in an exposed card's suit, its holder must play another card of that suit if available. This also applies when leading that suit. Discarding it onto a trick of another suit is allowed.
Taking all thirteen hearts changes their combined score to +200, or +400 if the Ace was exposed. You must collect the zero-point hearts too. If you also take the pig, it becomes a bonus of +100, or +200 if exposed. The sheep remains positive. The 10 of Clubs then applies its usual multiplier to the combined score.
After thirteen tricks, add each hand score to the running total. Scores may be positive or negative. Continue with fresh hands until someone finishes at −1,000 or lower and loses the match. The collected-card values shown during play are provisional: collecting all hearts can change a large penalty into a bonus.
Gongzhu (拱猪), also written Gong Zhu, is a Chinese member of the Hearts family. Its name is commonly rendered in English as Chase the Pig or Catch the Pig. The pig refers to the Queen of Spades, and the name reflects the effort to force that dangerous card out of hiding. The game is also played socially among Chinese Weiqi, or Go, players.
Gongzhu gives each suit a distinctive part in the score: hearts carry unequal penalties, spades hide the pig, diamonds offer the sheep and clubs hold the multiplier. Exposing a card turns private information into a public challenge and can make an otherwise ordinary trick decisive.
Five players can use 50 cards by removing the 2 of Clubs and 2 of Diamonds, then dealing ten cards each. Four may also play in partnerships, with partners opposite. These forms use the same familiar trick-taking structure, while this page offers the four-player individual game.
Other traditions change the smaller heart values, omit exposures, reverse the sheep's sign when exposed, or allow stronger face-up and face-down announcements. Some change both the pig and sheep when anyone collects all hearts, or award a special bonus for taking every scoring card. Agree on the version before playing together.