WU XING RUMMY

The Five Elemental Energies of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water encompass all the
myriad phenomena of nature.

Overview

Wu Xing Rummy is a rummy game inspired by the Chinese concept of states of change, also popularized as the five
elements of Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, and the four seasons. As in regular rummy, players may meld suits and play
layoffs on existing melds, but the final score each round is adjusted based on the relationships between the elements in play.

Components

The Wu Xing Rummy deck consists of 52 cards divided into nine suits and two types of action card.

• Elements (25). There are five elemental suits, each consisting of five cards: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.
• Seasons (20). There are four seasonal suits, each consisting of five cards: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
• Wisdoms (7). There are two types of action cards called wisdoms: Study and Mastery. These are not melded by
players; instead, they are discarded when played for their special effects.
• Reference (2). Two reference cards are included; these are player aides and are not shuffled into the deck.

Sequence of Play

The game is played in a series of rounds with scoring occurring at the end of each. The dealer rotates clockwise after each
round (randomly choose the first dealer).

At the start of each round, the current dealer shuffles the deck and deals 9 cards to each player, then turns over the top card
of the deck as the first card in the face-up discard pile. Play begins with the player on his left and goes clockwise from there.

A player's turn consists of three parts:

• Draw – mandatory.
• Play – optional.
• Discard – mandatory.

Draw. At the start of his turn, a player MUST draw one card and add it to his hand. This may be either the top card of the
face-down deck or the top card of the face-up discard pile.
• If the draw pile is ever empty, immediately shuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile, leaving only the card
currently on top as the foundation for the new discard pile.
• Only the top card of the discard pile should ever be visible; players may not look through the discard pile unless
instructed to do so.

Play. At his discretion, a player may play any number of cards from his hand to the table, following these rules:

• Melding. A meld is three or more cards of the same suit (element or season). A meld is played to the table in front
of the player, where it will score points for him at the end of the round.
• A 5-card elemental meld is called a Perfect Meld and can interfere with opponents' scoring opportunities at the
end of the round.

• Laying Off. A player may play a single card to the table in front of him, if there is already a meld of the matching
suit in play anywhere on the table. This act is called laying off.
• If laying off on his own meld, the new card is added to the existing cards and the resulting group is still
considered a single meld.
• If laying off on an opponent's meld, the card remains in front him and is considered a layoff. He may add a
second matching card to his own layoff and the resulting group is still considered a single layoff.
 • Wisdom. A player may play ONE wisdom card per turn. The player announces he is playing the card, reads and
resolves the game text on the card, and then places it in the discard pile.
• Playing a wisdom card does not count as the player's regular discard for the turn (see the next section).
• Wisdom cards are never used in melds or layoffs.

Discard. A player ends his turn by making a mandatory discard from his hand to the top of the discard pile.
• If the player has no cards left in his hand after discarding, the round ends.
• A player may never play the last card in his hand during a turn, even if that play allows him to gain more cards. He
must always retain at least one card in his hand so that he can make his mandatory discard at the end of his turn.

Ending the Round and Scoring

The round ends when a player discards the last card in his hand. Alternately, if the players exhaust the draw deck a second
time, the round ends when the current player completes his turn.

Players score points for their cards in play, and lose points for unplayed cards left in their hands at the end of the
round. Scoring is modified by two relationships among the cards in play.

Depletion. Before adding up points, players should first resolve depletion. Depletion occurs when one or more perfect melds
are in play (a perfect meld is a full 5-card meld of one elemental suit). Each element card indicates the element that it can
deplete. If a suit is depleted, all cards of that suit controlled by opponents are discarded.

• For example, Alice has a perfect meld of Fire. The Fire cards state, “Perfect Meld depletes Metal.” Before scoring,
Bob and Charlie must discard all their Metal cards from play, both melds and layoffs; Alice's own Metal cards are
unaffected.

Depletion effects are simultaneous, but a perfect meld is itself immune to depletion from an opponent's perfect meld.

Enrichment. Each element card indicates the element that it enriches. Enrichment only affects melds; layoffs neither enrich
nor are enriched by other cards. When adding up his score, a player should check his cards for enrichment and double the
points scored for the enriched suit; enrichment only benefits a player's own cards, never his opponents'.

• For example, Alice has a 3-card meld of Water and a 4-card meld of Wood. The Water cards state, “Meld enriches
Wood meld.” Alice scores 6 points for her Water and 16 points for her Wood cards; her Water cards were not
enriched because Wood does not enrich Water. Bob and Charlie's cards are unaffected by Alice's cards because her
cards only enrich themselves.

Ending the Game

Players keep cumulative scores from round to round, rotating the dealer assignment and playing rounds until at least one
player reaches 100 points or more. After scoring for that round, the player with the highest score is the winner. If there is a
tie, all players continue playing rounds until there is a clear winner.

Harmony

If players wish to allow a shutout scoring option, they should use the following cycle meld and harmony rules.

There are two types of cycle melds: elemental and seasonal. An elemental cycle meld is a meld of exactly five cards: one of
each element. A seasonal cycle meld is a meld of exactly four cards: one of each season. There are special rules governing
cycle melds.

• A cycle meld must be played as a single, complete meld – all five element cards or all four season cards – and
cannot be added to or laid off in any way.
 • A player can only have one of each cycle meld in play (one elemental and one seasonal).
• Cycle melds are worth ZERO points!

A player can achieve harmony by playing both cycle melds and then being the player to go out (end the round). When this
occurs, he scores 30 points and all opponents score 0 points, ignoring all other cards in play and in hand.

• A player can have other cards in play when he achieves harmony; they simply have no effect on scoring.
• When using the harmony rule, players are allowed to play cycle melds even if they are not attempting harmony, as
long as they follow the normal cycle meld rules, above.

Card Notes

Study allows a player to draw more cards, or to retrieve a card from the discard pile. If you get a card from the discard pile,
you must show it to the other players before placing it in your hand. You are still restricted to playing one wisdom card per
turn, so if you use Study to retrieve another wisdom card, you cannot play it the same turn.

Mastery allows you to take all layoffs that match an existing meld in play, and move those cards to that meld. The cards
involved do not have to belong to you, but you may not play Mastery if there are no cards affected (i.e., you cannot just play
the card without any effect to get rid of it).

Wu Xing Relationships

Wu Xing uses a mnemonic device to explain the relationships between the elements. The enrichment relationships are
explained thus:

Wood feeds a Fire when it burns.

Fire produces ash that returns to the Earth.
Earth produces Metal ore.
Metal condenses Water (or turns to liquid when melted).
Water nourishes trees that produce Wood.

The depletion relationships are as follows:

Wood (roots) pierce the Earth.

Earth muddies Water.
Water quenches Fire.
Fire melts Metal.
Metal chops Wood.

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