Welcome to Cau Robat!

Hey there! I’m here to tell you all about Cau Robat, a super cool fishing game made just for kids like you. It’s designed for 3 to 5 players, so you can play with your friends and family. In this game, we’ll be using a special deck of cards called the 40-card Spanish deck. The goal is simple: you want to win more hands than anyone else!

So, how do you win hands? Well, it’s all about the cards! You see, when you play cards that match the ones on the table, you get to take them. It’s like fishing for cards!

Getting Started

First things first, let’s set up the game. To decide who goes first, you can randomly choose a dealer. After each hand, the dealer will pass the turn to the player on their left. Easy, right?

Now, let’s deal with the cards. The dealer will shuffle the deck and deal 4 face-up cards on the table (or 5 if you’re playing with 5 players). Make sure all the cards have different ranks. If you see any cards with the same rank, just shuffle them back into the deck and deal again until every card is unique.

Okay, here’s the deal. We’ll start by dealing the cards in batches of three, until every player has their share. In 5-player games, the last batch will only have one card. Once everyone’s got their hands, we’re ready to play.

Rules for Card Rankings

Listen up, the suits in Cau Robat don’t matter! What you need to focus on is the rank and order of the cards. Here’s the lowdown: The cards are ranked from 12 all the way down to 1. In terms of sequence, it goes like this: 12, 11, 10, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. But here’s the twist – 12 comes right after 1, so it’s a continuous loop. That means a sequence of 6, 7, and 10 is valid, and so is 11, 12, 1, 2.

GAME ON!

So, the game begins with me sitting to the right of the dealer, and then it goes in a counterclockwise direction. When it’s my turn, I play a card from my hand and put it face up on the table, on one of the piles. Now, there are two possibilities: either my card matches one on the table, or it doesn’t.

If my card doesn’t match any on the table, nothing happens. My card just stays there, and I’ll score it later, along with the rest of the cards. But if my card does match one on the table, things get interesting. How many cards I take and what I do with them depends on how the cards are laid out and which card mine matches.

If my card matches a single card, but the two aren’t in any kind of sequence, I capture that card. Both the card I played and the one I captured go on top of my scoring pile, which I keep right next to me. Oh, and it’s important to keep the cards in the order in which I captured them, because that comes into play later.

If you find a card that goes with a group of other cards, you can score points for the whole sequence. Let me explain. Let’s say there’s a pile with a 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, and 11. If you play an 11, you can score points for the 11, 10, 7, and 6. But remember, you don’t get any points for completing sequences, so playing a 5 won’t earn you any points.

So, here’s the deal: when a player’s top card falls into a sequence, they can capture the whole pile and the sequence along with it. Let’s say the pile on the table has a 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, and 11. Now, imagine there’s another player whose top card is a 5. If they play an 11, they can capture all the cards in the pile, including the player’s pile covered by the 5. These captured cards are then placed in the capturing player’s pile, in the right order, without changing the order of the other player’s cards at all. Sounds pretty neat, right?

But hold on, there’s a catch. This whole scenario only works if a player can play a card that matches one of the cards in the faceup pile, but not in their own score pile. Let’s say there’s a 5 in the faceup pile, if you try to play a 5, you won’t score anything. Tough luck. Oh, and if there are any faceup 5s on the table, you can’t score your pile either. So, in that case, playing an 11 would only score you the 11, 10, 7, and 6. Not a bad haul, but not the whole shebang.

Get Ready to Capture!

When I play a card and I don’t capture another card with it, you can call Cau. That means you should play a card of the same rank as the one I just played. You can even double it by calling Recau, which means you play a matching card to capture both mine and the previous player’s cards. And if you really want to go all out, you can call Contracau, which means you play the fourth and final card of that rank.

So, let’s talk about what happens when you make a successful call in the game of Cau, Recau, or Contracau. When you call Cau, you get some benefits. You capture the first card and score it with the second card of the same rank that you play. But, here’s the catch – you also have to pay a penalty by giving the first card from your score pile to the player who captured it. Now, let’s move on to Recau. If you call Recau, you receive not only the first player’s card but also the card that was called in the Cau. You score all three cards along with the one you played as the active player. And guess what? Both players who played the capture cards have to give you a penalty card from the top of their score piles. Finally, let’s talk about Contracau. When you call Contracau, you get all four cards of the same rank and score them to your pile. But that’s not all. The three previous players have to pay a penalty by giving you the top card from their score piles. So, successful calls can really give you an advantage in this game!

When you play these cards, you have the option to play them in sequences, which will also be scored based on the gameplay rules mentioned above.

Let me give you an example. Imagine Player A plays a 7 to a pile that already has a 6, 10, and 11. In this case, they won’t score any points. Now, Player B decides to call “Cau” and plays another 7 to the same pile. They would have scored the two 7s, along with the 6, 10, and 11. However, Player C calls “Recau” and adds a third 7 to the same pile. Now, they score the three 7s, the 6, 10, and 11. But the game isn’t over yet! Player D calls “Contracau” and plays the fourth and final 7 to the pile. They score all four 7s, the 6, 10, and 11, and there’s a penalty: each player has to pay the top card from the score pile.

TABLE CLEARING

If you manage to clear the table of all the faceup cards in your play, you’ll have a chance at some sweet revenge. Every other player will have to pay you a penalty by giving you the top card from their score pile. Keep in mind, though, that if this happens during a Cau or any other variation, you’ll still get those penalties first.

SCORING

Once all the cards have been played out, it’s time to tally up the scores. Take a look at the cards in your score pile. The player with the most cards in their pile wins the hand. If there’s a tie, both players can claim it as a victory.

END OF GAME

The game only ends when a player reaches the agreed-upon number of wins. Until then, the fun continues.