Kuzeke elang

Kuzeke elang (Modern Baphian:  kuzeke elang, Middle Baphian kusyeke kherang, lit. 'shark food', Kzmr: QKSHKHI 'kshkhi) is a four-player card game in the rummy family popularly played in much of Ukilen, particularly the former states of the Baphian Democratic Union. It was most likely developed in Baphia during the late 19th century, but has since spread to many parts of the world. It is played with a large deck consisting of 212 cards.

Cards

The cards used in kusyeke kherang are divided into two categories, known as the major and minor cards. The minor cards have numerical values whereas the major cards do not.

Minor cards

The minor cards are divided into four suits: ribbons, lances, beads, and rings. In each of these four suits, there are cards for the ranks one through nine with four copies apiece, as well as two copies for each of two special cards. These are the 'ten', which is able to stand for either zero or ten in the context of a sequence, and the suit-specific joker. The tens are represented by various types of vexilloid, while the representations of the jokers vary.

Suit	Ten design	Joker design
Ribbons	Flagpole with five ribbon-like pennants	Three vertical ribbons
Lances	Tug-like flag with a spearhead finial	Three double-headed lances
Beads	Flagpole with three round lanterns and a horns-shaped finial	Necklace of fourteen beads
Rings	Red vertical flag on crossbar with three gold rings	Chain of alternating silver and gold rings

Major cards

There are three types of major cards: elements, directions, and seasons.

Elements

The element cards are named after the six Baphian classical elements, and are able to form sequences based on their position in the elemental cycle, with moon able to 'wrap around' to sun. There are four copies of each. The order of the cards is as follows:

• Sun (Baphian:  zefang, Kzmr:  sph)
• Fire (Baphian:  deya, Kzmr:  nr)
• Water (Baphian:  mupewe, Kzmr:  mbhu)
• Bark (Baphian:  zude, Kzmr:  spu)
• Gold (Baphian:  soto, Kzmr: 🜚 sþtu)
• Moon (Baphian:  ge, Kzmr:  ng)

Directions

The direction cards are named after the four cardinal directions. There are four copies of each.

Seasons

The season cards are named after the four seasons. There are three copies of each.

Game setup

The players are designated based on the cardinal directions. Traditionally, the player furthest from the door is assigned East and the rest are given corresponding directions based on this. The game begins with the dealer (East in the first round) shuffling the deck, after which they deal 14 cards to each of the other players and 15 to themself. After this, the remaining cards are set face-down in a draw pile in the center.

Card exchange

After the initial setup, each of the players, starting with East and progressing clockwise, passes three cards to the player on their left. This player then chooses two cards to keep in their hand, and passes the third back to the right. Thus, in order, East passes three cards to South and is given one of them back, South passes three to West and is given one back, West does the same for North, and finally, North does the same for East. Once this is complete, play can begin, in which player order is the same as the order of exchange.

Main gameplay

Aside from the dealer's very first turn, which consists solely of the latter half of the standard turn, each turn in a game of kusyeke kherang consists of drawing a card from one of two sources (either the main draw pile, or the discard pile assuming the criteria mentioned below are satisfied), then either discarding a card face up on the discard pile or, if possible, declaring a win.

A card can only be drawn from the discard pile if it can be used to form a meld in the player's current hand. In this case, this card, as well as those that comprise the same meld, are set face-up on the table, with one of them (always the latest in rank in the case of a straight) laid diagonally across the rest.

Deal-ins

In addition, at any point in the game, if a player would be able to form a winning hand with a newly added card on the discard pile, they can declare a win even if they are not the current player. This is known as a deal-in. A win can also be declared off of the diagonal card of another player's revealed cards, so long as it is part of a meld of five cards or more. Similar to the standard deal-in, this must be done immediately after the winning card is revealed.

Game structure

A full game of kusyeke kherang is comprised of a predetermined number of rounds, each of which themselves consist of four hands, with each player being given the title of East, and therefore dealer and first player, in exactly one of these hands. After each hand, the new East player is always the one to the immediate right of the former East player. Rather than having a 'prevailing wind' as in standard mahjong, rounds are each given prevailing numbers, which starts at one and increases by one after each round.

Scoring

The winning player is initially awarded 12 points, which is then compounded with any initial additive points known as counters (Baphian:  zotesi, Kzmr:  sdsi). Next, this number is multiplied by a factor determined by the number of augmentations (Baphian:  jejusasesi, Kzmr: TH bdkthnsy). This factor stems from a sequence of multiples of powers of six – each power is multiplied by 1, 2, and 3. As 1 augmentation is equivalent to a point multiplier of 2, the sequence is as follows:

Augmentations	Factor
1	2
2	3
3	6
4	12
5	18
6	36
7	72
8	108
9	216
...	...

Hand structure

A winning hand in kusyeke kherang consists of 15 cards divided into any number of melds or into the Sequence of Sequences pattern. Melds can be any size ranging from three to seven, and can be either a set (consisting of identical cards) or a sequence (consisting of cards of consecutive ranks in the same suit, or in the case of elements, consecutive cyclical positions). The size-based categories of melds also have informal names: in order they are trips, quads, quints, hexes, and septs.

Special melds

A few special melds exist that technically do not fit into the categories of sets or sequences. Firstly, there are two additional valid quads, made from one of each season and one of each direction respectively. In addition, there are quint formations known as 'all odds' and 'all evens'; as their names suggest, they consist of all five odd-numbered ranks in a suit and all even-numbered ranks (including the ten card).

