How to play Carioca: rules of the Chilean rummy card game

Carioca is the rummy Chile plays at home, after la once, with two packs of cards and a sheet of paper for the score. Every round asks for a different contract - two tríos, then a trío and an escala, and so on up to the escala real - and the first to get rid of every card wins the round. Everyone else counts what they are left holding, and after the last round the lowest total wins.

• Players2–4
• CardsTwo 52-card packs and four jokers (108)
• Hand12 cards, every round
• GoalFewest points after 10 rounds (or 8, or 4)

The cards and the deal

Two French packs with their jokers: 108 cards, four of them jokers (comodines). Twelve cards each, every round, and one turned face up to start the discard pile, the pozo. The rest is the stock, the mazo. The deal passes to the left each round, and the player on the dealer's left starts.

Tríos and escalas

• A trío is three cards of the same rank, any suits: 7♣ 7♥ 7♥ is fine, with two packs.
• An escala is four cards in a row of one suit: 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ 8♥. The ace can be low (A-2-3-4) or high (J-Q-K-A), and in Chile usually round the corner too (K-A-2-3) - at Manita that is a table option, on unless the table turns it off.
• A comodín stands in for any card, but never more than one in a trío or an escala.

The ten rounds

A game of eight rounds stops at four tríos; a short game plays the first four.

Your turn

1. Draw the top card of the stock, or take the card on top of the pozo.
2. Go down (bajarse) when you hold the round's contract: all of it at once, and exactly what it asks - three cards to a trío, four to an escala, no two tríos of one rank.
3. From your next turn on, lay off cards onto any meld on the table, yours or anyone's: a fourth seven on a trío of sevens, the 9♥ on an escala that ends at the 8♥. Lay the card a joker stands for and the joker moves to the end of the escala.
4. Throw one card onto the pozo, and your turn is over.

Buying (comprar)

When the player whose turn it is draws from the stock, the card they passed over on the pozo is up for grabs. It is offered round the table from their left: the first to buy it takes it and one more card from the stock as a penalty. You cannot buy a card you threw, you cannot buy once you are down, and you can buy three times a round at most. Nobody buys in the escala sucia or real rounds.

Going out and scoring

The first player with no cards left - by throwing the last one, or laying it off - goes out (corta) and scores nothing. The others score what they hold: 2 to 10 count their number, J, Q and K 10, an ace 20 and a joker 30. In the escala sucia and real, going down is going out: the escala is your whole hand. If the stock runs out it is made again from the pozo; a round nobody can finish ends with nobody scoring.

Winning

After the last round the lowest total wins. Level on points, the player who went out more often wins.

House rules at Manita

Every Chilean family plays Carioca a little differently. The table options are the ones people argue about most: the length (10, 8 or 4 rounds), whether buying is allowed, and whether an escala may run round the corner from the king to the 2. Everything else, and the sources for each choice, is set out in the game's rules notes.

Questions

How many cards do you deal in Carioca?

Twelve to each player in every round. You draw a card at the start of your turn, so in the escala sucia and escala real rounds your whole hand of thirteen goes down at once.

What is comprar in Carioca?

Buying: taking a card someone else passed over on the discard pile, out of turn, with an extra card from the stock as a penalty. The player whose turn it is always gets the card first, free.

How many cards are in an escala?

Four, in a row and of one suit, when you go down. Later anyone who is down can add more cards to either end.

What are the escala sucia and the escala real?

The last two rounds of the full game: all thirteen ranks from the ace to the king. The sucia may mix suits and use one joker; the real is all one suit with no joker.

Can I play Carioca online?

Yes, free and with no account: with two to four people, the computer in any empty seat, or against the computer at three levels.