Thirteen

Looking for fast shedding card action? Play Thirteen or test partnerships in Spades and evasion in Hearts.

Thirteen: Shed Your Hand First

Thirteen is quick. Four players sit down. Each holds thirteen cards. The first player to drop their entire hand wins. In Vietnam, it goes by Tiến Lên, meaning "go forward." You climb over opponent hands with higher cards, matching their play count and pattern. Singles beat singles. Pairs beat pairs. Runs beat runs. Four of a kind blows up everything. If you cannot beat the active play, you pass. Pass once and you sit out until the table resets. Misplay your high cards and you will eat heavy point penalties.

Video Tutorial

📺 Video TutorialWatch on YouTube↗

Origins of Tiến Lên

Tiến Lên took root in Vietnam in the mid-twentieth century. Its mechanics trace back to southern Chinese climbing games like Big Two, but the Vietnamese southern variant created a looser, faster rule set. Immigrants brought it to the United States, France, and Australia in the 1970s and 1980s. Western players call it Thirteen or Killer. The game rejects trick counting. Nobody cares how many tricks you collect. Getting caught holding cards is the only failure state. It remains the dominant card game across modern Vietnam.

Card Rankings and Suit Order

Thirteen uses a standard 52-card deck without jokers. Four seats. Thirteen cards per seat.

Card rank flips standard poker on its head. Threes are the weakest cards in the deck. Twos hit the hardest. The complete rank order runs 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 2.

Suits decide ties between identical ranks. Spades rank lowest. Clubs sit above Spades. Diamonds beat Clubs. Hearts beat everything. The 3 of Spades sits at the bottom of the entire deck. The 2 of Hearts is the strongest single card on the board.

Valid Card Combinations

You must play the exact combo type led.

Singles: One card. Higher ranks beat lower ranks. When ranks match, suit order decides the trick.

Pairs: Two cards of the same rank. When two players play matching pairs, the suit of the highest card wins. A pair with the 8 of Hearts beats a pair with the 8 of Diamonds.

Triples: Three cards of the same rank. A triple of Kings beats a triple of Queens.

Straights: Three or more cards in unbroken rank order. Straights top out at Ace. A run can stretch from 3 all the way to Ace for twelve cards. Twos cannot sit inside a straight. Suits break ties between straights of identical rank length, decided by the highest card in the sequence.

Bombs: Four cards of the same rank. Bombs do not follow normal lead rules. A Bomb can jump onto the table to kill a single Two.

Pines: Three or four consecutive pairs. Three consecutive pairs chop any single Two. Four consecutive pairs can chop a pair of Twos or crush an opponent Bomb.

Core Terminology

The Three of Spades: The lowest card in the deck. The player holding it leads trick one.

The Pig: Street name for a Two. High reward, massive risk.

The Chop: Killing a Two with a Bomb or Pine. The chopped player pays an immediate fine.

Passing Out: Passing on your turn. You lose the right to play until the current trick finishes and the table resets.

Free Lead: The prize for winning a trick. Clear the pile and lead whatever combination you want.

White Win: Getting dealt an instant-kill hand. Four Twos, six pairs, or an unbroken 3-to-Ace straight wins the game before trick one.

The Goal

Empty your hand. That is the whole objective.

First player out takes first place. The other three fight for second and third.

Do not get stuck holding a Two when someone goes out. The point penalty will wipe out your previous wins.

Trick Flow

The player with the 3 of Spades leads the opening trick. The 3 of Spades must be in that first play, whether as a single card, pair, or straight.

Play travels clockwise. Each player must either beat the active card combo or pass.

To take the trick, match the combination type and size. A four-card straight only falls to a higher four-card straight. You cannot throw a triple onto a pair.

When three players pass in a row, the trick dies. Cards go to the discard pile. The winner leads the next trick with any card or combo in their hand.

Exact Five-Step Strategy

Tactical Playbook

Bait the Twos: Lead single Kings and Aces. Force rivals to burn their Twos early. Once their big cards die, your Jacks and Queens take over.

The Bomb Ambush: When you hold four of a kind, wait. Let an opponent slam down a big Two. Drop the Bomb, collect the fine, and take the lead.

Split Straights to Block an Exit: If a rival is down to one card, break a five-card straight. Turn it into a high pair or single to starve them of a lead.

Count the Cards: Fifty-two cards exist. Memorize the Twos and Aces. Blind plays lose chips.

The Unicorn Games Experience

No downloads. No account requirements to play. Jump into browser tables with responsive bots and real-time cloud saves. Once you finish Thirteen, test your bids in Spades, evade hearts in Hearts, build runs in Gin Rummy, or take on the dealer in Blackjack.

Feedback

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