Joker usage

Each variety of meld has a maximum valid number of jokers it can contain, depending on its type and size.

	Set	Sequence
Trip	1	0
Quad	1	0
Quint	2	1
Hex	2	1
Sept	(not possible)	2

Year markers

A relatively common house rule is the addition of a special meld type based on the number of the current year. In parts of Baphia where the Eastern Noellastani calendar is used, this constitutes an exception to the three-card minimum for a meld, as the current year (33) expressed in base 6 is represented by the cards 5 and 3. In the Western Noellastani system, the year 20 Sinumsa is expressed as 3-2-Spring, with the spring card representing the era name. Both of these have the added requirement that the minor cards must be part of the same suit, and that jokers are prohibited.

The Kzmr system is based on the naming process of Kzmr numbers, so the year 1911, which is expressed as 211 before 4000, is represented by the cards 2-1-1-West-4-10-10-10. The requirement that none of these can be jokers still applies, but the cards before and after the west card may be in different suits.

Scoring conditions

All winning hands are required to have at least one of a set number of properties which known as 'formations' before victory can actually be obtained. All formations are worth a set number of counters or augmentations. There are also a few properties which, while not being valid formations in and of themselves and thus being insufficient to declare a victory, are worth points.

It is important to note that some scoring conditions are exclusive subsets of others, for instance, Four Seasons always entails Seat Direction and Sequence of Sequences always entails All Sequences. In these cases, both the superset and subset are added to scoring.

Draw-based wins

Self-draw: If the winning player's completing card was drawn from the draw pile, they are awarded 2 counters, but this does not constitute a formation.

Last card draw: If the winning player's completing card was the last card in the draw pile, they are awarded 1 augmentation.

Blessing of the Moon: If the dealer's initial hand is a winning hand, they are awarded 4 augmentations.

Blessing of the Sun: If a player other than the dealer completes their hand before the dealer's second turn, they are awarded 4 augmentations.

Taking from the bundle: If the winning player's completing card is taken from the diagonal card of another player's open meld, they are awarded 4 counters.

Wins based on hand structure

Three quints: A hand consisting of three quints is worth 1 augmentation.

Five trips: A hand consisting of five trips is worth 1 augmentation.

Concealed hand: A hand with no open melds is worth 4 counters.

Hex: Each hex in a hand is worth 1 counter.

Sept: A hand containing a sept is worth 2 counters.

Hex set: Each hex set in a hand is worth 3 augmentations if open, and 6 if concealed.

Sequence of Sequences: The Sequence of Sequences consists of five different sequences of increasing size from 1 to 5, each of which has a different category, i.e., it contains all four suits as well as a sequence of elements. The 1-sequence (single card) and 2-sequence (two consecutive cards) must not contain any jokers. A hand with this structure is worth 6 augmentations.

Wins based on specific cards

Season trip: A hand containing three identical season cards is worth 3 augmentations if the set in question is open, and 6 if the set is concealed.

Direction trip: A hand containing three identical direction cards is worth 1 augmentation if the set in question is open, and 3 if the set is concealed.

Four seasons: A hand containing a four seasons quad is worth 4 counters.

Four directions: A hand containing a four directions quad is worth 3 counters.

Seat direction: Each instance of the winning player's seat direction in their hand is worth 2 counters.

Set of round number: A set with the round number is worth a number of counters equivalent to two less than its size, for instance, a three-card set of the round number is worth 1 counter while a six-card set is worth 4.

No jokers: A hand with no jokers, while not a formation, is worth 6 counters.

One joker: A hand with one joker, while not a formation, is worth 3 counters.

Four flags: A hand that contains each of the four cards with rank 10 is worth 10 counters.

Suit-based wins

Half flush: A hand consisting solely of major cards and minor cards in a single suit is worth 2 augmentations if open, and 3 if concealed.

Split flush: A hand consisting solely of minor cards in two different suits is worth 1 augmentation if open, and 2 if concealed.

Full flush: A hand consisting solely of minor cards in a single suit is worth 4 augmentations if open, and 6 if concealed.

All majors: A hand consisting solely of major cards is worth 5 augmentations.

Sequence-based wins

All sequences: A hand consisting solely of sequences is worth 2 augmentations if open, and 4 if concealed.

Full sequence: A combination of melds that can be joined into a sequence from 0 to 9 (or 1 to 10) in a single suit is worth 3 augmentations if any part of it is open, and 6 if concealed.

Extended cycle: A combination of melds that can be joined into an elemental cycle longer than 6 cards is worth 4 augmentations if any part of it is open, and 8 if concealed. In addition, a counter is added for every card above the 6-card baseline, so an 8-long extended cycle is worth 2 counters.

Identical sequences: A hand containing two sequences of exactly the same cards (allowing for joker substitutions) is worth 3 augmentations if the sequences are both trips, and 4 augmentations if they are both larger than trips.

Equivalent sequences: A hand containing three sequences of the same ranks in different suits (allowing for joker substitutions) is worth 2 augmentations if the sequences are all trips, and 3 augmentations if they are all larger than trips.

Set-based wins

Pure quad set: A four-card set with no jokers is worth 8 counters.

All sets: A hand consisting solely of sets is worth 4 augmentations if open, and 12 if concealed.

Two equivalent sets: A hand containing two sets of the same rank in different suits is worth 2 augmentations if the sets are both trips, and 3 augmentations if they are both larger than trips.

Three equivalent sets: A hand containing three sets of the same rank in different suits is worth 6 augmentations if the sets are all trips, and 8 augmentations if they are all larger than trips.