After someone calls Landlord, the three bottom cards are given to the Landlord and revealed for everyone to see.
The Landlord plays first, and then cards are played in the agreed-upon order. When it's a player's turn to follow, they can choose "Pass" or play a card larger than the previous player's. The round ends when a player plays all their cards.
The game ends when any player finishes their cards. If the Landlord finishes first, the Landlord wins; otherwise, the other two players win.
"In Landlord, there are many card types. A 'Rocket' is a pair of Jokers, and when you hold them, they are the largest cards. Then there are Bombs, which are any four cards of the same value. A pair of Jokers can be considered a special Bomb.
When playing cards, in addition to single cards and pairs, there are also special card types like three cards, three with one, straights, double straights, triple straights, airplanes, and four with two."
As Ayanokoji introduced, the others frequently asked questions. Ayanokoji Kiyotaka then realized that the game of Landlord, which he thought was the simplest, had so many ways to play cards, and the gameplay was surprisingly complex.
After Ayanokoji introduced the general rules, seeing that the others were still somewhat confused, he immediately said, "More talk is useless. You'll understand once you play a round."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka acted as the Dealer, dealing the cards to the three in order. When only three cards were left, he threw them into the center of the table.
"Does anyone want to bid for Landlord?" Ayanokoji asked.
The first in line was Hanatemari Kazura, and her hand seemed pretty good.
"…Then I'll bid for Landlord." She raised her hand.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka spread out the three cards, which were J, Q, and K—three cards that were neither too big nor too small.
"Nice bottom cards." Ayanokoji pushed the cards towards Hanatemari Kazura.
"Thank you…" Hanatemari Kazura smiled shyly and placed the cards at the end of her deck.
Saotome Meari's lips curved into a slight arc.
It seemed that Hanatemari Kazura's largest cards were these three.
Then, wasn't their side guaranteed to win this round?
Hanatemari Kazura, who had the right to play first, hesitated for a moment and played a "3," immediately discarding the smallest card in her hand.
"4."
"6."
The two peasants followed suit, and then something that greatly surprised Ayanokoji occurred.
"Pair of 5s."
Hanatemari Kazura directly played two cards. Although the others looked a bit confused, they still followed suit.
"Pair of 7s."
"Pair of 9s."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka quickly stopped them: "Wait, you can't play a pair when it's a single card!"
"Can't I? You didn't say that." Hanatemari Kazura looked up in surprise; "Then what should I play?"
Do I have to say even these things? They really haven't played similar games before…
Ayanokoji rubbed his forehead and continued to explain the rules.
Except for Rockets and Bombs, other cards must be of the same type and total number to compare sizes.
Single cards are compared by value, in order: Big Joker > Small Joker > 2 > A > K > Q > J > 10 > 9 > 8 > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 3, regardless of suit.
Pairs and three-of-a-kind are compared by value. Straights are compared by the value of the largest card.
Airplanes with wings and four-with-two are compared by their three-of-a-kind and four-of-a-kind parts, respectively. The accompanying cards do not affect the size.
When playing by himself, he didn't feel this way, but once the rules were carefully written out, they felt quite cumbersome, requiring a certain level of comprehension.
After Ayanokoji finished explaining, Saotome Meari nodded with an understanding expression, while Hanatemari's expression remained confused.
"How about this, I'll play a few rounds with you, so you can get familiar with the operation."
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka naturally sat next to Hanatemari, picked up the playing cards in her hand, and began to organize them.
Although she didn't have A, 2, and the Jokers among the big cards, she did have consecutive pairs and two three-of-a-kind sequences, which was a pretty good hand.
After Ayanokoji Kiyotaka played a few single cards following the others, he found an opportunity to play a pair of Kings, then used consecutive pairs and three-of-a-kind to play all his cards in one go, finally playing the last "4."
"Hanatemari, do you understand? You can use these combinations when playing cards." Ayanokoji turned to Hanatemari and instructed her.
"Oh, oh…"
Hanatemari nodded repeatedly with a look of sudden realization, while Saotome Meari on the other side looked at Togakushi Yukimi with an unhappy expression.
"When he played a pair of Kings just now, why didn't you play a card to beat him? Don't you have two 2s in your hand?"
Saotome had an A, two 2s, and a Small Joker in her hand. One of the 2s was played as a single card. Hanatemari didn't have any big cards, which meant Togakushi Yukimi still had two 2s in her hand. She clearly could have stopped the play!
"Those are the biggest cards in my hand, how can I just play them casually?" Togakushi Yukimi argued, "You're talking about me, but I played an A earlier, why did you use a 2 to beat me?"
Saotome angrily said, "Because if I just got the right to play, I could have finished all my cards at once! Who knew you would follow with another Big Joker!"
"When playing games, it's always better to keep the right to play in your own hands!" Togakushi Yukimi retorted.
"Hanatemari, do you see? If the peasants want to win, they must cooperate."
At this point, Ayanokoji didn't forget to instruct, "In this game, they used all their big cards on infighting. We won because both of them are responsible."
Unexpectedly, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka even commented on their argument. Saotome and Hanatemari exchanged glances, and fighting spirit ignited in their hearts simultaneously.
"Again!"
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka played with the two for a while longer. He didn't let Hanatemari leave, but instead had her continue to sit beside him, guiding her on how to play as he played cards.
Feeling that they had largely grasped the rules, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka gracefully stepped back, resuming his role as the Dealer, dealing cards and allowing Hanatemari Kazura to join the battle.
"Landlord," like "Mahjong," tests people's calculation and strategy skills. The difference is that "Mahjong" is every man for himself, a solo fight, while Landlord sometimes requires teamwork.
Even if your hand is bad, if your teammate has a good hand, you can still win the game.
Having a reliable good teammate is even more important than getting a good hand.
It took them less than five rounds to go from being completely clueless to being enthusiastically engaged. Later, they didn't even need Ayanokoji Kiyotaka to explain to them. They even complained that Ayanokoji was dealing cards too slowly and actively took over the dealing rights, pushing Ayanokoji aside.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka casually picked up a detective novel from the bookshelf and started reading, letting the three play cards there.
Unconsciously, dusk arrived. They played for several hours continuously, and although they weren't gambling money, they were still enjoying themselves. It was Ayanokoji Kiyotaka who reminded them that the club activity time had ended.
Saotome Meari stretched, smiling contentedly, "This is really a great game…"
In the last round, Saotome Meari, as the Landlord, won the game.
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