How to play Marriage (Nepali rummy)

म्यारिज

Marriage (म्यारिज) is Nepal’s big rummy game: three decks shuffled together, 21 cards each, and a hidden joker called the tiplu that turns some cards into maal (points). You build sequences and sets, “see” the maal by showing your first sequences, and race to finish your hand.

Khelau plays Marriage with the Khelau Classic rules below. Practise against bots, join a public table, or open a private room for your friends with your own house rules.

Play Marriage free

No download, no sign-up. Works on phones, tablets and computers.

Quick facts

Players: 2 to 5
Cards: Three 52-card decks plus 3 printed Jokers (159 cards)
Deal: 21 cards each
Groups: Pure sequences, trials and tunnelas
Game length: 5 rounds by default (1, 3, 5, 7 or 10)
Ways to play: Bots, online table, private room, point calculator

The cards

After the deal, one card is set aside face down as the tiplu, and one is turned up to start the discard pile.
A Master Card, one ordinary card shown to everyone, is a joker for whoever holds it.
A pure sequence is 3 or more cards in a row of one suit, from A-2-3 up to Q-K-A (never K-A-2).
A trial is three cards of one rank in three different suits. A tunnela is three identical cards.

A turn

Draw the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. A joker or maal card can be picked up too.
If you can, show your sequences or finish.
Throw one card onto the discard pile. You can’t throw back the card you just picked up.

On your first turn of a round you may show straight from the hand you were dealt, before drawing. The player on the dealer’s left starts, and the deal moves round each round.

Seeing the maal

To see the maal, show 3 pure sequences or tunnelas (trials don’t count). After your discard you see the tiplu. From then on the cards of the tiplu’s rank, the jhiplu and poplu, and the printed Jokers are your jokers, and your maal counts.

Three tunnelas shown together win the round at once.

Dublee: at tables of 4 or more you can instead show 7 identical pairs, and 8 pairs finish. A Dublee player draws only from the stock.

Finishing and scoring

You finish when every card in your hand is in a group and you make a last discard. Then each seen player’s maal is counted (one, two or three of a kind):

Tiplu: 3, 8 or 15
Jhiplu or poplu: 2, 5 or 10
Alter (same rank and colour as the tiplu, other suit): 5, 15 or 35
Printed Joker (Man): 5, 15 or 35
Marriage (jhiplu, tiplu and poplu together): 10 in hand, 15 if shown in an opening sequence
Master Card: 5 in a shown sequence, 10 held

Settling the round

Each player gets the number of players times their own maal, minus all the maal on the table. Every other player also pays the finisher 3 points if they have seen, or 10 if they haven’t. The points always add up to zero.

Murder (the default): an unseen player’s maal counts for nobody. With Kidnap, the finisher takes it. After the last round (5 by default) the highest total wins.

Marriage terms

Tiplu: The hidden joker card, and every card of its rank and suit.
Jhiplu, poplu: One rank below and one rank above the tiplu, in its suit.
Alter (ulter): Same rank and colour as the tiplu, in the other suit of that colour.
Maal: The point cards, counted only once you have seen.
Seen, unseen: Whether a player has shown and looked at the tiplu.
Tunnela: Three identical cards.
Trial: One rank in three suits.
Dublee: An identical pair; seven of them make a Dublee show.
Man: A printed Joker.

Ways to play on Khelau

Practice: 1 to 4 bots (Easy, Medium or Hard), with hints on or off.
Play Online: a public table. Bots fill the empty seats after a minute.
Play with Friends: create a room and send the code or invite link. The host picks the house rules (2 to 5 players, Murder or Kidnap, Dublee, Master Card, rounds, turn timer, automatic or manual show) and everyone accepts them before the game starts.
Point calculator: count the points of a game played with real cards.

म्यारिज कसरी खेल्ने

म्यारिज तीन गड्डी तास र तीनवटा जोकर मिसाएर खेलिने नेपाली रमी हो। हरेकले २१ पत्ता पाउँछन्। तीनवटा शुद्ध सिक्वेन्स वा टनेला देखाएपछि टिप्लु हेर्न पाइन्छ र माल गनिन्छ।

राउन्डभरि उही टिप्लु रहन्छ। सबै पत्ता मिलाएर अन्तिम पत्ता फालेपछि खेल सकिन्छ। खेलौँमा बटसँग अभ्यास गर्नुहोस् वा साथीहरूसँग अनलाइन खेल्नुहोस्।

Questions

How many cards does each player get in Marriage?

21 cards each, dealt from three decks plus three printed Jokers.

What is the tiplu in Marriage?

The hidden joker card set aside after the deal. Once you have seen it, cards of its rank are jokers, and the tiplu, jhiplu, poplu and alter are maal (points).

What does seen mean in Marriage?

A player is seen once they have shown three pure sequences or tunnelas and looked at the tiplu. Only seen players’ maal counts, and an unseen player pays the finisher 10 points instead of 3.

Can I play Marriage with friends online?

Yes. Open Play with Friends, create a room and send the code or invite link. The host picks the house rules and everyone accepts them before the game starts.

Is Marriage on Khelau free?

Yes. It is free in your browser, with no download and no sign-up.

Can Khelau count the points of a real-card game?

Yes. Marriage has a point calculator for games played with real cards.

Play Marriage now