Conquian

Full rules

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

Overview

Conquian is a two-player rummy game from Mexico and the ancestor of all Western rummy games. You lay cards face up on the table in melds – sets of equal cards and runs in a suit. The first player to have eleven cards melded on the table wins the hand. The twist: you can never take a card into your hand to keep for later – every card you pick up must go straight into a meld.

• Players: 2 (3 in the Mexican variant, see Variants).
• You need: a standard 52-card deck with the 8s, 9s and 10s removed (40 cards), and chips or counters to keep score.

The cards

The deck has A 2 3 4 5 6 7 J Q K in each suit. For runs, the Ace is always low and the 7 is next to the Jack: A-2-3 and 6-7-J are runs, Q-K-A is not.

Melds

A meld is a group of cards you lay face up on the table in front of you:

• a set of three or four cards of the same rank, such as 7 7 7;
• a run of three to eight cards of the same suit in order, such as 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ or 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ J♥.

Each card belongs to one meld only. You only ever add to your own melds – never to your opponent's.

Rearranging: when you meld, you may rearrange your cards on the table any way you like, as long as everything on the table forms valid melds at the end of your turn.

Example: You have 3♣ 4♣ 5♣ 6♣ on the table and 6♥ in hand, and the 6♠ turns up. You take the 6♣ off the run and meld 6♣ 6♥ 6♠ as a set, leaving 3♣ 4♣ 5♣ – still a valid run.

Setup

1. Choose the first dealer at random; after that you take turns to deal.
2. The dealer deals ten cards to each player, one at a time.
3. The rest form the face-down stock (draw pile).

Playing

There is only ever one face-up card in play in the middle of the table – the centre card.

The first turn: the non-dealer turns up the top card of the stock. They may:

• use it: meld it together with at least two cards from hand (plus any other melds from hand), then discard one card face up – this becomes the new centre card for the dealer; or
• pass: leave it face up for the dealer.

Every later turn begins with the centre card your opponent discarded or passed. You may:

1. Use it: meld it (with cards from hand and/or by rearranging your melds), then discard one card face up. Your discard is now the centre card for your opponent.
2. Reject it: turn it face down onto a waste pile, then turn up the next stock card. Now either use that card as above, or pass it to your opponent, face up.

Important:

• You can never take the centre card into your hand – you must meld it at once or leave it.
• You can only put down cards from your hand at the moment you meld the centre card.
• After each turn, your hand plus your melds always add up to ten cards.

Forcing

If the centre card fits onto your melds without any cards from your hand, your opponent can force you to take it. You must meld it and then discard. When forcing, the card may also be fitted in by rearranging your melds.

Example: You have 3 3 3 3 and 6♦ 7♦ J♦ Q♦ on the table and A A in hand. You need one more Ace to win. Your opponent discards the K♦ and forces it on you: you must add it to your run and discard an Ace. Now you need the 5♦ and 4♦ instead.

End of the hand

• Going out: you win when you meld the centre card together with all the cards left in your hand, so that eleven cards lie on the table in front of you. Your opponent pays you one stake.
• Melding ten cards and discarding your last one does not win – you must keep playing until you can meld an eleventh card from the centre.
• Stock runs out: if you don't use the centre card and there is no stock left to turn up, the hand is a draw. Nobody pays; some players play the next hand for a double stake.

Winning the game

Every hand is settled on its own. Play as many hands as you like; whoever is ahead in chips at the end wins.

Tips for beginners

• Keep track of which cards have been rejected or discarded – often the hand depends on whether one or two key cards are still in the stock.
• Use forcing to break up your opponent's hand, especially when they are close to eleven cards.
• You can't win with a single suit: there are only ten cards in a suit and you need eleven.
• With a poor hand, you can play defensively by always rejecting the centre card – if you hold the cards your opponent needs, the hand ends in a draw.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Mexican style: deal nine cards each and meld ten to win. Right after the deal each player passes one unwanted card face down to the other – both choose before looking at the card they receive.
• Three players (Mexican style): play goes anticlockwise; deal eight cards each, meld nine to win; each player passes one card to the right after the deal. Either opponent may force a card on the player whose turn it is, and the player in turn may force the centre card onto an opponent's melds.
• Winner starts: the winner of each hand plays first in the next.