三国杀 · a guide in English

How to play Sanguosha

Sanguosha (三国杀, “Three Kingdoms Kill”) is a card game from China, set around 200 AD when three kingdoms fought over the country. Everyone gets a secret role and plays as a hero from that time. It’s hugely popular in China and almost unknown outside it. If you’ve played Mafia, Werewolf or Bang!, which inspired it, you’ll pick it up fast.

The game here is in Chinese. This page tells you what the buttons and cards say, so you can play without reading any. You don’t need to learn it all first: the game only lets you do legal moves, so you’ll learn most of it by playing.

Join a game

Open sgs.hongda.app and tap 联机模式 (online). The other button, 单机模式, is a game against the computer, which is a good way to practise.
Type a nickname, pick a photo, and tap 进入大厅 (enter the lobby).
One person hosts: tap 创建房间 (create room). The classic mode is 身份 (identity), which is what this page explains. Tap 启 to open the room.
Everyone else: the room shows up in the lobby as “name 的房间” (name’s room). Tap it to sit down.
When everyone’s in, the host taps 开始游戏 (start game).

Buttons you’ll see

确定: OK
取消: Cancel, or “no, I won’t respond”
结束回合: End my turn
托管: Let the computer play for me (tap again to take over)
整理手牌: Sort my hand
聊天: Chat
退出房间: Leave the room

Roles

At the start everyone gets a secret role. Only the Lord’s is shown to the table.

主公 Lord: Everyone knows who you are. You win when every Rebel and the Traitor is dead.
忠臣 Loyalist: You win with the Lord. Keep them alive, even though they don’t know you’re on their side.
反贼 Rebel: You win when the Lord dies.
内奸 Traitor: You win only if you’re the last one standing, so the Lord has to die last. Play both sides until then.

How many of each
Players	Lord	Loyalists	Rebels	Traitor
4	1	1	1	1
5	1	1	2	1
6	1	1	3	1
7	1	2	3	1
8	1	2	4	1

With five or more players, the Lord gets 1 extra health.
Whoever kills a Rebel draws 3 cards.
If the Lord kills a Loyalist, the Lord throws away every card in their hand and in front of them.
When someone dies, their role is revealed.

Your turn

Everyone picks a hero (武将) from a few on offer. A hero has some health and one or two skills (技能) that bend the rules. Everyone starts with 4 cards. The Lord picks first and takes the first turn, then play goes round the table. Each turn has six phases:

准备阶段 Start. Some skills happen here.
判定阶段 Judgment. Cards that others put in front of you, like 乐不思蜀, take effect now.
摸牌阶段 Draw. Draw 2 cards.
出牌阶段 Play. Play as many cards as you like, but only one 杀 (Attack). Tap 结束回合 when you’re done.
弃牌阶段 Discard. You may keep as many cards as your current health. Throw away the rest.
结束阶段 End.

A judgment flips the top card of the deck, and its suit (♠ ♥ ♣ ♦) decides what happens. Your hand is hidden; the cards you’ve equipped are in front of you, where everyone can see them.

Health and distance

Damage costs health. At 0 you’re dying, and anyone may save you by playing a 桃 (Peach) on you. If nobody does, you’re out.

Distance is how many seats away someone is, counting the shorter way round and skipping the dead. You can only Attack someone within your attack range, which is 1 until you equip a weapon. 顺手牵羊 and 兵粮寸断 also need distance 1. Horses change distance (see Equipment below).

Cards

Cards show their names in Chinese. These are the ones you’ll see most, with the usual English names.

Basic cards

杀: Attack. Pick someone in range; they play a 闪 or lose 1 health. One per turn. 火杀 and 雷杀 are fire and thunder Attacks.
闪: Dodge. Cancels an Attack aimed at you. You only ever play it in response.
桃: Peach. On your turn, get back 1 health. When anyone is dying, play it to save them.
酒: Wine. Once per turn: your next Attack this turn does 1 extra damage. If you’re dying, drink it to get back 1 health.

Tricks

无中生有: Something from nothing. Draw 2 cards.
过河拆桥: Dismantle. Throw away one of another player’s cards: from their hand, their equipment, or in front of them.
顺手牵羊: Snatch. Take one card from a player at distance 1.
决斗: Duel. You and your target take turns playing Attacks, the target first. The first one who doesn’t takes 1 damage.
南蛮入侵: Barbarian invasion. Everyone else plays an Attack or takes 1 damage.
万箭齐发: Volley of arrows. Everyone else plays a Dodge or takes 1 damage.
桃园结义: Peach Garden Oath. Everyone gets back 1 health.
五谷丰登: Harvest. Turn up one card per living player. Starting with you, everyone takes one.
借刀杀人: Borrowed sword. Pick a player with a weapon. They Attack someone you choose, or hand you their weapon.
无懈可击: Nullify. Cancel a trick card’s effect on one player. It can be nullified in turn.
铁索连环: Iron chain. Chain up to 2 players; fire or thunder damage to one chained player hits the others too. Or swap it for a new card.
火攻: Fire attack. Your target shows a card from their hand. Discard one of the same suit to do 1 fire damage.

Delayed tricks

These sit in front of a player and take effect at their next judgment.

乐不思蜀: Contentment. Unless the judgment is ♥, they skip their play phase.
兵粮寸断: Supply shortage. Distance 1. Unless the judgment is ♣, they skip their draw phase.
闪电: Lightning. You put it on yourself. On a ♠ 2–9 it does 3 thunder damage; otherwise it moves on to the next player.

Equipment

Equipment stays in front of you. You can have one of each kind; a new one replaces the old.

Weapons: Set your attack range to the number on the card, and add an effect. 诸葛连弩 (Zhuge crossbow) lets you Attack as often as you like.
Armour: 八卦阵 (Eight trigrams): when you need a Dodge, do a judgment, and red counts as one. 仁王盾 (Renwang shield): black Attacks do nothing to you.
−1 horse: You’re 1 closer to everyone. For example 赤兔, 大宛, 紫骍.
+1 horse: Everyone is 1 further from you. For example 的卢, 绝影, 爪黄飞电.

Heroes to start with

Skill text in the game is in Chinese, so here are a few heroes whose skills are easy to play.

关羽 Guan Yu: 武圣 Any red card can be used as an Attack.
张飞 Zhang Fei: 咆哮 No limit on Attacks per turn.
赵云 Zhao Yun: 龙胆 Use Attacks as Dodges and Dodges as Attacks.
吕蒙 Lü Meng: 克己 If you didn’t play an Attack this turn, skip your discard phase and keep everything.
黄盖 Huang Gai: 苦肉 On your turn, lose 1 health to draw 2 cards, as often as you like.
孙权 Sun Quan: 制衡 Once per turn, discard any number of cards and draw the same number.
华佗 Hua Tuo: 急救 Outside your turn, red cards work as Peaches. 青囊 Once per turn, discard a card to heal someone 1.

A hero whose name starts with 界 is a revised version, with slightly different skills.

Play Sanguosha