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Thirteen

Tiến Lên · The 13 card game

Thirteen is the English name for Tiến Lên, Vietnam’s favourite card game. Thirteen cards each, 3s low and 2s high: beat the last play or pass, and empty your hand first.

Learn how to play

Called Tiến Lên in Vietnam: play Tiến LênTiến Lên rules

Play the Thirteen card game online for free

Thirteen is what English speakers usually call Tiến Lên, the card game that Vietnamese families play at every Tết and that travelled with them to the US, Canada and Australia. If a friend taught you “13” or Vietnamese Thirteen, this is that game. Play it here free in your browser, with no download, no app and no sign-up.

Play against three computer players at the level you choose, or start a private table and send the link to friends. The host can fill any empty seat with a computer player.

Why it is called Thirteen

The name comes from the deal. A standard 52-card pack is shared out between four players, so everyone starts with 13 cards, and the aim is to be the first to play all thirteen of them. In Vietnamese the game is Tiến Lên, “go forward”, because every play has to go up from the one before it.

How to play Thirteen

  1. Thirteen cards each. The whole pack is dealt to four players. Sort your hand from 3 up to 2.
  2. The 3♠ goes first. Whoever holds the three of spades, the lowest card in the pack, starts, and must play it in their first combination.
  3. Go higher or pass. Answer with the same kind of play, only higher: a bigger single, a bigger pair, or a run of the same length with a higher top card. If you can’t or won’t, pass.
  4. Clear the table. When everyone else has passed, the table is cleared and the last player to play starts again with anything.
  5. Go out first. The first player to get rid of all 13 cards wins.

3 is the lowest card, 2 is the highest

Cards rank 3, 4, 5 and so on up to K, A, then 2 at the top. When two cards share a rank, the suit breaks the tie: spades, clubs, diamonds, then hearts highest, so the 3♠ is the weakest card and the 2♥ the strongest.

Because the 2s are so strong, Thirteen gives you a way to beat them: a “chop”. Four of a kind, or three pairs in a row such as 5-5-6-6-7-7, can beat a single 2. The full list of chops is on the Tiến Lên rules page.

The complete Thirteen rules

Thirteen and Tiến Lên are the same game, so the full rules live on our Tiến Lên rules page: card and suit order, every combination, and exactly which plays can chop a 2.

Read the full rules

Rules in other languages: English简体中文繁體中文Tiếng ViệtBahasa Indonesia