It has been established that players with strong tongits strategy win consistently. Tongits is a game of strategy, quick thinking and psychological prowess. While beginners only focus on the fundamental rules of forming melds and Sapaw, the true masters of the game understand the advanced nuances and mechanisms of the game are the key to winning consistently. If you understand the importance of strategy in playing tongits and want to start implementing it better, then you are in the right place.

This complete guide will not only help you understand the top-level Tongits strategy, but will also give you the finer details essential to the game. By the end of this guide, you will start noticing errors or loopholes in your tongits strategies too.

Tongits Strategy for Beginners

Every successful tongits game strategy is built on the fundamentals. Based on players’ preferences, one can choose to be defensive or offensive in their moves. The core objective remains the same - get to a low-scoring hand as quickly as possible.

1. Reduce your total points aggressively

Whatever your game style is, always try to minimize your total points. See your Kings, Queens, Jacks & Tens as a liability that you need to offload as quickly as possible.

To get the maximum out of this tongits strategy, keep in mind the following points:

• Always discard the high-value cards - This is one of the best tongits tips out there. Never hold on to high-value cards in the hope of forming a meld. In quick rounds, high-value cards inflate your total points tally and can cost you a game.
• Know the value of the Ace - Ace is worth only 1 point. So, if you have to hoard any card, make it an Ace. It does not add much to your total score and can be discarded with a minimal risk if needed.

These two points are the base of all the tongits strategies.

2. Become a master of Sapaw

One point that will be a part of every pro’s strategy in playing tongits is that they are always on the lookout for Sapaw i.e. the act of adding a card to an opponent’s existing meld. It quickly reduces their points and removes that card from their hand permanently.

Make the following a permanent part of your tongits game strategy:

• Keep an eye on the board - Right from the moment the game starts, always keep an eye on everyone’s melds, not just yours. Especially, when you are about to draw. As soon as you see a card that can be laid-off on an opponent’s meld, do it without any delay.
• Sapaw means safety - Sapaw also safeguards you from an opponent’s Challenge if you have laid-off a card on their meld. Therefore, the importance of this can’t be overstated in any successful tongits game strategy.

3. Pick up Discards wisely

As tempting as it can be, picking up an opponent’s discard can be risky. The tongits rules state that you can only pick up the discard if it helps you create a meld.

Tongits game strategy for the intermediate-level players

Now when you have mastered the fundamentals of the game, we can get into tongits advanced strategies. This level mostly deals with understanding what your opponents are doing and discarding the cards strategically.

1. Tracking cards & reading intent

The true masters of the game use this strategy in playing tongits. Here is what you need to keep in mind while tracking your opponents’ moves:

• What does your opponent need - Keep a check on the cards your opponent is discarding. Every discard tells you something about the game your opponent is playing. For example, if a player discards two 4s and one 3, it is more likely that they are looking to form a meld with high-value cards. So in this case, don’t discard your high-value cards which they might need. Similarly, keep an eye on the cards they are picking up too.
• Don’t make their melds for them - The most basic tongits strategy is to not discard a card that you see your opponent is collecting. Discard only those cards that you know no one can use. For example, if any player has laid down a meld of three Kings, you can offload your King card to reduce your points by 10, because no one else can use it.

2. Discarding with a strategy

Expert players know that discarding is not simply getting rid of points from the total tally. If used wisely, it is the best weapon you have against your opponents. An expert’s tongits game strategy always helps them to block the opponents and minimizes the risk of getting Burnt.

• Blocking opponents’ melds by discarding the right cards - When you are holding cards that can potentially complete an opponent’s run, you must discard the card that helps them the least. Understand it with this example: Your opponent is making a run of 7-8 of Hearts, and you hold the 6, 9 & 10 of Hearts. They can complete their run with your 9 & 10 of Hearts too, and reduce their points with high-value cards of 9 & 10. But if you discard the 6 of Hearts, they can still form a run of 6 & 7 of Hearts, but they can’t offload the points of high-value cards like 9 or 10. It means they will have to wait for those cards to show up in the Closed Pile. Now that is some serious advanced tongits strategy.

• Hide your intent by discarding correctly - Like we mentioned earlier, discarding can be the greatest weapon in your arsenal of advanced tongits techniques. Consider this; when you discard a high card suddenly, it can signal that you have a weak hand and your opponents can use this information to Challenge you. Similarly, if you sacrifice a small card like 3 or 4, that might be a part of your potential run, it makes your hand look a little less threatening and keeps your opponents in the dark.

3. Understand the set up of a Challenge

One of the best strategies in playing tongits is figuring out when your opponents are setting up for a Challenge. To really understand how to win in tongits, always consider these important points:

• Keep a count of their melds - Whenever an opponent lays down multiple melds back to back, it means they are getting ready for a Challenge on their next turn. So try to Sapaw on the meld as soon as possible.
• What are they discarding? The card discarded by the player sitting to your right always gives you a sense of what’s about to happen. This is always the most risky discard for you. If they discard a low-value card, it means they are about to finish all their melds. You should either prepare yourself for a Challenge or keep all your melds ready for points calculation.

How to win in tongits with advanced strategies

Now let’s delve into the advance strategies for tongits. These techniques mostly focus on the manipulation of cards, creating psychological pressure, and exploiting the errors of your opponents.

1. Sapaw Locking (Pasakay)

Sapaw Locking or Card Locking is one of the most effective defensive tongits game strategies. With this technique you try to block your opponents from doing a Sapaw on your melds i.e. adding their cards to your existing melds. The idea is to keep their total points on the higher side.

• How to do it - Always try to lay down a meld with the maximum length possible. The idea is to not give your opponents space to add on their cards. For example: If you have a meld of four 5s, lay all of them down together. In case you only have three 5s, and the game allows it, try to wait until you get the fourth 5 and only then, lay it down.
• Force them to discard - When you block an opponent from doing a Sapaw, you force them to discard that which they would have used to form a Sapaw. And if it is a high-value card, then you have more advantage as now their total points score is 10-points heavy. Use this strategy in playing tongits to gain the score advantage.

2. Pick up the cards carefully

One of the most highly-effective tongits tips is to pick up a card to set a trap.

The Bait - Let’s understand this with an example. You observe that Player A needs a Queen to form a meld, but before that you pick that Queen, even though it is a high-value card. It forces them to hold onto their high-value cards which keeps their score high or they completely drop that meld.

Conclusion: How to use your own tongits strategy to master the game

Once you have identified a tongits strategy, that is best suited to your game style and objective, stick to it for some time. Then keep on evolving to create more advanced tongits strategies. Also keep in mind your current expertise level and how to reach to the next level. Because a strategy that works at the beginners’ level will be ineffective at the expert level. The answer to the question of “how to win in tongits” is always consistency and regular practices.