Build
Collect the sets and runs required for each hand while keeping your options open.
Shanghai
Play the table, not just the cards.
A classic Shanghai-style rummy game for iPhone, built around strategic contracts, rapping, jokers, and computer opponents that think and react independently.
A familiar card game with opponents that feel different.
Play a four-hand or full seven-hand game against one to four computer opponents. Build the required sets and runs, decide when to go down, manage high-value jokers, and watch what the other players reveal along the way.
The computer players do not share one strategy. Each opponent has an individual personality, memory, skill profile, risk tolerance, and defensive style—so the player who raps aggressively may not be the one who remembers what you picked up three turns ago.
Read the table
Watch pickups, raps, melds, joker movement, and other public clues about what your opponents may be building.
Decide
Rap, defend, go down, hold back, play off the table, or push for a down-and-out finish.
Four hands or the full seven.
Shanghai supports two complete game formats, both using 11-card hands, two standard decks, four jokers, and cumulative scoring. The four-hand game moves quickly through alternating set and run contracts. The seven-hand game builds toward increasingly demanding combinations.
Four-hand game
A shorter game built around two-set, two-run, three-set, and three-run contracts.
Seven-hand game
The full sequence, progressing through mixed set-and-run contracts before the final three-run hand.
Lowest score wins
Cards left in your hand count against you when another player goes out. Scores accumulate across the entire game.
See a discard you want before your turn? Knock.
Rapping changes the table.
Shanghai includes the game’s distinctive rap mechanic. An eligible player can rap for a discard, but the next player still has first refusal. If that player declines, the earliest valid rapper receives the discard plus two additional cards—and spends one of only two raps available for the hand.
The result is more than another way to draw. A rap can expose what someone wants, create a much larger hand, invite a defensive pickup, or turn a weak hand into something entirely different.
Inside Shanghai
Set the table, play the hand, and understand every move.
Computer opponents with their own way of playing.
Each opponent can be assigned a personality and customized across nine separate behavior attributes.
Defensive
Remembers what others appear to need and may deny useful cards.
Conservative
Tends to reduce risk and avoid unnecessarily large hands.
Aggressive
Pushes toward contracts quickly and raps more readily.
Gambler
Accepts larger hands and speculative plays in pursuit of a bigger payoff.
Tune Memory, Meld Skill, Defensive Play, Rap Aggression, Risk Tolerance, Score Awareness, Joker Strategy, Going-Out Skill, and Rap Timing from 1 to 5.
Designed for a complete game at your own pace.
- 2–5 total players
- One human against 1–4 independent computer opponents
- Four-hand and seven-hand game formats
- Full rap mechanics, including the two-player variant
- Sets, runs, jokers, joker replacement, and play-on rules
- Editable opponent names and personalities
- Nine independently adjustable AI skill attributes
- Simple or detailed AI explanations
- Optional table talk
- Automatic save and exact resume
- Restart hand and restart game controls
- Separate four-hand and seven-hand leaderboard statistics
- Portrait and landscape gameplay
- In-app How to Play and complete rules reference
- No account required
Questions
Shanghai FAQ
How many people can play?
Shanghai supports two to five total players: one human player and one to four computer opponents.
What is rapping?
Rapping lets an eligible player knock for a discard outside their normal turn. The next player still has first refusal. If that player declines, the first valid rapper receives the discarded card plus two stock cards and uses one of their two raps for the hand.
How are the computer players different?
Each computer opponent maintains its own memory, beliefs, personality, and nine skill attributes. They respond only to information that player could legitimately know; they do not share hidden hands, intentions, or a common omniscient strategy.
Can I change the difficulty?
Yes. You can choose an opponent personality and independently adjust nine behavior attributes from 1 to 5, including memory, meld skill, defensive play, rap aggression, risk tolerance, score awareness, joker strategy, going-out skill, and rap timing.
What happens if I leave in the middle of a game?
Shanghai automatically saves the current game and supports exact resume. You can also explicitly Save and Exit, restart the current hand while keeping earlier scores, or restart the entire game.
Strategy. Solutions. Impact.
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