Goita

Overview

Goita is a 4-player partnership game from Noto, Ishikawa. Players form two teams by opening draw; each team then consists of two players.

The goal is to be the first team to reach 150 points.

Tiles

There are 32 tiles in 9 types:

Tile	Kanji	Count	Base score
King (1)	王	1	50
King (2)	玉	1	50
Rook	飛	2	40
Bishop	角	2	40
Gold	金	4	30
Silver	銀	4	30
Horse	馬	4	20
Lance	香	4	20
Pawn	し	10	10

Setup

Before dealing, each player draws one tile from a set of: し, し, 王, 玉. The player who draws 王 becomes the first attacker. The player who draws 玉 sits opposite as a teammate. The two players who draw し form the other team.

Each round is dealt with all 32 tiles face down. Each player gets 8 tiles.

The first dealer is the player who drew 王.

Gameplay

Play runs counterclockwise.

The parent starts and plays two tiles:

• one face-down tile (discard),
• one face-up tile (attack).

Receiving

After an attack, the other three players may respond in counterclockwise order:

• Receive the attack with a legal tile, and play a new attack tile,
• or Pass.

If all three players pass, the attacker continues the round by playing a new attack (again two tiles).

Receive Rules

• For most tiles, receive with the same tile type.
• King tiles (王/玉) can be used to receive any attack except Lance (香) and Pawn (し).
• An attacking King tile must be received by the same tile (王 by 王, 玉 by 玉).
• A King tile can be used as an attacking tile only when:
  • you hold both King tiles (王 and 玉), or
  • one of King tiles is already face-up on the table.

Scoring

The first player to empty their hand wins the round. Scoring for normal round win is the point value of the final attack tile.

If the final two tiles are the same type and the receiving tile was played face down, this is Goshi ×2.

Special Hands

Special hands are checked at deal time.

• 五し (5 pawns)
  • A player who has 5 pawns may choose whether to declare “五し” (declaration is optional).
  • If a team declares, only their partner chooses “Redeal” or “Continue”.
  • If both teams declare “五し”, redeal is immediate and mandatory.
• 六し (6 pawns)
  • Score is based on the two non-pawn tiles:
    • same tile: double that tile’s base score,
    • different tiles: higher tile value.
• 七し (7 pawns): 2 × the score of the remaining tile.
• 八し (8 pawns): 100 points.
• Goshi-Goshi (same-team double 五し): both partners on the same team have five pawns. That team wins the entire game immediately, regardless of the 150-point target.

Winning Condition

The first team to reach 150 points wins.