Cuarenta▶Play

Cuarenta uses 40 cards: A, 2 to 7, J, Q and K in four suits, with the 8s, 9s and 10s taken out. Suits never matter. The deck is played out in one hand of four deals; each deal gives five cards to each player and the table starts the hand empty. The player who did not deal plays first in every deal, and the dealer changes each hand.

On your turn you play one card. A card captures a table card of the same rank (any rank, faces included), or a number card from A to 7 captures two or more number cards that add up to it. After a match or a sum you also take the next higher rank on the table, then the next, as long as the run is unbroken in the order A-2-3-4-5-6-7-J-Q-K — so a 5 can take a 5, a 6, a 7 and a J in one go. A card that can capture must capture; a card that cannot stays on the table.

Points come in twos. Caída, +2: you match the card your rival put down on the turn just before yours (never across a new deal). Limpia, +2: your capture clears the table, so a caída that clears it is worth 4. Ronda, +2: you were dealt three cards of one rank, scored automatically while you have under 30 points. Four of a kind dealt wins the game on the spot. A side on 38 no longer scores limpias.

When the deck is used up the piles are counted and the cards left on the table count for nobody. A pile of 20 cards scores 6 points and every extra card adds 1, rounded up to an even number (21 or 22 cards give 8, 23 or 24 give 10). If neither pile reaches 20, the bigger pile scores 2, and a tie goes to the player who deals next — that player also takes the 6 points of a 20–20 split. The first to 40 points wins the game.

Your score is the number of games you win in a row. The rival starts at level 1 and gains one level with every game you win, up to level 4 from your fourth game: level 1 plays at random, level 2 grabs the biggest capture, level 3 also counts the cards that are gone to avoid giving away caídas and limpias, and level 4, before every card, plays the rest of the deal out in its head over and over with different guesses at your hand. Losing a game ends the run, so does a drawn game (both players dealt four of a kind) and so does New. The saved score is streak × 10,000 plus your winning margins added up, at most 9,999.

Tips & strategy

Every card you leave on the table is an invitation. If the rival holds the same rank, the very next play is a caída worth 2 points, and the rival also walks off with any run above it. So before dropping a card, count: there are only four of each rank, and every one already captured or showing is one the rival cannot have. A rank with three gone is almost safe; a rank you have not seen at all is the riskiest card in your hand. The last card the dealer plays in a deal is always safe from a caída, because the next deal starts fresh.

Watch the size of the table, not only what you can take. A single card left alone, or two small numbers that add up to 7 or less, can be swept by one card for a limpia. If your capture would leave one lonely card, sometimes it is better to play another card and keep the table crowded. Faces are useful here: a J, Q or K can only be matched, never added, so a table of mixed faces is hard to clear.

Runs are where the big captures come from. A low card that matches can drag 6, 7, J, Q and K along with it, so the more consecutive ranks lie on the table, the more a matching card is worth. Look before you drop a card into a run: putting a 6 next to a 7 and a J hands whoever holds a 6 three cards and a caída at once.

The count decides most hands. Twenty cards are worth 6 points, about as much as three caídas, and each card after that is another point, so a capture of four cards late in the hand can be worth more than a caída. Your pile counter turns gold at 20. Remember the special scores: from 30 points rondas no longer count, and on 38 a limpia scores nothing, so the last points must come from a caída or the count.