Bura

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a trick
5. Drawing from the stock
6. Special combinations
7. Claiming 31
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Bura is a fast Russian gambling game. It is a trick-taking game: players take turns playing cards, and whoever plays the best cards wins them all – together they form a trick. What makes Bura unusual is that you may lead up to three cards at once. The cards in your tricks are worth points, and you win the hand by being the first to stop the game and correctly claim that you have 31 points or more – counted only in your head. Three trumps in your hand – a Bura – win straight away.

• Players: 2 to 4; best with 2 (up to 6 are possible).
• You need: one standard 52-card deck and some chips or tokens (matches, beans, coins) for the pot – the pile of stakes the winner of each hand collects.

The cards

Take out the 2s, 3s, 4s and 5s and the jokers. You play with the remaining 36 cards: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7, 6 of each suit.

The Ten ranks just below the Ace, above the King. From high to low, the cards are worth these card points:

All 36 cards together are worth 120 card points.

Setup

1. Dealer: choose the first dealer at random. Later, whoever claimed in the last hand deals.
2. Stakes: everyone puts the same stake – say 1 chip – into the pot.
3. Deal: the dealer shuffles and deals the cards face down, one at a time, clockwise, until everyone has 3 cards.
4. Trump card: the dealer turns up the next card. Its suit is trump for this hand – trump cards beat all cards of the other suits. The trump card lies face up on the table.
5. Stock: the remaining cards are placed face down and crosswise on top of the trump card, so it stays visible. This pile is the stock (draw pile); the trump card is its bottom card and is drawn last.

With 2 players the non-dealer leads to the first trick. With more players, the player to the dealer's left leads, and play goes clockwise.

Playing a trick

The player on lead chooses what to play:

• one card, or
• two or three cards of the same suit together.

Everyone else in turn must play the same number of cards. You may play any cards you like – you never have to follow suit, and you never have to win the trick even if you could.

What beats what: a card is beaten by a higher card of the same suit, and any non-trump card is beaten by any trump. A card of a different, non-trump suit never beats anything.

Beating several cards: if two or three cards were led, you must beat each of them with one of your cards. Your cards don't have to be the same suit as each other. If even one card stays unbeaten, you don't win the trick.

Example: Hearts are trumps. Anna leads ♣K ♣9 together. Ben holds ♣A, ♥6 and ♠10. He beats the ♣K with the ♣A and the ♣9 with the trump ♥6 – both cards are beaten, so Ben wins the trick, worth 4 + 0 + 11 + 0 = 15 card points. Had Ben held ♣A, ♠8, ♠7 instead, he could beat only one of the two cards and would lose the trick anyway – so he throws ♠8 ♠7, which are worth nothing, and keeps his Ace.

With more than two players, each player has to beat the cards that are currently winning the trick – not just the lead.

Example (3 players): Diamonds are trumps. Anna leads ♠Q ♠7. Ben plays ♦9 and ♠J: the trump beats the Queen and the Jack beats the 7, so Ben is now winning. Carl holds ♦K, ♦8 and ♠9. To take the trick he would have to beat Ben's ♦9 and ♠J – that needs both his trumps. He may prefer to throw ♦8 and ♠9, keep the ♦K for later and let Ben win.

The winner of the trick puts all its cards face down in a pile in front of them. Don't look at your tricks again – you have to remember what they are worth.

Drawing from the stock

After each trick, everyone draws cards from the stock, one at a time, clockwise, starting with the trick winner, until everyone has 3 cards again. Then the trick winner leads to the next trick.

If there are not enough cards left in the stock for everyone to fill up, the remaining stock cards are not used. You carry on playing with the cards in your hands until they are gone.

Special combinations

Some three-card hands let you take the lead at the start of a trick even if you didn't win the last one. Announce them before anyone leads. From highest to lowest:

1. Bura – any three trumps. Show them: you win the pot at once, and the hand is over.
2. Three Aces – you take the lead and lead all three Aces together.
3. Molodka ("young lady") – three cards of the same non-trump suit. You take the lead and lead them together.

If two players announce the same kind of combination, the one who would normally play earlier to the trick gets the lead. If two players have a Bura, the earlier one leads it, the other plays theirs to it, and whoever wins that trick wins the pot.

Claiming 31

Whenever you believe your tricks hold 31 card points or more, you may stop the game and claim. Turn your tricks face up and count:

• 31 or more: you win and take the whole pot. Everyone then puts in a new stake for the next hand.
• 30 or fewer: a wrong claim – you must double the pot by adding as many chips as it already holds. The pot stays for the next hand.

Either way, the player who claimed deals the next hand.

If all cards have been played and nobody has claimed, nobody wins: the cards are thrown in, everyone adds another stake to the pot, and the same dealer deals again.

Example: Anna and Ben each put 1 chip in – the pot holds 2. Ben has won three tricks. He remembers ♣K ♣9 ♣A ♥6 (15), ♠10 ♦J (12) and ♥Q ♦7 (3) – 30 points. Then he wins ♠K ♠8 (4), which makes 34. He stops the game, turns his tricks over, the count is right: Ben takes the 2 chips and deals next. Had he claimed after the third trick with only 30, he would have had to add 2 chips, and the next pot would start at 4 plus the new stakes.

Winning the game

Bura has no fixed end – each hand is won or lost on its own. Play as long as you like, or until someone runs out of chips; whoever has the most chips at the end is the winner.

Tips for beginners

• Count every trick. Keep a running total in your head – claiming too early doubles the pot, claiming too late lets your opponent get there first.
• Watch your opponent's tricks too. If they must be close to 31, it may be time to take a risk.
• Lead in pairs and threes. Two or three cards of one suit are hard to beat, because every single card has to be topped.
• Give away zeros. When you can't win a trick, throw 6s to 9s, not Tens and Aces.
• Hold on to trumps. Two trumps in your hand are one draw away from a Bura.

Variants

All of these are optional – agree on them before you start.

• Closed cards: a very popular way to play. The lead is face up, and so is any play that beats the best cards so far. All other cards are played face down. You may also play a card that would win face down on purpose, but then it can't win. Nobody – not even the trick winner – may look at face-down cards until someone claims, so you are never quite sure what your tricks are worth.
• Three Aces win: three Aces win the pot like a Bura (if nobody has a Bura). Other players don't use three Aces or Molodka at all.
• Moscow and Little Moscow: in some Russian rules, three Aces are called Moscow and beat even a Bura. Little Moscow – three 6s including the trump 6 – lets you take the lead and beats a Molodka.
• Redeal: a Bura, Moscow or Molodka held straight from the deal doesn't count – the cards are dealt again.
• Claim on your turn only: you may only stop the game when it is your turn to play.
• 32 cards: leave out the 6s as well.
• Playing for points: instead of chips, the loser of each hand (and anyone who claims wrongly) gets 2 penalty points; whoever reaches 12 loses the game. Or count won hands: first to 21 (or 11) wins, with a lead of at least 2.
• Kozel ("goat"): a longer relative. Everyone gets 4 cards, you may lead one card or three of the same suit, and the hand is played to the end: whoever has taken the most card points wins. Four Aces or a Bura win at once.