Get ready to rethink how you play cards. If you are tired of mobile card games that play you instead of the other way around, it is time to step up to the board. Sanshui: Poker Puzzle (三水) is a completely new take on Chinese Poker where you master the waters while the board constantly changes. This is an all-ages logic puzzle built for strategy purists and puzzle solvers, not a gambling game.
The rules are grounded in the classic architecture of Mậu Binh. You are dealt exactly 13 cards. Your objective is absolute: arrange those cards into three distinct rows, known as “waters.” You build a 3-card front water, a 5-card middle water, and a 5-card back water. The golden rule of Sanshui is that each row must be at least as strong as the one in front of it. Your middle must beat your front, and your back must beat your middle. If you miscalculate and violate this scaling rule, your entire hand fouls. If the game stopped there, it would be a brilliant, static brain-teaser. But the board refuses to sit still.
Just when you think you have calculated the perfect structural play, the Token Drop changes everything. Every single round, game-altering tokens plummet onto the board, aggressively mutating the rows they touch. A hand that was mathematically flawless a second ago can suddenly become a foul, forcing you to recalculate your entire strategy on the fly.
Adders give you an edge by granting a specific water an extra card, breaking the standard math and opening up new lines. Blocks brutally snipe and remove the highest card in your row. Hazards are absolute wipeouts—they instantly void an entire water, demanding immediate damage control. Spy and Swap tokens force a tactical trade of cards with your opponent, creating massive momentum swings. And when you are truly backed into a corner, Flush and Straight triangles serve as bailouts, completely rewriting a struggling row.
There are no predatory algorithms or pay-to-win mechanics here. Every player gets the exact same odds on every token drop. More importantly, every single puzzle you face is guaranteed to be 100% solvable by our engine. If you fail, it is not because the game was rigged; it is because you missed the critical path—if you’re smart enough to find it. An adaptive AI coach monitors your play, scaling the difficulty from Apprentice to Master tiers to keep you in flow.
You can tackle endless challenges in Puzzle Mode, or step into Timed Mode, where you race a ruthless clock to build your “Presence”—your longest unbroken solving streak on the global leaderboard. For the ultimate test, Shen Mode plunges you into a boss fight, surviving a 10-second curse window before a frantic 35-second sprint against Master Shen himself.
Launch day is December 23rd, 2026, at 1900 EST. But you can secure your copy right now. Head to our browser version to play the free demo covering the first 50 levels. The first 5000 people to sign up with their email will receive a promo code for the FULL game release, on release day, absolutely free. Additionally, if you sign up to be an Android tester you will get the full unlocked game weeks before launch!
Master the waters today: fourstreetplo.com. The board is waiting.
Climb higher!
