CUAJO

Hey there! Have you heard of Cuajo? It’s a super fun card game that’s a bit like rummy. You play with four people, but don’t worry, you split into two teams, so you’ve got a partner to help you out. Your partner will be sitting across from you, and together, you’ll try to win the game!

The goal of Cuajo is to put together a hand of cards where every card belongs to a valid combination. If you can do that, you’ll be the winner of the game or the round, depending on how many games you decide to play.

But that’s not all! In Cuajo, you can also earn some payouts. If you complete certain objectives during the game, you’ll get some rewards. And if you’re the overall winner of the round, you’ll also get a payout.

SETUP

Now that you know how to play, let’s talk about how to set up the game. The first dealer is chosen randomly, and after that, the winner of the previous game gets to be the dealer for the next one. The dealer shuffles the deck of cards and then asks the player to their left to cut the deck. From there, the dealer will start dealing the cards, going in a counterclockwise direction. Each player will receive a hand of 15 cards, and the dealer will get one extra, making a total of 16 cards for the dealer.

Once the cards are dealt, we move on to the next step. A card is turned faceup on the table, called the sowee. It doesn’t affect the game, but it does impact the scoring. The remaining cards are placed facedown on the table as a stockpile. The dealer then takes a look at their hand and decides to discard any card, except a king, to start the discard pile. Now that everyone has a hand of 15 cards, the game can begin.

Card Rankings and Combinations

The deck consists of 112 cards, which is different from what most card game players are used to. It includes four suits: cups, coins, batons, and swords. There are seven card faces: Ace, 3, 4, 5, Jack, Horse, and King. Each face card appears four times in each suit. This means there will be four 7s of swords and four horses of batons in the deck. As for the ranking, it follows the order mentioned earlier, with Ace being low and King being high.

When you play the game, your main objective is to gather all the cards in your hand and organize them into different types of combinations. Remember, each card can only be a part of one combination at a time. There are four types of combinations you can make.

The first type is a set, which consists of three or four cards with the same rank but different suits.

The second type is a sequence, which is made up of three cards in consecutive order. For example, the 3, 4, and 5 of the same suit or the Jack, Queen, and King of the same suit. Only these specific sequences are considered valid.

Another combination you can make is called a secret. This involves having four cards of the same rank and suit.

Lastly, a single king card on its own is also considered a valid combination. Keep in mind that kings can also be a part of other combinations.

HOW TO PLAY

When playing this game, it all starts with the player to the dealer’s right. They kick things off and the game goes on counterclockwise from there. Now, when it’s your turn, you have a couple of options. You can either pick up the last card that was discarded (for the first player, this would be the dealer’s discarded card) or you can draw the top card from the stockpile. Then, you have to get rid of one card from your hand, except for a king, by discarding it onto the discard pile. And just like that, it’s the next player’s turn.

But wait, there’s more! There are actually two special things that can happen during the game. They’re called Secrets and Purro, and they totally spice things up.

Secret

Secrets are pretty cool. To pull off a secret, you need to have 4 cards in your hand that are all the same. Once you’ve got that, you can choose to put them facedown in front of you before you discard. Then, here’s the fun part: every player, except your partner, has to pay you a little something (usually 50 cents) for the privilege of knowing about your secret. And here’s the thing, once those cards are part of a secret, they’re totally committed and can’t be used for anything else. No discarding or mixing and matching here.

You can unlock a secret by using the sowee technique. To win the hand, you’ll need to combine three identical cards with a random card, all placed facedown. However, you must use the random card in another valid combination.

Purro

Purro occurs when you only need one more card to complete your hand. Your hand consists of 16 cards after you draw for your turn, so to call Purro, you must have discarded on your turn and have all 15 of your cards, or will have them, in valid combinations once you draw the final card you need. To signify Purro, place a king (or a coin if you don’t have a king) in front of you as a reminder.

Hey, let me explain how the game works. Whenever it’s your turn to draw a card from the stockpile, you have to show it to everyone at the table. If the card you draw completes a called Purro, you can take that card and win the game. Oh, and guess what? You can also win by drawing the card you need to complete your Purro on your own turn.

But here’s the catch, you can actually lose Purro. If you draw a king and you’re not allowed to discard it, you’ll have to discard another card from your Purro hand. And if that messes up your hand and you now need more than one card to win, you have to take back your Purro card by taking back your king or removing your coin. Losing Purro means you can’t win or call Purro again for two turns. Also, for those two turns, you have to show everyone the cards you draw.

That’s how the game ends!

In this game, once someone completes the objective and shows the table a winning hand, the game is over. Each player, except for their partner, gives them some money based on the number of kings they have. You usually get 50 cents for each king of coins, and 20 cents for each king of any other suit. If you don’t have any kings or only have a single king in the Jack, Horse, King combination, every player, except for your partner, pays you $3. This is a special hand that doesn’t get any other payouts.

There are additional payouts for specific conditions that the winning player meets. The final card that you win with determines these payouts.

If you draw the last card from the stockpile yourself, the other players also have to pay you an extra $1.10.

If you took the last card from someone or picked it from the discard pile, how much money you get depends on a couple of things. There are two requirements, labeled 1 and 2. If you meet both of them, you get a full $1.10 from the other players. But if you don’t meet the requirements, you have to take extra steps.

Requirement 1 is all about your hand. You need to have two cards that go with your last card. For example, if your last card was an ace, the other two cards would also have to be aces, but they need to be different suits. So all three aces have to be different from each other. If your last card wasn’t an ace, you’ll need two cards in the same suit that create a run with your final card. Let’s say your last card was a 5 of clubs. You could use a 6 and 7 of clubs to meet this requirement. The important thing is that these cards don’t have to be in a specific order, just as long as you have them.

To participate in this game, you need to have a card that matches the sowee card. Additionally, you will need two more cards to pair with it. For example, if the sowee card is an 8 of swords, you will need an 8 of swords and possibly a 7 and 9 of swords.

If you don’t have the necessary cards in your hand, you can draw up to 15 additional cards in an attempt to meet the requirements. However, if you still can’t meet them, the amount you receive from each paying player will be reduced as follows:

• If you can meet requirement 1 but not 2, you will receive an extra 60 cents from each player.
• If you can meet requirement 2 but not 1, you will receive an extra 70 cents from each player.
• If you can’t meet either requirement, you will receive an extra 20 cents from each player.

The game continues until the players decide to stop playing rounds.