Card games

I keep forgetting how to play some of my favourite card games, so here’s a quick summary of rules, home tweaks and such.

Rumba

• Players: At least 2, though it gets better with more.
• Goal: End the round with the least points possible. Points are assigned by card number (regardless of suit), like this:
  • 5: -1 point
  • 12 (king): 0 points
  • The rest: points=number, so 2=2points, 11 (knight)=11 points, etc.
• Rules:

1. Each player gets 4 covered cards, in two rows. These remain hidden the whole time. The rest are left in the center, as a drawing deck.
2. The lower row can be seen by the player once. The cards must be memorized, as you can’t see them again. The upper row remains unseen
3. Players draw a card from the drawing deck. They can, then:
   • Discard it
   • Exchange the drawn card with one of the four hidden ones.
4. Discarding any number between 8 and 11 causes interesting effects:
   • 8: allows you to peek at one of your own cards.
   • 9: allows you to peek at one of your rival’s cards.
   • 10: you can exchange any of your cards for one of the rival’s, without looking.
   • 11: Same as 10, but looking. These effects only apply to cards discarded from the drawing deck, not exchanged ones.
5. As a special rule: if a number you remember having in your square ends up in the discarded deck, you can discard your card (as long as you remember where it is!), effectively reducing the number of cards you are left with to 3 out of 4 (and so on). If, by mistake, the card you tried to discard is not the same as the one in the discarded deck, you have to keep both as a punishment (raising your deck to 5 cards, or more). You can even use your information of other people’s cards to unveil their cards, in which case they don’t discard it but gain both (see example below).
6. Once a player is satisfied with their point count, they call “Rumba!” during their turn, and the game ends after all the other players draw one card last time.

• Example round: 2 people play. Player 1 has, in their lower row of cards, an 8 and a 5. Player 2 has a 4 and another 8.

1. Player 1 draws an 8. They remember having an 8, so they discard it and discover their own 8. Player 1 is left with a 5 (a very good card, as it gives negative points!) and two unkown ones in his upper row. The discarded 8 also allows them to peek at one of them: it’s a 1.
2. Player 2 draws a 10. Without looking, he exchanges is 8 for the lower remaining card of player 1, the 5.
3. Player 1 draws a 5. He exchanges it for the card he just received, guessing it’s a bad one. His cards are now: 5 (again), 1, and an unkown one.
4. Player 2 draws a 9. They see one of the rival’s cards: the unkown one for player 1 is a 9. They inmediattely unveil it, so player one receives both 9s (as it is the same number as the discarded pile). This could have happened also at any point of the game, as long as player 2 remembered where the 9 was correctly. Player 2 calls rumba, knowing that after receiving 18 points there is no way player 1 is going to win.
5. Player 1 draws a 4 and exchanges it for one of the new 9s. Cards are unveiled:
   • Player 1 has: 9,4 5,1, so, in points, 9+4-1+1= 13 points. A pretty bad score.
   • Player 2 has: 5, 4, and 2 he didn’t check in the upper row, which where, luckily for him, 12 and 3. He has -1+4+0+2 = 5 points, winning this round.

• Special notes: Rumba is, above all, a game of memory and partial information. Playing with +3 players is the recommended setting. Any circumstances that impede your short term memory (distracting a player, confusing them, or others) make this game potentially hilarious. Easily one of my favourite games.

Mentiroso

• Players: At least 3. the more, the better.
  • 2 player adaptation: You can play with 2, as long as you discard your numbers when you accumulate 4 of the same, and add a considerable ammount of jokers (recommended: 3-4) to avoid situations where lies are evident. Also, if a single player accumulates all jokers for several turns, there should be a way to equilibrate the load, though how many rounds and whether that is fair is left to personal preference.
• Goal: Discard all your cards.
• Rules: Each round, a player places any number of cards in the center, covered, announcing a number (for example: 3 cards of 5s). Players have to match with any number of cards, as long as they are 5s as well. They, of course, can lie, and place there any other numbers as if they were fives. They can be called out by the next player: after uncovering the last card (or set of cards, if multiple were played), if the card was indeed the number it was claimed to (in this example, 5), the accusator gets all the cards in the table. If it was a lie, the liar keeps them. Jokers count as any card you want. Keeping 4 cards of the same suit in your hand is not allowed: you must take them out of the game, as you know everyone will have to lie forcibly, or play jokers.
• Example round:
• Notes: a simple game where the whole fun comes from the social tensions arising from catching lies. It’s a fun game.

Brisca

• Players:
  • 2 player adaptation:
• Goal:
• Rules:
• Example round:

Culo

• Players:
• Goal:
• Rules:
• Example round:

Tresillo

• Players:
• Goal:
• Rules:
• Example round:

Siete y media

• Players:
• Goal:
• Rules:
• Example round:

La pocha

• Players:
• Goal:
• Rules:
• Example round: