Tongits, Pusoy and Other Filipino Card Games

What Tongits is and why it is the Philippines' most popular card game

Ask a Filipino to name a card game and the answer is almost always Tongits. It is a three-player game played with a standard 52-card deck, built around forming melds, which are sets of the same rank or runs of consecutive cards in one suit. The heart of the game is managing your unmatched cards, called deadwood: you want to lay down melds, offload cards onto other players' melds (the local term is sapaw), and end the hand holding as few points as possible. A player who empties their hand entirely calls Tongits and wins outright.

The game's popularity comes from how little it needs. A deck of cards, three players and a flat surface, and you have an afternoon. It is played in homes, at fiestas, outside sari-sari stores and, increasingly, on phones. That flexibility is why it has traveled so well online: Tongits is often considered one of the most recognized and frequently searched GameZone games, alongside Pusoy and Lucky 9¹. BingoPlus Poker likewise houses TongIts, Lucky 9, Pusoy and more as real-time player-versus-player games⁵.

Tongits sits in the same family as other Filipino favorites. Pusoy, which gives each player 13 cards to split into three hands and goes by the name Chinese Poker internationally, is the other giant of the scene, and both now appear on the same licensed platforms as slots, bingo and live casino tables⁶. If you want the wider casino picture, see our page on casino table games in the Philippines.

Tongits Wars: how the game moved to phones

The story of Tongits online really begins with one app. Tongits Wars was launched on the App Store and Google Play on February 12, 2016, and it took the street game and put it in everyone's pocket². The response was immediate: in its fourth week the app reached rank 4 on App Annie's top 50 free card games in the Philippines list, and by June 2016 App Annie had awarded it the number one spot among card and casino games in the country on both iOS and Android².

The app did more than digitize the rules. It added a Basic Game mode where players face A.I. opponents based on characters from Philippine novels, an offline practice mode, leaderboards, an in-game store and a VIP Club with premium benefits². A later Heroes Saga mode turned the game into something like an RPG, letting players travel a 2D world map and challenge 34 legendary Filipino heroes and characters, earning artifacts along the way². Crucially, the game was free to play, so players did not need to spend a cent to be entertained².

The ride was not smooth all the way. The game's server shut down for good in December 2013 in an earlier incarnation, when the developer could no longer sustain operational costs². The 2016 mobile relaunch was the version that stuck, and a Facebook version followed, expected in early 2017². By then the point was proven: a neighborhood card game could become an online gaming giant.

Playing Tongits online: GameZone and other options

Today you do not need to find two friends and a deck. The main licensed route for Filipino players is GameZone, which focuses on delivering a wide selection of online casino games while also featuring Filipino favorites such as Tongits, Pusoy and Color Game⁷. Its lineup includes Tongits, Pusoy, Lucky 9, Color Game, Sicbo Plus, Tongits Quick, Pusoy Go, Poker Plus, Lucky9 Plus and Tongits Star, all through a mobile-first design that works on smartphones and tablets¹.

BingoPlus is the other big name. It offers the following to players in the Philippines, on desktop and mobile⁴:

• Online bingo
• Slots
• Live casino
• Poker
• Tongits
• Perya games
• Arcade games
• Lotto
• Sports betting
• Fishing games
• Jackpot games

Its poker section carries the Filipino card catalog: Sicbo Plus, Tongits Quick, Pusoy Go, Poker Plus, Lucky9 Plus, Tongits Star, Pusoy Plus, Tongits Joker, Texas Hold'em and Tongits Plus⁷. There is an app for both iOS and Android devices⁴.

Both platforms sit under licensed operators. Total Gamezone Xtreme Incorporated (TGXI), the company behind GameZone, appears in PAGCOR's registers with offerings spanning sports betting, electronic bingo games, specialty games, numeric games and electronic casino games⁸. BingoPlus sits under DigiPlus, whose filings describe BingoPlus Poker as home to TongIts, Lucky 9, Pusoy and more⁵. If you want the wider online picture, see online gambling in the Philippines and PAGCOR-licensed online casinos.

Who can play

The licensed platforms above are aimed at players in the Philippines, and BingoPlus states plainly that its games are for Filipino players⁴. Visitors and foreign residents in the country can access the same apps; the practical point is that you are playing on Philippine-licensed services while in the country, and payment methods are local ones like GCash and Maya, covered on our payments page. Playing card games for money in unlicensed settings carries practical risk in the Philippines, so the licensed apps are the straightforward route. For the broader rules for visitors, see gambling in the Philippines as a visitor.

