Quick Play · Private rooms · Solo practice

Play Shanghai together, wherever your table is

The seven-round rummy game your family plays at the kitchen table — in a browser, on a phone, with everybody at once.

Quick Play

Find three players

Join the next compatible four-seat table. It starts in one minute, sooner when everybody arrives, and computer players fill any gaps.

Competitive online play

Account required · server-authoritative results

Only authoritative Quick Play results affect competitive rankings.

Private room

Keep a table for your people

Create a lasting room, invite friends, choose its rules, and keep every game in the room’s history for standings and head-to-head comparisons.

Private by design

Invites · room stats · custom rules

Room membership is authoritative; a forwarded URL alone cannot grant entry.

Never played? Practise on your own — computer players, straight away, nobody waiting on you.

The Shanghai table seen from above: four other players across the green felt with their names and scores on coloured plates, the face-down pile and the discard pile ringed in gold in the middle, and your own hand of cards fanned out along the bottom.
A hand in progress: Grandma to play, both piles ringed in gold.

Getting everyone sat down

Three steps, and your mother is already playing

  1. Create your room

    Call it thanksgiving or sunday, choose the rules, and keep it for every game your group plays.

  2. Invite your people

    Send a private invitation. Membership, not a guessable URL, decides who can enter.

  3. Play on phone or web

    Sign in with the same account and your room, friends, and shared history follow you.

Nobody free tonight? Join Quick Play instead, and play with three other players; computer players fill any empty seats after one minute.

The Shanghai table on a phone: four players across the top of the green felt, the two piles glowing in the middle, an arrow pointing from your seat up to them, and your own hand fanned across the bottom of the screen.
The same table on a phone. Everyone else is across the top, the two piles glow in the middle, and your own cards are along the bottom where only you can see them.

The point of the game

Two things to build, seven rounds to build them in

Every round has a contract — the combination you have to put down on the table before you can do anything else. Round one wants two sets. Round seven wants three runs. Get rid of all your cards and the round ends; everyone else counts what is still in their hand against them. The lowest score after seven rounds wins. Read the full rules.

A set laid face up on the green felt: the nine of hearts, the nine of clubs and the nine of spades side by side under the table lamp.
A set — three of the same number, any suits.
A run laid face up on the green felt: the five, six, seven and eight of diamonds in order, all of the same suit.
A run — four or more in a row, all one suit.

Nobody has to ask

The table tells you when it is your turn

The seat lights up, and the pile you are allowed to take from is ringed in gold with an arrow pointing at it. Nobody has to say "whose go is it?" down a phone line, and nobody has to remember what this round wants — it is written on the screen the whole time.

Private rooms also keep the table together between games: the room history, standings, and head-to-head results remain there when everyone comes back.

The middle of the table: the face-down pile on the left and the thrown-away five of diamonds on the right, both ringed in gold light because it is your turn to take a card from one of them.
It is your turn to draw: the face-down pile on the left and the thrown-away five of diamonds on the right, both ringed in gold light.

Made for the whole family

Cards you can read at arm’s length

Half the people at a family table are over seventy and playing on a phone. So the deck is the ordinary red-and-blue one you have played with for forty years — but the number and suit in the corner are printed at twice the usual size.

  • You can see the whole table. Everyone’s cards, both piles, everything laid down — from above, the way it looks when you are sitting there.
  • Nobody is left behind. Drop off the wifi and come straight back to your seat and your hand.
  • Nothing to buy, ever. No betting, no chips, no money in the game at all.
Four cards at the right-hand end of your fan, close up: the four of spades, the seven of hearts, the eight of clubs and the eight of hearts, each with its number and suit printed oversized in the top corner.
The right-hand end of your own fan, close up. The four of spades, seven of hearts, eight of clubs and eight of hearts — each with its number and suit printed oversized in the corner.

A small thing

Seven printed backs come with the game

A table is dealt from one of them. It is the sort of detail nobody asks for and everybody notices — the same way a real house has its own pack in the drawer.

The seven card backs a table can be dealt from, standing side by side on the felt: the same stained-glass pattern printed in gold, navy, red, yellow, green, blue-and-red, and grey.
The same stained-glass pattern in seven colourways. One of them is your table’s.

Before you start

Questions people ask

Is it free?
Yes. There is no charge and no money in the game. Online multiplayer uses an account; solo practice does not.
What is the difference between the two tables?
Quick Play finds a four-seat match and fills gaps with computer players after one minute. A private room is a lasting members-only table with invitations, custom rules, and shared history.
Can I play on my own against the computer?
Yes. Solo practice starts immediately with computer players and does not require an account.
How many people can play?
Quick Play has four seats. Private rooms support two to eight seats.
Do we need to download anything?
No. It runs in the browser on a phone, a tablet or a computer.
Is Shanghai the same as gin rummy?
No — they are cousins. Here is the difference.
What if my mother has never played a game online?
She types her name and taps a card. There is a reminder of what the round wants on every screen, and the pile she may take from glows.
What is it actually called?
Shanghai, contract rummy, Liverpool rummy, progressive rummy — the same game, under whichever name your family uses.

Deal everyone in

Find a four-seat match, or create a lasting private room for your people.

Competitive online play requires an account.

Private: persistent membership, rules, and stats.