Chinese Ten Card Game — Jian Hong Dian (钓红点)

Play Chinese Ten — the classic Chinese fishing card game also known as Jian Hong Dian (拣红点 / 钓红点, "Pick Up the Red Spots"). Play one card from your hand; if it makes 10 with a card on the table (or matches a face card by rank), you capture the pair. Red cards are worth points, black cards are mostly worthless — and after every card you play, the computer flips one card that can steal table cards away from you. So grab the red cards before the flips do. Runs 100% locally in your browser. No ads, no signup.

Score 0 Best 0 Cards left 52 Captured red 0

Play a hand card to capture pairs that add to 10 — before the computer's flips steal them!

Computer — flips the stock and steals pairs from the table

Stolen: 0

Table

Your hand — click a card to play (24 cards, no refill)

How to Play Chinese Ten

Start — 4 cards are dealt face up on the table, you get 24 cards (no refill), and 24 cards form the stock.
Play a card — click one of your hand cards.
Capture — if it adds to 10 with a table card (e.g. 7 + 3, 5 + 5, A + 9), both cards are captured and scored. Tens, jacks, queens and kings are captured by matching rank (10 + 10, K + K).
Leave it — if nothing matches, your card stays on the table.
The computer flips — after every card you play, the computer flips one stock card. If it pairs with a table card, the computer steals both — you lose those points. If it doesn't pair, it stays on the table where you can still capture it.
Finish — the game ends when your hand is empty (24 turns, the stock runs out at the same time). Table cards left at the end do not score.

Example

The table shows ♠7 ♥2 ♣10 ♦4. You hold ♥3 ♠A ♣Q ♦K ♥8.

Play ♥3 — 3 + 7 = 10, so ♥3 and ♠7 are captured together. ♠7 is black (0 points), ♥3 is red (3 points). Score: +3.
No match in hand? Play ♦K — no king is on the table, so it stays there, waiting. When the computer's flip or your own draw later shows another king, one of you will pair them. Play your ♥K first and you take both.
Never leave a red card unprotected — you played ♥8 onto an empty spot earlier, and now the computer flips ♠2: 2 + 8 = 10, and the message reads "Computer flipped ♠2 and STOLE ♥8 from the table!" — those 8 points are gone.
When you flip-into luck yourself, grab it: the computer flipped ♥A and it stayed on the table. Play your ♠9: 9 + 1 = 10 — the red ace is worth 20 points.

Every turn is a small race: the table is shared, the computer steals pairs, and only the red cards are worth fighting over.

Scoring — Why Red Cards Matter

The scoring is what makes Chinese Ten different from other add-to-10 card games. Black cards are worth nothing (with two exceptions), so you should always try to capture red cards:

♥A / ♦A — 20 points each
♥9 10 J Q K / ♦9 10 J Q K — 10 points each
Other red cards (2–8) — face value points
A♣ — 40 points · A♠ — 30 points
All other black cards — 0 points

Maximum possible score: 280 (nearly impossible — the computer steals a lot). Score 180+ for "Good" and 230+ for "Excellent". Your best score is saved locally in your browser.

Strategy Tips

Grab red cards immediately — if you hold the pair partner of a red table card, play it now. The computer's next flip may steal it first.
Black cards are bait — black table cards are perfect traps: the computer's flips will waste themselves capturing worthless black cards, keeping reds safe for you.
When nothing pairs, dump black cards — never leave a red card (or a black ace) on the table when you have a choice; play a worthless black card instead.
Count the risk — a red card that has been sitting on the table for several flips is living on borrowed time. Capture it before the odds catch up.
Don't hoard face cards — a king can only capture a king; if no king is on the table, it will just sit there.

FAQ

What is Chinese Ten (Jian Hong Dian)?

Chinese Ten is a traditional Chinese fishing card game for 2–4 players. Its Chinese name, Jian Hong Dian (拣红点) or Diao Hong Dian (钓红点), means "Pick Up the Red Spots" — because the red cards carry almost all of the points. Players capture table cards by making pairs that total 10, or by matching 10s and face cards by rank.

How do you capture a 10, J, Q or K?

These cards can never add to 10 with another card, so they are captured by matching rank: a 10 captures a 10, a queen captures a queen, and so on.

Is Chinese Ten the same as the Chinese fishing game?

Chinese Ten belongs to the fishing family of card games — games where you use a hand card to "fish" matching cards from a common pool. Cassino and Scopa are Western cousins. "Chinese fishing game" usually refers to games of this family, with Chinese Ten being the most documented Chinese example in English sources.

Why does the computer steal table cards?

In the traditional multi-player game, other players capture the red cards you are eyeing — that competition is the whole game. This single-player version simulates it: after each of your plays, one stock card is flipped as the computer's "play", and any pair it makes is taken by the computer (and scores nothing for you). That is an adaptation of the original — in the traditional rules the flipper would keep the capture for themselves; see the Rule Source section.

What does the single-player version change?

The multi-player game deals 24÷N cards per player with no draws; a stock card is flipped after every play. This version keeps that structure (24-card hand, one flip per turn) and scores your captures by the 4-player point values. The adaptation: flipped captures go to a virtual opponent instead of you — without that, a solo game would mathematically always end in a perfect 280 score and there would be no game at all.

Do I need to download anything or create an account?

No. The game runs entirely in your browser — your cards, score and best score never leave your device. It works offline after the page loads.

Can I play on my phone?

Yes. The layout is responsive and works on any screen size; on small screens your hand scrolls horizontally.

📖 Rule Source — where these rules come from

Source	Rules as documented by Denexa Games, "Chinese Ten (Jian Hong Dian)" (2020), and the Pagat.com entry for Jian Hong Dian / Diao Hong Dian. Traditional folk game; no single canonical book.
Original Rules	2–4 players receive 24÷N cards each; 4 cards are flipped to the table. On a turn, a player plays one hand card, capturing a table card that adds to 10 with it (or a 10/face card of the same rank). Then one stock card is flipped and may also capture. Red cards score; black cards score nothing except A♣ (40) and A♠ (30).
Regional Names	钓红点 / 拣红点 (Diao Hong Dian / Jian Hong Dian) · Pick Up Red Spots · Chinese Ten · Chinese fishing game
Single-Player Adaptation	Two-player-sized deal (24 cards, no refill) with one stock flip after each play, as in the original. The adaptation: flips that capture are taken by a virtual opponent and score nothing — simulating how, in the real multi-player game, other players compete to grab the red cards you want. Without this, a solo game is mathematically forced to end at a perfect 280 (every card eventually finds its pair), leaving no decisions to make.
Win Rate / Target	Not recorded in sources. Solitaire target: 180+ Good, 230+ Excellent (of 280 possible; a perfect game is extremely rare).
Implementation Notes	Multi-player-only special rules (three-of-a-kind in the initial layout, dealer auto-capture) are omitted. Table cards left unmatched at game end do not score. 5 + 5 = 10 captures as in the original. Scores are stored locally in your browser.