How to Play Open Face Chinese Pineapple

What It Is

In Open Face Chinese Pineapple (OFC Pineapple), you make three poker hands from 13 cards. There are no betting rounds. You play for points against each opponent.

Two or three players sit at a table.

The goal is to win as many points as possible in the hand, or to lose as few as possible.

The Three Rows

• You put your cards in three rows in front of you.

How a Hand Goes

face down, only you see it face up, everyone sees it→ then you place them

1. 1Round 1→

   You get five cards face down. Put all five face up, in the rows that you choose.

2. 2Round 2→

   You get three cards face down. Put two face up in your rows. Discard the third face down.

3. 3Round 3→

   You get three cards face down. Put two face up in your rows. Discard the third face down.

4. 4Round 4→

   You get three cards face down. Put two face up in your rows. Discard the third face down.

5. 5Round 5→

   You get three cards face down. Put two face up in your rows. Discard the third face down. You now have 13 cards in front of you.

6. 6Scoring

   Your rows are compared with the rows of each opponent, and the points are counted.

• The player to the left of the dealer button acts first. The dealer acts last.
• The cards in your rows are face up, so everyone sees what you make. Nobody sees the cards that you discard.
• When you put a card in a row, you cannot move it.
• In a hand you get 17 cards: 5 in the first round and 3 in each of the next four rounds. You play 13 and discard 4.

How to Put Your Cards

• You can put each card in any row. But when the hand is complete, the bottom must be at least as strong as the middle, and the middle must be at least as strong as the top.
• The top has only three cards. Only pairs and three of a kind count there. There are no straights or flushes in the top.
• If the rows are not in this order, your hand is fouled. You lose all three rows against each opponent, and you get no royalties.
• Example: a flush in the bottom, a straight in the middle and a pair of sixes in the top. The hand is good.
• Example: K♠ K♥ 4♦ in the top and Q♣ Q♦ 9♠ 7♥ 2♣ in the middle. The top is stronger than the middle, so the hand is fouled.

How the Points Are Counted

• After the hand, compare top with top, middle with middle and bottom with bottom against each opponent. Then add the royalties.

• A fouled hand loses all three rows: the opponent gets +6 and you get −6.
• If both players foul, nobody gets points for the rows.

Royalties

• Royalties are bonus points for strong hands in a row. You get them from each opponent.
• You get them also when the opponent wins that row, but not when your hand is fouled.

Example: Anna wins the bottom and the middle against Bo, and Bo wins the top. Anna gets +1. Anna has a flush in the bottom (+4). Bo has QQ in the top (+7). Anna ends with 1 + 4 − 7 = −2, and Bo with +2.

Three Players

• With three players, each pair of players is scored on its own: the dealer against player 1, the dealer against player 2, and player 1 against player 2.
• You can never win more points from an opponent than you have yourself when you pay.

Count the Points

Open the OFC Points Calculator

In a Tournament

• In a tournament you play for chips, not points. Everyone starts with the same number of chips. Each point that you lose costs a number of chips: the price per point.
• The price per point is like the blinds in other poker games. It goes up when the level changes.
• Example: at 100 per point, each point costs 100 chips. If you lose 4 points to an opponent, you pay that player 400 chips.
• You can never win more chips from an opponent than you have yourself, and you can never lose more than you have.
• When you have no chips, you are out of the tournament.

Fantasyland

• If you have QQ or better in the top, and your hand is not fouled, you go to Fantasyland. In the next hand you get all your cards at the same time.
• You set your hand face down while the others play their rounds. When they have all their cards, you show your hand.
• The number of cards that you get comes from the top that took you there:

• In some variants you stay in Fantasyland for one more hand with four of a kind or better in the bottom, a full house or better in the middle, or three of a kind in the top.
• These tournaments do not use the rule to stay in Fantasyland. The Norwegian Poker Championship does not use it.

The Table Stays for Fantasyland

• When a player gets Fantasyland, the table stays where it is until all Fantasyland hands are played. The button does not move, and the price per point does not go up.
• The next hand is dealt with the same button and the same price per point, also when the level changed in the meantime.
• If a new player gets Fantasyland in that hand, one more hand is played in the same way.
• When a hand ends with no new Fantasyland, the button moves, and the new price per point starts with the next hand.
• On the page of the table, the dealer presses Fantasyland. The table then shows the price that it keeps, and the clock and the other tables go on. After the last Fantasyland hand, the dealer presses Fantasyland Done.

Example: Bo gets QQ in the top. The level changes while the hand is scored, from 100 to 200 per point. The Fantasyland hand is played at 100 per point, with the same button. In that hand Anna gets KK in the top, so one more hand is played at 100. Nobody gets Fantasyland in that hand. So the button moves, and the next hand costs 200 per point.