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| Origin | Shanghai, China |
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| Alternative names | 大怪路子, Wild Escape, The Joker's Way |
| Type | Shedding-type |
| Players | 6 |
| Age range | 12 - 60 |
| Cards | 162 (3 decks including jokers), 27 per person with 6 players |
| Deck | Anglo-American |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | Big Joker, Small Joker, 2 A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3, see below for special rules |
| Playing time | 10 minutes - 15 minutes |
| Related games | |
| Big Two | |
Wild Escape, also known as Daiguai Luzi (Mandarin: 大怪路子; pinyin: dà guài lù zi)) or The Joker's Way is a card game originating in Shanghai, China. It is a team game for 6 players and played with 3 decks of cards.
The objective of the game is to score, and increase the level.
A team wins the round only when they are first to escape, AND their team escapes before the other team. If one of the conditions is not achieved (i.e. one team makes the initial escape, but fails to fully escape before the other team), the round is a draw. If the offense team wins the round, they score and their "level" advances. The team with the highest "level" wins the match, and the game is usually played until one team reaches a specific "level". The first person to escape becomes the offense leader in the following round.
The first person to play in the round. Only the offense team can score (and raise the level). The first person to escape in a round is the offense leader in the next round.
The offense leader of the first round is decided by a random card draw.
Trump cards are higher than all other cards except jokers. Trump Cards are determined by the offense’s team level in each game. The trump card starts the game as Two, and can go up to Ace as the offense's team level advances.
When a player has played all of his cards, he has "escaped".
A player is trapped at the end of a round, if he still has cards after all the players on the opposing team have escaped.
A player can start a turn by playing:
Jokers can be used as wild cards. A wild card can become any single lower card in order to form a multi-card hand. For example, a joker and an Ace, could become a pair of Aces. The highest possible rank of the play will be taken, for instance, "Joker,6,7,8,9" always counts as "6,7,8,9,10" rather than "5,6,7,8,9".
During the game, a player can ask any other player for number of cards remaining in his hand. The other player must answer truthfully if he has less than 10 cards, otherwise he can refuse to answer.
Scoring is determined at the end of each round. The offense team is the team that started the round. The defending team is the opposing team.
As stated earlier:
If the offense team scores and advances a level, the trump card changes. At the start of the game, the trump card is 2. For example, when the offense team scores, the trump card becomes 3.
Each defending player who was trapped, has to pay a tribute to the offense team. A tribute is the highest card in his hand. The trapped player (#6) has to give one card to the player who escaped first (#1). If two players were trapped, then #5 has to give one card to #2. If three players were trapped, then #4 would have to give one card to #3.
If the tribute card is not a Joker, the receiver returns a single card of his choice. Some players use a rule if the tribute card is a Joker, the tribute receiver must offer two cards. The tribute giver can keep one of the two cards, or keep both cards and return a card higher than either card.
The tribute and return cards are made public to all players.