Fan Tan

Fan Tan uses a standard 52-card deck with no jokers. The cards are shuffled and dealt out completely, 13 to each of the four players. There is no kitty and no bidding. You sit at the bottom of the table; the three computer opponents sit to your left, across from you and to your right.

Suits have no ranking in this game. They only decide which row a card belongs to. Ranks are not compared against each other either: the only question is whether a card fits onto the layout.

The player holding the 7 of diamonds goes first, and the first card of the game must be the 7♦. That player may not play anything else and may not pass. Once the 7♦ is down, the diamond row exists in the middle of the table. Play then moves around the table in seat order. On each turn a player either plays exactly one card or passes.

The middle of the table has room for four rows, one per suit, and all four start empty.

• Opening a row: while a suit has no row yet, the only card of that suit you can play is its 7. Playing the 7 opens the row. Any 7 can be played at any time; there is no rule about which suit has to be opened next.
• Building: once a row is open, cards can only be added at its two ends. The card one rank below the lowest card of the row goes on the low end, and the card one rank above the highest goes on the high end, always in the same suit. For example, if the hearts row currently runs from 5 to 9, only the 4♥ and the 10♥ can be played there. The 3♥ and the J♥ have to wait.
• End points: going down, a row runs 7-6-5-4-3-2; going up, it runs 7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A. The 2 and the ace are the two end points. Nothing goes below the 2, nothing goes above the ace, and the row does not wrap around. A row that stretches from 2 to ace holds all 13 cards of its suit and is complete.
• While a suit is still unopened, its 6 and 8 cannot be played.

When it is your turn and you hold any playable card, whether that is a 7 of an unopened suit or a card that fits on the end of a row, you must play one. You may not pass on purpose. You only pass when nothing in your hand fits. A pass does not end a round or reset anything; the next player simply takes their turn.

On this site you never have to press a pass button. When you have no playable card, the game passes for you and shows "No play" above your hand, then carries on.

Because all 52 cards are in the players' hands, and a player only passes when they cannot play, the next card every row needs is always sitting in someone's hand. As long as the game is still running, at least one player can move, so the table can never get stuck with everyone passing forever.

The game ends the moment any player plays their last card. That player wins; the other three are not ranked. Each loser pays one point for every card still in hand, and the winner collects the total, so the four scores always add up to zero.

For example, if the three losers hold 3, 5 and 8 cards, they pay 3, 5 and 8 points and the winner takes 16. The result panel lists every player's cards left and score, and it reveals the cards the opponents were holding so you can check the numbers yourself.

Fan Tan goes by several names. Sevens is the most descriptive, and in Britain it is also known as Parliament; you will also see it called Card Dominoes, because the rows grow tile by tile like a line of dominoes. In Chinese it is 排七, and in Japan it is 七並べ. The details vary from place to place, but the heart of the game is always the same: every suit starts from its 7 and spreads outward one card at a time, and the first player to get rid of every card wins.

The rules take a couple of minutes to learn, yet the game is not pure luck. Every card you play opens a new spot for someone else, so the order in which you release your cards decides who can keep up and who gets stuck passing. The layout in the middle is public, while each hand stays hidden, which makes it a gentle game of blocking and reading the table.

Although the rows look a little like a game of patience, Fan Tan is not a solitaire game like Klondike. It is a four-player game with turns, hidden hands and a race to finish first.

Open the page and play right away. There is nothing to download and no account to create, and the game works in portrait or landscape on a phone as well as in a desktop browser. The three opponents come in three difficulty levels: Easy, Medium and Hard.

• Playable cards stand out: on your turn, cards you can play look normal, and cards that do not fit yet are dimmed but still visible.
• Select, then play: tap a playable card, then press Play. If you try a card that does not fit, the game explains why, for example that the row is not open yet and needs its 7 first, or that the card does not touch either end. The table does not change.
• Hint: when you are unsure, press Hint to see a recommended legal card.
• Automatic passing: when nothing fits, the game passes for you.
• A clear layout: the four rows show how far each suit has grown and which card each end needs next. Complete rows are marked.
• Low-card warnings: when an opponent is down to very few cards, their seat shows a warning.
• Skip and fast-forward: you can skip the deal animation and speed up a run of computer turns.
• Autosave: reload the page, rotate your phone or go in and out of full screen, and the game continues from where you left it.

There is no undo. The cards you played and the moments you passed are already information your opponents have used. The layout itself shows every card that has been played, so there is no separate card counter either.

A 7 is a gate, so think before you open it. Playing a 7 opens a whole row for everyone. If you hold several more cards of that suit, opening it helps you. If the 7 is your only card in that suit and the other players may hold most of the row, holding it back can leave them stuck. Remember that you must play when you can, so if the 7 is your only playable card, it has to go.

Sixes and eights are gates too. Holding the 6 of a row means nobody can build downward in that suit until you let them. If you also hold the 5, 4 or 3 below it, release the 6 early so your own cards can follow. If you have nothing further down, keep it for later and play something else first.

Prefer cards that lead to your own cards. When you have a choice, play the card that opens a path for the rest of your hand. If you hold the 9, 10 and J of clubs, playing the 8♣ lets you keep building on your next turns.

Get rid of dead-end cards early. Cards near the 2 or the ace do not open anything for anyone, but each one still counts against you at the end. Play them when you get the chance rather than being stuck with them.

Watch who passes. A player who passes has none of the cards that were playable at that moment. Keep track of those passes and you will get a good idea of who is blocking which row, and whether you should keep your own gate closed.

Race when you are close. With two or three cards left, stop worrying about blocking and play whatever you can. Going out first is the only thing that wins.