Basra

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. Basra
6. End of a hand
7. Scoring
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Basra is a fishing game from the Middle East. You play a card from your hand to capture cards lying face up on the table – the floor – either by matching a card's rank or by taking cards that add up to your card's value. Jacks and the 7♦ sweep the whole floor. Clearing the floor with any other card is a basra, worth 10 points. Points also come from the majority of cards, Jacks, Aces, the 2♣ and the 10♦. The first side to 101 points wins. This page describes the Egyptian version, the one most widely played.

• Players: 2, or 4 in two teams of two (partners sit opposite each other).
• You need: a standard 52-card deck, and paper and pen for scoring.

The cards

All 52 cards are used; suits do not matter except for the 2♣ and the 10♦. For capturing by adding, cards have values:

Setup

1. Direction: play goes to the right (anticlockwise).
2. Deal: the dealer gives 4 cards to each player, face down, then places 4 cards face up on the table: the floor. If the floor contains a Jack or the 7♦, the dealer slides it into the stock and deals a replacement.
3. The player to the dealer's right plays first.
4. When all hands are empty, the dealer deals 4 more cards to each player – none to the floor. This repeats until the stock is gone: 6 rounds of deals with 2 players, 3 with 4 players.

Playing a turn

Play one card from your hand face up. What it can capture depends on the card:

• Number cards (A to 10): take a floor card of the same rank. Or take any group of number cards whose values add up to your card's value – an Ace counts 1. You may take several groups in one turn, each matching or adding up to your card. If there are several ways to capture, choose one.
• Queen and King: take only cards of the same rank: a Queen takes Queens, a King takes Kings. Q and K have no value, so they never take part in a sum.
• Jack: takes all the cards on the floor, whatever they are. Played on an empty floor, it stays there.
• 7♦: takes all the cards on the floor too (on an empty floor it stays there, like a Jack).
• No capture: your card stays face up on the floor. You aren't forced to capture; you may lay a card down instead.

Your captured cards and your own card go face down on your side's pile.

Example: The floor shows 3♠ · 5♦ · 8♣ · K♥. Anna plays the 8♥. She takes the 8♣ (same rank) and 3♠ + 5♦ (which add up to 8) – two groups in one turn – and leaves the K♥. Ben plays the K♠, takes the K♥ and clears the floor: a basra.

Basra

If you capture all the cards from the floor with a card that isn't a Jack, that's a basra: 10 points. Put the capturing card face up and crosswise in your pile, so it can be counted later.

• A Jack sweeping the floor is not a basra.
• The 7♦ is a basra only when the floor is made up of number cards adding up to 10 or less; otherwise it just sweeps.

The next player starts on an empty floor.

End of a hand

After the last cards are played, the last player to capture takes any cards remaining on the floor. That is not a basra.

Scoring

Each side counts its pile:

If the piles are 26–26, nobody scores the 30 points.

Example: Ben's pile has 30 cards, 2 Jacks, 1 Ace, the 10♦ and one basra: 30 + 2 + 1 + 3 + 10 = 46. Anna's pile has the other 22 cards, 2 Jacks, 3 Aces and the 2♣: 2 + 3 + 2 = 7.

Winning the game

Play hands until one side reaches 101 points; the dealer changes each hand, passing to the right. If both sides pass 101 in the same hand, the higher score wins. If they are tied, play another hand. Serious players often play best of five games.

Tips for beginners

• The majority is the big prize. 30 points is more than all the other card points together, so take cards, not just scoring cards.
• Save your Jacks for a full floor. A Jack that sweeps a big floor wins the majority; a Jack thrown away early captures nothing.
• Watch a lone card. If one card is left on the floor, a matching card in your opponent's hand makes a basra. A Queen or King alone is especially risky.
• Count the sums. Before you play, check whether your card can take several groups at once.
• Keep an eye on the 2♣ and the 10♦. They are small prizes, but they decide close hands.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Forced capture: a card that can capture must capture.
• Longer games: play to 151.
• Lebanese Basra: 6 cards per player. A basra counts only for matching a lone card, or for clearing two lone cards with the sum of their values; the majority is worth only 3 points; and the 7♦ has no special power. Play to 101.