Pusoy and Pusoy Plus: the three-hand Filipino favorite

Pusoy is the other pillar of Filipino card culture. Each player receives 13 cards and sorts them into three hands: a five-card back hand, a five-card middle hand and a three-card front hand. The rule that governs everything is simple: back beats middle, middle beats front, or you foul and lose all sections³. The player who wins at least two of the three hands takes the round³.

Because the hands use poker rankings, it helps to know them cold. From the top: Royal Flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house (three of a kind plus a pair), flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair (two different pairs), one pair and high card¹⁰. A full house is three of a kind with a pair, such as three kings plus two 7s¹¹.

Pusoy Plus, the app version, adds royalty bonuses for premium hands, paid in units across the back, middle and front positions:

All figures from the Pusoy Plus rules³. The Royal Flush is the dream: its odds are roughly 1 in 649,740, but pairs win often³. The app is available for Android or iOS, and it has an offline mode that lets you play without an internet connection, which is ideal for practice before entering player-versus-player games³.

A note on names: Pusoy Dos, or Big Two, is a different game, where players race to shed single cards and combinations, with the 2 being the highest card. It shares the Pusoy name and the shedding spirit, but the three-hand structure above is what most Filipino players mean by plain Pusoy.

Other card games you will meet in the Philippines

Beyond Tongits and Pusoy, the Philippine card and tile scene is broad. Here is what else you will run into.

Pusoy Dos and shedding games. Big Two-style games have deep roots in the region. An 1893 study of Chinese gambling games documented the game Tá t'in kau, noting that the first player, the tsò chong, always pays twice the amount when he loses and is paid double when he wins, with the ratio rising to 3 to 1 in the second game and 4 to 1 in the third if he holds position¹². That dealer-stakes flavor survives in money games today.

Pai Gow and its cousins. The word "Pai Gow" means "to make nine"¹³, and the tile game behind it is the ancestor of several Filipino favorites, including Pekwa, the local four-tile game played in many households. Casino versions such as pai gow poker carry the same DNA.

Filipino Mahjong. Mahjong arrived with Chinese immigrants and took local root. The winning hand is the familiar one: completed melds plus a pair, drawn from the wall. Regional variants add spice; Vietnamese Mahjong, for example, pays a huge bonus for a hand that wins without any jokers, bonus tiles or honor tiles, called the No Flowers, No Leaves hand, though its rules are described as complicated and obscure¹⁴. Filipino house rules have their own quirks, so watch a round before you sit in.

Casino card games. In the casinos, the card action is international. Pontoon, a variation of blackjack, is especially popular in the Philippines and other parts of Asia¹⁵. Three-card games are strong too: Teen Patti, a fast-paced three-card Indian poker game, is offered at Okada Manila, with Pair Plus and 6 Card Bonus side bets that can pay up to 1000 times the side bet¹⁶. For poker proper, the Metro Card Club in Manila calls itself the home of Philippine poker champions¹⁷, and its Philippine Poker Millions Main Event runs Day 1 flights 9-handed, or 10-handed if necessary¹⁸. See poker in the Philippines and poker tournaments for more.

Where to find them. The big integrated resorts in Entertainment City Manila and beyond carry the casino end of this spectrum, while the Filipino favorites, Tongits, Pusoy, Color Game and the rest, live on the licensed apps described above and at perya-style events covered on our perya games page.

Getting started: a quick summary

If you are new to Filipino card games, the practical path is short. Start with Tongits, the national card game: learn the melds, keep your deadwood low and sapaw when you can. Then try Pusoy, where sorting 13 cards into three poker hands teaches you the rankings fast; the Pusoy Plus offline mode is a good place to practice before playing other people³. When you are ready for real play, the licensed Philippine platforms, GameZone and BingoPlus, carry both games plus Lucky 9, Color Game and more on Android, iOS and desktop¹. For the casino side, from Pontoon to Teen Patti to poker tournaments, the resorts and card clubs have you covered. And if money changes hands anywhere, keep it to the licensed apps and venues: that is the one rule that makes everything else simple.