How to play ¡Última!: Uno, rummy and poker in one card game
¡Última! is a new card game, made for Manita out of three old ones. From Uno it takes the pile you play onto by matching the top card, and the shout when you are down to one card. From rummy, the sets and runs you lay down in front of you. From poker, the chips, the pot, a round of betting and a showdown. The twist is that the action cards are poker hands: a pair skips the next player, three of a kind makes them draw two.
Play ¡Última! free- Players2–4
- Cards52-card pack and two jokers
- Hand7 cards
- GoalMost chips after 10 hands (or 5)
The deal
The 52-card pack and two jokers. Everyone starts with 20 chips and antes 1 into the pot each hand. Seven cards each, and one turned face up to start the pile. The player on the dealer's left plays first, and play starts going left.
Your turn
- First, if you like, one table move. Lay down a set (three or four cards of a rank) or a run (three or more in a row, of one suit) in front of you, or add cards to any one meld already on the table. Cards you add to someone else's meld are theirs now, and count in their showdown.
- Then play to the pile, or draw. Play a single card that matches the top card in suit or rank, or a poker hand with at least one real card that matches - you choose which card ends on top. If you cannot or will not play, draw a card; if it fits, you may play it at once.
- Jokers are wild. Played alone, a joker lets you name the suit to follow. In a poker hand or a meld it stands in for any card, but it is never the card that matches.
Poker hands are the action cards
| Play | What it does |
|---|---|
| Pair | The next player is skipped |
| Two pair | Play turns round (with two players, you go again) |
| Three of a kind | The next player draws 2 |
| Straight | Wild: you name the suit to follow |
| Flush | Everyone else draws 1 |
| Full house | The next player draws 4 |
| Four of a kind | Everyone passes their whole hand one seat on |
| Straight flush | Name the suit, everyone else draws 1, and you go again |
Facing a draw, you may pass it on with three of a kind or a full house - it grows by what you played - or take the cards. Only a full house passes on a draw of four.
¡Última! and the betting
You can only go out with a single card, on a turn you began with one, so everyone gets a turn's warning. The first time in a hand that anyone is down to one card, play stops for one round of betting: check, bet 1 to 5 chips, call, raise or fold. No one may bet more than the shortest stack still in could call. Folding gives up your claim to the pot - but you keep playing, and can still go out.
When someone goes out
The tab: everyone else pays the player who went out a chip for each card left in their hand, and three for a joker. The showdown: everyone who has not folded makes the best five-card poker hand they can from their melds and their hand, jokers wild. The best hand takes the pot; a tie with the player who went out goes to them.
Winning
The game is ten hands, or five for a short game. Most chips wins; if two are level, play another hand. A player with no chips left is out.
Questions
- Who invented ¡Última!?
- It was made for Manita in 2026, as a cross between Uno, rummy and poker. You can play it free online at manitaconquian.com/ultima.
- Can you go out with a pair in ¡Última!?
- No. You can only go out with a single card, on a turn you began with one card, so the betting round always happens first.
- Does going out win the pot?
- Not by itself. Going out collects the tab from everyone else; the pot goes to the best poker hand at the showdown, made from each player's melds and hand.
- How many can play ¡Última!?
- Two to four. Online, the computer takes any empty seat, and takes over for anyone who leaves.
Free, in your browser, no account: play anyone online, a friend with a code, or the computer.
Play ¡Última! now