Pife (Pif-Paf, Cacheta)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order
3. Melds
4. Setup
5. Playing a turn
6. Going out
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Pife (also Pif-Paf) is Brazil's everyday rummy for groups. Everyone holds nine cards and tries to arrange them into melds – groups of equal cards and runs in one suit. Nobody lays anything down during play: you keep your melds hidden in your hand, and the first player who can show a hand made entirely of melds goes out ("bate") and wins the hand. Cacheta, the best-known variant, adds a wild card.

• Players: 2–8, each for themselves. Best with 4–6.
• You need: two standard 52-card decks without jokers, shuffled together (104 cards), and paper and pencil if you play a longer match.

Card order

The cards run A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K A: the Ace can go below the 2 (A-2-3) or above the King (Q-K-A), but a run can't go "round the corner" (K-A-2 is not allowed). Cards have no point values in Pife – only complete melds count.

Melds

A meld is a group of at least three cards that belong together. There are two kinds:

• Set (trinca): three or more cards of the same rank in at least three different suits, e.g. 8♠ 8♥ 8♣. Because there are two decks, a fourth or fifth card of that rank may be added even if its suit is already there: 5♥ 5♣ 5♦ 5♥ is a valid set, but 5♥ 5♥ 5♣ is not (only two different suits).
• Run (sequência): three or more cards of the same suit in a row, e.g. 4♥ 5♥ 6♥ or 10♣ J♣ Q♣ K♣ A♣.

Each card can belong to only one meld. Nine cards can be split in many ways – three sets of three, a run of four and a run of five, or even one long run of nine.

Example: Anna holds J♥ Q♥ K♥ · 4♣ 4♥ 4♠ · 3♣ 4♣ 5♣. That is a run, a set and another run – all nine cards are in melds, so on her next turn she can draw from the stock, discard the new card and go out. (The two decks give her two 4♣.)

Setup

1. Dealer: pick anyone to deal first; after each hand the deal passes to the left.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles both decks together and deals 9 cards to each player, one at a time, clockwise, starting with the player on the left. Keep your hand hidden.
3. Stock: the rest go face down in the middle as the stock (draw pile). No card is turned up – the discard pile starts with the first player's discard.

Playing a turn

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

1. Draw one card – the top card of the stock, or the top card of the discard pile (the first player can only draw from the stock).
2. You now have 10 cards. If you can, go out (see below). Otherwise discard one card face up onto the discard pile, so you have 9 cards again. You may not discard the card you have just taken from the discard pile.

You never lay melds on the table during play. Keep rearranging them in your hand as new cards arrive – a set can turn into a run and back as long as nobody sees it.

Example: The top discard is 9♦. Ben holds 7♦ 8♦ and takes the 9♦ to complete a run. He then discards his lonely K♠.

Empty stock: if the stock runs out, take all the discards except the top card, shuffle them and turn them over as the new stock.

Going out

Right after drawing, you go out (bater, "knock") if your cards form melds:

• With 9 cards: nine of your ten cards are in melds. Lay them face up on the table and discard the tenth card.
• With 10 cards: all ten cards are in melds – for example a set of three, a set of three and a run of four. Lay them all down and don't discard. This is worth more in the match scoring.

You can only go out on your own turn, after drawing. The first player to go out wins the hand; the others just show their cards and throw them in.

Example: Carla holds 2♠ 3♠ 4♠ · Q♥ Q♣ Q♦ · 9♣ 9♥ 5♦ and draws the 9♠. Now 9♣ 9♥ 9♠ is a third set. She lays down nine cards, discards the 5♦ and wins the hand.

False go-out: if a player lays down a hand that turns out not to be all melds, they take the cards back and play on, but for the rest of that hand they may only go out with a card drawn from the stock, not from the discard pile.

Winning the game

In plain Pife every hand is a complete game: whoever goes out wins. For a longer match, most groups use the Cacheta count:

• Everyone starts with 10 points (some tables use 5 or 7).
• When a player goes out with 9 cards, every other player loses 1 point; with 10 cards, every other player loses 2 points.
• A player who reaches 0 drops out. The last player left in the game wins.

Tips for beginners

• Keep flexible cards. A 7♥ next to 7♣ 7♠ and 8♥ 9♥ can finish either a set or a run – hold on to cards like that.
• Two decks mean doubles. A second 6♣ is often just as useful as the first: it can add to a set or start a new run.
• Watch what others take. If the player on your left takes a Queen from the discard pile, think twice before discarding another Queen.
• Throw pairs away early rather than late. Near the end, every discard can be the card someone else needs.
• Aim for 10 cards only when it's cheap. Going out with 9 cards straight away beats waiting for the perfect 10-card hand.

Variants

All of these are optional – agree on them before the game.

• Cacheta (wild card): after the deal, turn up the top card of the stock (the vira). The next rank up becomes wild for this hand and can stand for any card in a meld (after a King, the Ace). Sources differ: some make only the cards of the same colour wild (vira 8♣ → all four black 9s), others only the same suit (vira 5♥ → the two 6♥). Each meld must still contain at least one natural card.
• "Tô de boa" (Cacheta): a player who needs only one card to go out may announce it. From then on they may take the top discard out of turn – but only to go out at once. If they take a card and can't go out, they are "burned": they return to normal play and may not cut in again this hand.
• Jokers: add the four jokers of both decks as wild cards ("friendly jokers"). At some tables they are the opposite – dead cards that only form a meld with each other (three jokers).
• Round-the-corner runs: at some tables K-A-2 counts as a run too.