Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord)

How to play Dou Dizhu (Fight the Landlord)

Dou Dizhu, which means “Fight the Landlord”, is one of the most popular card games in China, played by hundreds of millions of people. It is a three-player shedding game with a clever twist: one player becomes the Landlord and takes on the other two, who become Peasants and secretly work as a team. The Landlord fights alone but starts with three extra cards; the Peasants are outnumbered in cards but outnumber the Landlord two to one. The rules are quick to learn, yet reading your hand, timing your bombs and cooperating with your partner give the game enormous depth. In this version you play against two computer bots at three difficulty levels and earn ranking points for every win.

The goal

Be the first player to get rid of every card in your hand. If the Landlord empties their hand first, the Landlord wins the round. If either Peasant empties their hand first, BOTH Peasants win together — even the partner who still holds cards. Because the two Peasants share victory, they cooperate: a good Peasant helps their partner go out rather than competing with them.

The deck and rank order

Dou Dizhu uses a full 54-card deck: the standard 52 cards plus two jokers, a black (small) joker and a red (big) joker. Suits do not matter at all — only rank counts. From low to high the ranks run 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, then the black joker, then the red joker as the single highest card. Note that the 2 is a high card, above the Ace, and that the two jokers sit above everything else. The 54 cards are dealt 17 to each of the three players, leaving 3 face-down cards known as the “landlord’s cards”.

Bidding for the landlord

Before play begins there is an auction to decide who becomes the Landlord. In turn, each player bids 1, 2 or 3 points or passes; every bid must be higher than the previous one, and a bid of 3 (the maximum) ends the auction immediately. The highest bidder becomes the Landlord, turns the 3 landlord’s cards face-up and adds them to their hand, so the Landlord now holds 20 cards while each Peasant holds 17. The winning bid also becomes the base score multiplier for the round. (If every player passes, the first bidder is made Landlord at 1 point so the game always proceeds.)

The combinations you can play

• Single — one card; a higher rank beats a lower one.
• Pair — two cards of the same rank.
• Triple — three cards of the same rank.
• Trio with a kicker — a triple plus one single card (三带一) or plus one pair (三带二).
• Straight — five or more consecutive singles, from 3 up to Ace. A 2 and the jokers can never be part of a run, and there is no wraparound.
• Double straight — three or more consecutive pairs, such as 33-44-55. Again, no 2s or jokers.
• Airplane — two or more consecutive triples (e.g. 333-444), optionally each carrying a single card or a pair as “wings”.
• Bomb — four cards of the same rank. A bomb beats every ordinary combination and can be dropped at any time on your turn.
• Rocket — both jokers played together. It is the highest play in the game and beats everything, even a bomb.

How a round is played

The Landlord leads first and may play any legal combination. Going clockwise, each player must either beat the previous play or pass. To beat a play you must use the SAME category and the same number of cards, but higher in rank — a single beats a lower single, a pair beats a lower pair, a straight of five beats a lower straight of five, and so on. You cannot beat a pair with a single, or a five-card straight with a six-card straight. If you cannot or choose not to beat the current play, you pass. When two players pass in a row, the last player to put down cards has won the trick and leads again, free to play any combination they like.

Bombs, rockets and multipliers

Bombs and the rocket break the “same category” rule. A bomb (four of a kind) can be played on top of any non-bomb combination, and a higher bomb beats a lower one. The rocket (both jokers) is unbeatable and tops even the biggest bomb. Every bomb and every rocket played during the round DOUBLES the score multiplier, which starts at the value of the winning bid. So a round bid at 2 points with two bombs played settles at 2 × 2 × 2 = 8 times the base stake. Because bombs are so valuable, strong players hold them back for the decisive moment rather than wasting them early.

Winning and peasant cooperation

The round ends the instant a player has no cards left. If that player is the Landlord, the Landlord wins; if that player is a Peasant, both Peasants win and the Landlord loses — even the Peasant who still holds cards shares the victory. This shared result is the heart of Peasant strategy: you and your partner are a team. A skilled Peasant will pass rather than beat their own partner’s winning play, will feed low cards so the partner can lead, and will save bombs to stop the Landlord. In this game the two computer Peasants cooperate the same way, so when you are a Peasant your bot partner tries to help you go out.

Scoring and ranking points

The base stake is the winning bid (1, 2 or 3), doubled once for every bomb and every rocket played in the round. At settlement the Landlord wins or loses this amount from each of the two Peasants (so twice the multiplier in total), and each Peasant wins or loses it once. The live multiplier is shown above the table. For the leaderboard, winning your side of a game — as the Landlord or as either Peasant — earns the fixed ranking points for the difficulty you chose: Easy +10, Normal +30, Expert +100. Sign in and your best result is saved to the leaderboard.

Playing the computer (and why hands are hidden)

You always take seat one against two computer bots. Choose a difficulty first: Easy plays loosely and passes up chances, so beginners can win; Normal leads its low cards, keeps its bombs and follows sensibly; Expert manages its hand shape, cooperates tightly as a Peasant and seizes control when an opponent is about to go out. Because each player must keep their cards secret from the others, Dou Dizhu cannot be played fairly on a single shared screen — so this is a vs-Computer game only. The bots think entirely on your device, so the game works offline once it has loaded.

Strategy tips

• Only bid high when your hand is strong — lots of 2s, a joker or two, or a bomb. As the Landlord you fight two opponents at once, so weak hands are better left to someone else.
• Lead your low, isolated cards early. Singles like a lone 3 or 4 are hard to get rid of later, so shed them while you still control the trick.
• Keep your combinations intact. Breaking a triple or a straight to answer a single often costs you more than passing. Count what you have left before you split a group.
• Hold your bombs and the rocket for a decisive moment — to stop the Landlord’s last card, or to seize the lead when you are ready to run out your hand. Every bomb also doubles the stakes.
• As a Peasant, cooperate. Do not beat your partner’s winning play, pass to let them keep the lead, and aim your bombs and high cards at the Landlord instead.

Frequently asked questions