The company I interned at back in '08 had multiple Tichu games going daily over lunch. It's where I learned to love the game. Sadly, they had a hiring freeze when I graduated in '09, and I had to move on. I still play, but I will always look back fondly on those daily games over lunch.

When I do play Tichu these days, it's actually with the designer of Haggis, Sean Ross. He's been putting out a lot of traditionally inspired games over the past few years. He just published a game called Bacon which is a climbing game based on the traditional climbing game Guan Dan (https://www.pagat.com/climbing/guan_dan.html). I'd recommend checking out both games! The hand size in Guan Dan is 27 cards, and that's not even the most in a traditional climbing game!

An updated version of Haggis will also be coming out later this year, and it will support playing up to 6 players. The 4-player partnership version is particularly good. The reprint will also include some updated rules for the 3-player game, which I like a lot too.

(I'd give you some BGG links, but it looks like it's currently down for maintenance.)

That aside, Pagat is truly a gem. One of the best sites on the internet. I have spent hours and hours there learning and trying obscure card games. Thank you, John McLeod.

most excellent. i've had a little interaction with sean, and recall some thoughts he shared in a thread about changes to haggis (in bgg). love to hear there is an update coming later this year!

something i like about my copies of the original printing are the little rule/scoring cards that were great to hand to friends learning. i would love to pick up reprints

mcleod++ thanks for the info