Cuarenta

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Announcements after each deal
5. Playing a turn
6. Caída and limpia
7. Later deals
8. Scoring the cards
9. Winning the game
10. Keeping score
11. Tips for beginners
12. Variants

Overview

Cuarenta ("forty") is the national card game of Ecuador, and it is meant to be played loudly, with plenty of banter. It is a fishing game: you play a card from your hand to capture cards lying face up on the table – by matching them, by adding them up, or by taking a run. Points come from caídas (matching the card your opponent has just played), limpias (clearing the table) and, at the end of each hand, from the number of cards you captured. The first side to reach 40 points wins.

• Players: 2 or 4 – four play in two teams of two (partners sit opposite), two play head to head.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck. Pen and paper are optional – traditionally the score is kept with the unused cards.

The cards

Take out all 8s, 9s and 10s and the jokers, leaving 40 cards. Keep the 12 removed cards to one side: they can be used as score markers (see Keeping score).

The cards rank from low to high:

A 2 3 4 5 6 7 J Q K

For adding, the Ace counts 1 and the 2–7 their face value. Jacks, Queens and Kings have no number value – they can only be matched or taken in a run. Suits play no part at all.

Setup

In Ecuador, dealing and play usually go anticlockwise (to the right).

1. First dealer: shuffle and deal cards face up around the table; the first player to get a diamond deals first. After each hand the deal passes to the right.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, the player on the dealer's left cuts, and the dealer gives each player 5 cards in one batch, starting with the player on the right. The rest of the pack stays face down beside the dealer.
3. A hand uses the whole pack: with 4 players there are 2 deals of 5 cards, with 2 players 4 deals. Nothing is dealt to the table.

Deal carefully. According to the Ecuadorian rules published by the newspaper El Telégrafo, a mistake in the deal gives the opponents 2 points (dos por shunsho).

After the deal (two players), the table is still empty:

Announcements after each deal

Before the first card is played, look at your hand:

• Ronda: three cards of the same rank. Say "ronda" – your side scores 4 points at once. You don't have to show which rank it is.
• Four of a kind: show the cards – your side wins the game at once.

Playing a turn

The player to the dealer's right starts; then take turns to the right. On your turn, play one card face up onto the table. If it captures anything, take the captured cards together with your card and put them face down in front of you (in teams, one partner keeps both partners' cards). If it captures nothing, it stays face up on the table and can be captured later.

There are three ways to capture:

1. Matching: your card takes a table card of the same rank. A Queen takes a Queen, a 5 takes a 5.
2. Adding: a number card takes table cards that add up to its value. A 7 can take a 3 and a 4, or A + 2 + 4.
3. Run: after a match or an addition, you may also take the card one rank higher than your card, then the next higher, and so on, as long as the run is unbroken. After the 7 comes the Jack, then the Queen, then the King.

Each play makes one match or one addition – never two at once. A run can only be taken together with a match or an addition, never on its own.

Example: The table shows 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 7 · J. You play a 2: it matches the 2 and runs on with 3, 4, 5 – the 6 is missing, so the 7 and J stay. If you play a 6 instead, you add 2 + 4 and run on with 7 and J, leaving 3 and 5.

If you make a capture but forget to take a run that was available, the opponents may take those run cards for themselves. There is no penalty for missing a capture completely – the cards simply stay on the table.

Caída and limpia

• Caída ("fall"): you capture the card that the previous player has just played, by matching it. Your side scores 2 points. Capturing it by adding or as part of a run is not a caída.
• Limpia ("clean"): your capture takes every card on the table. Your side scores 2 points.
• Caída y limpia: often the table holds only the card just played, so a caída also clears it: 4 points.

In Ecuador, a caída is traditionally snapped down hard on the captured card from high above the table.

Example: Anna plays a 6 onto an empty table. Ben has a 6 and plays it on top: a caída, and the table is now empty – caída y limpia, 4 points for Ben's side.

Caída on a ronda: if you make a caída on a card belonging to your opponent's ronda, remember it. At the end of the hand, name the ronda's rank and your side scores 10 points. Once the next deal has started, the claim is lost.

Later deals

When everyone has played their 5 cards, the dealer deals 5 more to each player. Cards left on the table stay there and can be captured. Matching the dealer's last card with the first play of a new deal is not a caída.

Scoring the cards

When all 40 cards have been played, the hand is over. Cards left on the table count for nobody. Each side counts its captured cards – its cartón:

In other words: 6 points for 20 cards, plus 1 for each card over 20, rounded up to an even number. Ecuadorians count "1, 2, … 19, 6, 7, 8 …" – from the 20th card on, the count is the score.

• If neither side has 20 cards, the side with more cards scores 2 points.
• If the sides are tied (e.g. 20–20, or 18–18), only the non-dealing side scores: 6 points for 20 cards, otherwise 2.

Example: Anna and Carla have 23 cards: 10 points. Ben and Dan have 17: nothing for their cartón.

Winning the game

The first side to reach 40 points wins. Scores are added as they happen, so a caída can end the game in the middle of a hand.

Thirty-eight doesn't play (38 que no juega): in the Ecuadorian rules published by El Telégrafo, a side with exactly 38 points can only score with a caída – cartón, limpia and ronda don't count for it any more. A side on 36 can still win with a caída y limpia (4 points).

Keeping score

Traditionally the removed 8s, 9s and 10s are the score markers. Put them face up in a pile between the two scorers. Each face-up card taken from the pile is worth 2 points (a tanto); a face-down card is worth 10 (a perro, "dog"). Swap five face-up cards for one face-down card, and to show that your side has reached 38, give all your markers back to the pile.

Tips for beginners

• Play from pairs. If you hold two cards of a rank and play one, only two others are left for the next player to make a caída with.
• Watch the empty table. Playing onto an empty table invites a caída y limpia – play a card that has already been seen twice or three times, or a face card.
• Don't start runs. A 4 next to a 5 on the table can turn the opponent's caída into a big sweep.
• Aces are dangerous. An Ace adds up with almost anything.
• Count the cards. Remember which ranks are gone, and guess what your right-hand opponent is holding on to.

Variants

Rules vary from town to town and tournament to tournament – agree before you start.

• Clockwise play: the rules on pagat.com have the player on the dealer's left start and play go clockwise.
• Todo dos (Quito): a caída y limpia scores only 2 points, not 4.
• Rondas at 30: a side with 30 or more points can't score for rondas or for a caída on a ronda.
• Cards count at 38: according to pagat.com, a side on 38 only can't score for a limpia – it can still win with its cartón or a caída.
• Misdeal loses: according to pagat.com, any irregularity in the deal makes the dealer's side lose the whole game.
• Chicas and mesa: one game to 40 is a chica; the match (mesa) goes to whoever wins two chicas. A side that loses a chica without reaching 10 points is zapatero and loses the whole match at once.