Buraco rules
The Setup
Buraco is played with two 52-card decks of standard playing cards.
Team members sit opposite each other, so that no team member is
sitting next to their own teammate.
Before beginning the game, the players cut the deck to establish
who deals first. The player from the team who has the lowest card
must deal to the player of the other team who has cut the highest
card. In the case of two identical cards being chosen, two new cards
must be cut. The dealer shuffles and the player to their right cuts
the deck.
The opponent sitting to the right of the dealer attempts to cut
exactly twenty-two cards off the top of the deck. If exactly
twenty-two cards are cut off the top of the deck, then that team
immediately gains one-hundred extra points. This person uses these
cards to make two (2) hands of eleven cards each, and the first Hand
is crossed over the second and they are both stacked in a corner of
the card table. In Buraco these two hands are called the Pots.
While the Pots are being made, the dealer distributes eleven cards
to each player one by one in a round-robin manner; these cards are
called the players’ Hand(s). If during the dealing any
mistake is made then (e.g., one card too many, one card too few,
cards upturned) the Hands and the Pots must be re-dealt.
Responsibility for dealing the cards always proceeds clockwise from
Game to Game. The remaining thirty-eight cards, placed face-down in
the center of the table, make the Stock.
Runs
Each team has its own collection of Runs that are shared by both
players; that is, both players build on each other’s Runs in
turn. A player from one team may not play on the other team’s
Runs.
Runs can be made in one of two ways:
- A – 2 – 3 – 4 –
5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 –10 – J –
Q – K – A
Runs of seven or more cards earn extra points for the team, and
are classified in one of two ways:
Clean Run: Seven or more
cards without a Wildcard. A Clean Run is shown by the last two cards
placed face up across the others in a horizontal position.
Dirty Run: Seven or more cards with a Wildcard. Every
Group with a Wildcard will always be Dirty. A Dirty Run is shown by
the last card placed face up across the others in a horizontal
position.
Wildcards
All deuces are wild; A Wildcard is
a deuce used to substitute any card in a Run.
A Run may have at most one
Wildcard.
A deuce in a Sequence is not a
WildCard if it represents the face value of 2 in the Run and is of
the same suit. For example, these are valid Sequences of a Clean
Run:
A-2-3-4-5-6-7
2-3-4-5-6-7-8
If a deuce is used to represent a
face value of 2 in a Sequence and is not used as a Wildcard, then
the Run is still Clean.
If a Wildcard is played on a Clean
Run, then the Run becomes Dirty and reduces the value of the
additional points earned.
A Sequence may have two deuces
only if:
One deuce is used as a wildcard
(not a face value of 2), and
The other deuce is used to
represent its face value of 2 in the Run.
For example, these are valid
Dirty Runs:
A-2-3-4-5-6-2
2-2-3-4-5-6-7
A-2-2-4-5-6-7
Scoring
The first team to accumulate three-thousand or more points wins
the Match. There are multiple Games during a Match. Points are earned
by making Runs of three or more cards face-up on the table, and each
card played in a Run earns a point value for the team that played the
card.
Point values for cards in
Buraco
-
|
Card
|
Value
|
|
3, 4, 5, 6, 7
|
5
|
|
8, 9, 10, J, Q, K
|
10
|
|
A (Ace)
|
15
|
|
2 (Deuce)
|
20
|
When the Game is over, players with cards in their Hand that were
not melded count negatively against their team’s total score
for the Match.
Additionally, if a team did not take a Hand from the Pot, then
they must subtract one-hundred points from their team’s total
score for the Match.
If the Game ends before any cards are played from a new Hand
picked-up from the Pot, then the player with that new Hand will
either:
Subtract the combined point value
of all the cards against their team’s total score for the
Match, or
Subtract one-hundred points from their team’s total
score for the Match.
If a team ends the game (If a player plays all the cards in their
Hand and the team has taken a Hand from the Pot and the team has at
least one Clean Run), then that team adds one-hundred points to their
team’s total score for the Match.
First Draw
The first draw of the game varies from subsequent draws in every
Game as there is no Discard Pile at the beginning of the Game. The
first play is made by the person sitting to the left of the dealer.
The top card is drawn from the Stock and if the player likes that
card, then it is placed into the first player’s Hand. If the
first player does not want the first card of the game, then that card
is immediately turned face-up to the side of the Stock to begin the
Discard Pile, and the first player draws another card from the Stock.
If the first player accepts the first card of the game then another
card may not be drawn by that player on that turn.
- Note: As soon as the first card
drawn is placed in the Hand of the first player, then that player
has accepted that card – if the player discards this same card
after it is placed in the Hand, then the player has exhausted their
turn and play proceeds to the next player.
Initial Melding
Melding is the act of displaying
your cards face-up on the table to earn points. A team may only begin
to place Runs onto the table if they meld a minimum number of initial
points. This minimum initial meld amount varies based upon the total
number of points already earned by that team in the Match. A team
with less than fifteen-hundred points in the Match must initially
meld a minimum of fifty points. A team with fifteen-hundred or more
points in the Match must initially meld a minimum of seventy-five
points. If a team fails to meld the minimum initial amount of points,
then all the Runs are placed back into the Hand of the player and
fifteen more points are added to the initial amount to meld for that
team during that Game.
The sum of the values of the cards played in the player's turn
must equal or exceed the minimum initial meld requirement according
to the player/team's total score:
-
|
Team score
|
Minimum initial meld
|
|
Less than 1500
|
50
|
|
1500 - 2995
|
75
|
Course of play
Play always proceeds clockwise. Each player begins their turn by
Drawing. Except for the first draw of the Game, Drawing can be
either:
Take a single card from the top of
the Stock, or
Pick-up ALL of the cards in the Discard Pile. Before drawing,
players may examine and re-arrange the Discard Pile in any manner.
- Note: A player may not advise,
verbally or otherwise, their teammate on whether they prefer a draw
from the Stock or the Discard Pile.
After a player draws, the player can meld for more points by putting
any new Runs onto the table and adding cards onto their own team’s
Runs already on the table. A player may only meld during their turn.
Once a card is melded into a Run, it may not be moved into a
different Run or picked up and placed into a Player’s Hand.
However, Wildcards may be moved within a Run.
- Note: A player may not advise,
verbally or otherwise, their teammate on how they prefer them to
meld any of their cards.
Aces may rank high or low, and more than one Ace may be played in a
Run.
A player’s turn ends when a card is discarded by that player
from their Hand. A discard is complete when the discarded card is no
longer touched by the discarding player.
After throwing away a card to the Discard Pile, no other move
(e.g., putting down more cards, substituting cards, changing the
discarded card) is permitted until the player’s next turn.
If a player plays all the cards in their hand and their team has
not yet taken a Hand from the Pot, then the player picks-up the next
Hand from the Pot. The player who has melded all their cards takes a
Hand from the Pot and if the player:
Has not discarded, continues to
play (“In-Flight”) from the new Hand.
Has discarded, play from the new Hand commences at that
player’s next turn. This new Hand may only be played at the
player’s next turn and must not even be looked at until the
player’s partner has taken their turn.
If a team has picked-up a Hand from the Pot, and they do not have
a Clean Run, then that team may not play all the cards in either of
their Hands.
If a player plays all the cards in their Hand and the team has
taken a hand from the Pot and the team has at least one Clean Run,
then the Game ends.
If the Stock is empty and there are cards in the Pot, then the
next Hand from the Pot will be moved into the Stock. In this case, it
is certain at least one team will need to subtract points from their
total amount earned for the Match.
If the Stock is empty and there are not any cards in the Pot, then
the Game is over without either
team earning additional points for
ending that Game.