Burraco

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Melds
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. The pozzetti
7. Closing
8. Scoring
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Burraco is a partnership game from the Canasta family, hugely popular in Italy. You and your partner lay out cards on the table in scoring groups called melds – sets of equal cards and runs in a suit. A meld of seven or more cards is a burraco and earns a big bonus. Each side also has a second hand waiting, the pozzetto, which the first player of the side to empty their hand picks up. A hand ends when someone "closes" by getting rid of all their cards; the first side to reach 2005 points or more over several hands wins.

• Players: 4, in two partnerships; partners sit opposite each other. Everything laid out belongs to the whole side: partners share melds and score. (Versions for 2 and 3 are under Variants.)
• You need: two standard 52-card decks and 4 jokers (108 cards), shuffled together, and paper and pencil.

The cards

Wild cards (jokers and 2s) can stand in for a missing card in a meld. A 2 can also be used as an ordinary 2 in a run of its own suit. All other cards are natural.

Melds

A meld is at least three cards laid face up in front of your side. Once on the table, you or your partner may add more cards to it later. You may never add to the opponents' melds.

• Set: three or more cards of the same rank, such as 10 10 10 or 4 4 4 4 2. Your side may have only one set of each rank. A set may not be made only of wild cards – three 2s are not a set.
• Run: three or more cards of the same suit in a row, such as 7♥ 8♥ 9♥. The order is A 2 3 … 10 J Q K A: the Ace can go below the 2 or above the King, but not both in the same run. Your side may have two separate runs in the same suit, but runs can never be joined or split.

Wild cards: each meld may contain at most one wild card. A 2 sitting in its natural place in a run of its own suit (e.g. 2♠ 3♠ 4♠) is not wild, so such a run may also hold a joker or another 2 as its wild card.

• A wild card at the end of a run is placed at the lower end (e.g. joker 6♦ 7♦), so you can't hint to your partner which way to extend it.
• If your side holds the natural card a wild card is standing in for, you may put it in, and move the wild card to the lower end of the run. A wild card can only be swapped for the exact card it represents.

Burraco: a meld of seven or more cards.

• Clean (pulito): no wild card – bonus 200. Mark it by turning the last two cards crosswise.
• Dirty (sporco): with a wild card – bonus 100. Mark it by turning the last card crosswise.

Setup

1. Draw cards to choose the first dealer (the lowest card deals); afterwards the deal passes to the left.
2. The dealer shuffles and the player to the dealer's right cuts. From the cut-off part, that player deals two face-down piles of 11 cards – the pozzetti – and puts them crosswise in a corner of the table.
3. The dealer deals 11 cards to each player, one at a time, clockwise.
4. The next card goes face up to start the discard pile; the rest form the face-down stock (draw pile), 41 cards.

Playing a turn

The player to the dealer's left starts; play goes clockwise. On your turn:

1. Draw the top card of the stock – or take the whole discard pile into your hand. You may always take the pile; you don't need to meld with it. You can't take just part of it.
2. Meld (optional): lay out new melds and/or add to your side's melds. There is no minimum for the first meld.
3. Discard one card face up onto the discard pile.

If the discard pile has only one card, you may not take it and discard that same card again.

Example: The discard pile holds 9♣, K♥, 5♠. You hold K♠ K♦. You take the whole pile, lay out K♠ K♦ K♥ as a set, and discard.

The pozzetti

When a player empties their hand for the first time in the hand, they pick up one of the pozzetti (the second belongs to the other side). There are two ways:

• Directly: you meld all the cards in your hand without discarding, then pick up a pozzetto at once and go on playing with it – meld more if you like, then discard.
• After discarding: you meld all but one card and discard the last one. Take a pozzetto and leave it face down until your partner has discarded; it becomes your hand at your next turn.

Each side may take only one pozzetto. You may discard a wild card as your last card to reach the pozzetto.

Closing

A player closes (goes out) when all of these are true:

• your side has taken its pozzetto,
• your side has at least one burraco on the table,
• you meld all but one card and discard the last card, which must not be a wild card.

You can never close by melding every card – a final discard is needed. Once your side has taken its pozzetto but can't close yet (no burraco), you must keep at least two cards after melding: one to discard and one to keep.

The hand also ends without anyone closing:

• when a player draws the third-last card of the stock: after that player discards, the hand is over;
• if all four players in turn only take the single card on the discard pile and throw another back (a stalemate).

Scoring

Each side scores:

If a pozzetto was taken but not yet looked at when someone closes, its owners subtract the value of its cards instead of the 100. A side's score can be negative.

Example: North closes. North–South have a clean run 3♥ to 9♥ (5 × 5 + 10 + 10 = 45) and three Aces with a joker (45 + 30 = 75). South still holds a 7 and a 3 (10): cards 120 − 10, clean burraco 200, closing 100 – total 410. East–West took their pozzetto and have a dirty burraco of six Queens and a 2 (60 + 20 = 80) and a run 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ (15); they still hold a King and a joker (40): 95 − 40 + 100 = 155.

Winning the game

Add up the scores after each hand. When a side reaches 2005 or more, the side with more points wins (if they are level, play another hand). Shorter games are played to 1005 or 505.

Tips for beginners

• Take the pozzetto early – eleven fresh cards are a huge boost, and not taking it costs 100.
• Clean burraco is worth twice a dirty one. Don't waste a joker on a meld that could grow clean.
• A big discard pile is tempting, but it can leave you with many cards in hand when the opponents close.
• Watch the opponents' melds and don't discard cards that extend them.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Semi-clean burraco: a burraco of 8+ cards containing seven natural cards in a row (or seven equal cards) plus a wild card is semipulito and scores 150.
• Two players: each gets 11 cards and a pozzetto of 11; everything else is the same.
• Three players: deal 11 each, one pozzetto of 18 and one of 11. The first to empty their hand takes the 18 cards and plays alone; the other two become partners and share the 11-card pozzetto.
• Brazilian Buraco: the extra hands are called mortos; jokers count 20 and 2s count 10; the game usually goes to 3000. In Buraco Aberto only runs may be melded, and a side needs a clean canastra (burraco) to go out.