Finding Friends Rules

In Finding Friends, one player becomes the Caller. The Caller and hidden Partner try to defend the deal by keeping the Challengers from collecting enough points. Everyone starts uncertain, because the Partner is revealed only when a specific called card appears in play.

The point cards are always the same:

Every 5 is worth 5 points. Every 10 is worth 10 points. Every K is worth 10 points. All other cards are worth 0.

With two full decks including jokers, there are 200 points in the deal.

If you know this game as Zhao Pengyou / 找朋友, Sheng Ji / 升级, Tractor / 拖拉机, or 80 Points, you are in the right place. This page describes the hidden-partner version and uses the terms Caller, Partner, and Challengers.

Table rules vary, but the common core is stable: multiple decks, trump rank and trump suit, point cards, a kitty, anti-clockwise trick play, hidden Partners, and levels.

A full game is usually a repeating cycle of deals:

1. Deal cards until each player has a hand and a small kitty remains face down.
2. Players bid, expose, or otherwise compete to become the Caller and set trump.
3. The Caller picks up the kitty and buries the same number of cards face down.
4. The Caller names the Partner card or cards, often called friend cards in other rules.
5. The Caller leads the first trick.
6. Trick play continues until all hand cards are gone. The last trick determines whether the buried kitty points are exposed.
7. Count the attacking side's points and apply the scoring table to see who won the deal and how many levels they advance.
8. Update levels, move to the next deal, and repeat until the match end condition is reached.

The close traditional reference for a 6-player Finding Friends deal uses two 54-card decks: two standard decks, each with one red joker and one black joker. That makes 108 cards. Some groups use more decks for six players; deck count is one of the first house rules to confirm.

The usual 6-player layout is:

The 6-card kitty is left face down during the deal. After trump is settled, the Caller picks it up and discards 6 cards face down to remake the kitty.

Each deal has a trump rank and a trump suit. Jokers are also trump.

A card is trump if it is:

• a joker,
• the trump rank, or
• in the trump suit.

All trumps count as one suit when following. If hearts are trump and someone leads the 2 of clubs, that 2 is a trump lead, not a club lead.

Trump order, high to low:

1. Red jokers.
2. Black jokers.
3. The trump-rank card in the trump suit, often called the big trump rank card.
4. The trump-rank cards in the other suits. These are equal to each other, so first played wins ties.
5. The rest of the trump suit from A down to the lowest non-trump-rank card.

After the kitty exchange, the Caller names one or more exact card copies. A called card has both a card face and an ordinal: "the first ace of clubs," "the second king of spades," or "the third 7 of diamonds" in larger deck games.

The ordinal means the N-th time that exact card face is played during the hand. With two decks, "second king of spades" means the player who plays the second K spades to appear.

Common Finding Friends rules often call enough cards to build a balanced Caller side. In a 6-player game, that commonly means the Caller names two Partner cards (often called friend cards), forming a team of up to three against the remaining players. Some rules restrict Partner cards so the trump rank, trump-suit cards, and jokers cannot be called.

No one announces that they are the Partner. The reveal happens through play. When another player reveals as Partner, they join the Caller's side and bring the points they have already won with them. Some table rules treat the reveal as complete after the trick; Stack reveals the Partner as soon as the called copy is played.

The Caller leads the first trick. The winner of each trick leads the next. Play continues until all cards in hand have been played. With 17-card hands, a singles-only deal would have 17 tricks; pair leads reduce the number of tricks because each player spends two cards at once.

The leader sets the trick's format. Everyone else must play the same number of cards and follow the led suit as closely as possible.

For a single-card lead:

• If you have the led suit, you must play that suit.
• If you do not have the led suit, you may play any card.
• If any trump is played, the highest trump wins. Otherwise, the highest card of the led suit wins.
• Equal cards are broken by play order: first played wins.

For a pair lead:

• If you have a pair in the led suit, you must play a pair in that suit.
• If you cannot play a pair but have enough cards in the led suit, you must play led-suit cards.
• If you do not have enough led-suit cards, you play what you have and fill the rest with any cards.
• Only a real pair can win a pair trick. A trump pair can beat any non-trump pair; otherwise the highest eligible pair in the led suit wins. Two unrelated high cards cannot beat a real pair.

Fuller rules also allow longer identical sets, tractors, and sometimes throws.

Only 5s, 10s, and kings score. At the end of the deal, the key number is the points won by the side opposing the Caller.

In many Sheng Ji rulesets:

• 0 points is a major Caller-side win.
• Below 80 points means the Caller's side defended successfully.
• 80 to 115 points usually means the opposing side takes control of the next deal but does not climb.
• 120 or more gives the opposing side a stronger win and more level movement.

The exact bands shift by deck count and house rule, but the idea is consistent: every extra 40 points in a two-deck game matters.

Stack uses these two-deck bands:

The kitty, also called the bottom or 底牌, is a face-down reserve left after the deal. The Caller picks it up, improves their hand, and buries the same number of cards face down.

The last trick decides the kitty:

• If the Caller's side wins the last trick, the buried cards stay safe.
• If the opposing side wins the last trick, point cards in the kitty are added to the opposing side's score.

In many full rulesets, the kitty multiplier depends on the final trick format. A single-card last trick may double the kitty points, while pair or tractor endings can multiply them more.

The Caller's side is defending. The Challengers are attacking.

The Caller's side wants to:

• keep point cards away from Challengers,
• protect the last trick when the kitty matters,
• reveal the Partner at useful moments, and
• avoid feeding points to players who may not be on their side yet.

The Challengers want to:

• collect 5s, 10s, and kings,
• force out trump,
• identify the Caller's Partner,
• win the last trick if the kitty may contain points, and
• force at least the 80-point dead zone, then push to 120 or more to win.

This is why the game is tense even before teams are known. A player who looks like an opponent may become your Partner later.

Traditional Sheng Ji is a multi-deal climbing game. Players begin at level 2. Winning sides climb through the ranks: 2, 3, 4, and so on up to A. The current level usually becomes the trump rank for that side's future deals.

The full game ends when a side completes the ladder under the table's house rule. Some tables require a successful defense at A.

Expect table rules to differ. The most common differences are:

• Number of decks: many rules use one deck per two players, while some 5-7 player rules use two decks.
• Number of Partners: the Caller may name one, two, or more Partner cards, often called friend cards, depending on player count.
• Bidding: trump may be set by exposing cards during the deal or by a bidding system.
• Legal Partner cards: some tables forbid calling trump-rank cards and jokers.
• Tractors and throws: full rules often support complex grouped leads beyond singles and pairs.
• Kitty multiplier: the last trick's format may change how much the kitty is worth.
• End condition: some groups play to A, some through A, and some use shorter match formats.

When rules disagree, first ask: who is defending, who is attacking, how many Partners are called, what grouped leads are legal, and how the kitty scores.