Chimera AKA Dou Dizhu (斗地主)- How to Play 🎲 and Why It's a Gem 💎

Chimera, by Ralph H. Anderson, is a "hobbyfied" version of Dou Dizhu (斗地主), or "Fight the Landlord", a classic Chinese climbing/ladder game for exactly three players. Each hand, players bid on the right to be the "landlord" or "chimera", betting that they'll slough all their cards first. The other two players team up to ensure that doesn't happen! While the original is technically a gambling game, you can of course play for no stakes - and Chimera turns it into a points game á là Tichu, tweaking some of the rules along the way.
00:00 Intro ▶️
02:25 How to Play Dòu Dìzhǔ (斗地主) 🧧
13:21 How to Play Chimera 👹
19:03 Why It's a Gem 💎
Note that the How-to-Play Chimera chapter assumes you watched the Dou Dizhu chapter. It goes over the differences between the two.
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[@Albengus]

Amazing video! Would be great to have a video made in a similar way also for Tichu and Big Two

[@Sasori41]

Great video! A real gem indeed. This is the most played climbing game for a reason. For information there's also Shanghai Landlord, a 4player Landlord which is also very popular and player competitively (played with 2 decks and streamlined combo). Haggis 3p is not very good, but there's a now a new rules which makes it a pretty interesting game at that count (check "Haggis Neeps & Tatties") Also at 4 players there's not only TIchu, don't miss Guan Dan or Tien len which are also real gems :)

[@bendaantik5679]

Thanks man!

[@keatonhawkswell5714]

I’m looking forward to trying this one, I might just mark up a deck of cards to make a dedicated deck.

[@BoardGems]

No need to mark up a deck! People just have to remember, the twos are special.

[@keatonhawkswell5714]

@@BoardGems you obviously have to much faith in my family’s ability to remember that :)

[@miunone09]

I mean, you could also ignore that rule altogether, as 2s can’t be played in runs, it’s just an arbitrary shift of values. Say the highest card can’t be played in runs and you’ve got the same game.

[@celacanto]

Hey Darryl what ist the french Deck you used for the demostración of Dou dizhu?

[@BoardGems]

The deck of cards I used features Pacific Northwest indigenous art: www.nativenorthwestselect.ca/2-Deck-set-playing-cards I added a link to the video as well.

[@NikolajLepka]

wait... Chimera is just Fight the Landlord?

[@BoardGems]

Yup! Tweaked in a couple of ways but almost the same game.