How to play Casino: rules of the classic card game

Casino (or Cassino) is the classic fishing card game: you capture cards from the table by matching them or adding up to the card you play, or build them into a pile you mean to take later. The ten of diamonds - Big Casino - is worth two points on its own.

• Players2–4 (four as partners)
• Cards52-card pack
• Hand4 cards, dealt again until the pack is gone
• GoalFirst to 21 points

The deal

Four cards to each player and four face up on the table. When everyone has played their four, deal four more each - never to the table again - until the pack is gone: six deals with two players, four with three, three with four. Four players may play as two partnerships, sitting across from each other.

Card values

Aces count 1, and two to ten their pips. Kings, queens and jacks have no number: they can only be paired.

Your turn: play one card

• Take. A number card takes every table card of its value, and every set of cards that adds up to it, all at once: a 9 takes a 9, a 5 and 4, and a 6 and 3 together. A picture card takes one picture card of its rank.
• Build. Put your card onto table cards to make a value you hold another card of, to take on a later turn: a 3 on a 6, holding a 9, is a build of nine. Add more sets of the same value (5+4 beside the 6+3), or a card of that value, for a multiple build. Anyone holding the right card may raise a single build by adding a card from their hand; a multiple build can never be raised. A build belongs to whoever added to it last.
• Trail. Lay your card face up on the table.

While you own a build you may not trail, and you must keep a card to take it.

The end of a round

When the last card has been played, the last player to take something takes everything left on the table. Then the count: most cards 3, most spades 1 (a tie scores nothing), Big Casino (the 10♦) 2, Little Casino (the 2♠) 1, each ace 1 - 11 points a round. Where sweeps are played, clearing the table is another point, with the last card of the round too.

Winning

The first to 21 wins. If two players reach it in the same round, the higher score wins; level, play another round.

Questions

What is Big Casino and Little Casino?

Big Casino is the ten of diamonds, worth 2 points to whoever takes it. Little Casino is the two of spades, worth 1.

Can you raise your own build in Casino?

Yes - a single build, by adding a card from your hand, if you hold a card of the new value. A multiple build can never be raised.

Do sweeps count in Casino?

In some games. At Manita the table chooses: off for the standard 11-point round, or on for a point a sweep.