Welcome to the world of Manilla!

Manilla is an exciting card game that involves strategy and skill. It’s a game played by 4 players, and the objective is to be the first team to reach 40 points.

In this game, you’ll be teamed up with a partner who will be sitting opposite you. Together, you’ll work towards achieving victory.

Getting Started

To play Manilla, you’ll need a deck of cards with all the 10s removed. This will leave you with a 48-card deck.

Now, let’s talk about the setup. The dealer for the first round is chosen randomly, and then the dealer position rotates to the right with each new round. Once that’s settled, the deck is shuffled, and the player to the left of the dealer has the option to cut the deck.

So here’s how it all works: I’m the dealer, and I give each player 12 cards, one card at a time. But the twist is, the last card I deal to myself is face up. Why? Well, that card determines the trump suit for the game. And if that card happens to have a point value, my team gets that many game points when it’s revealed. But there’s a catch – if this would make us win the game, we can’t score those points until the end of the round. We have to wait and tally up all the points for the round first. Only then can we add the points for the dealt trump, if neither team has won yet.

Now, let’s talk about the cards and their values:

The highest-ranking card in this game is called 9, also known as Manilla. Then it’s the Ace, followed by the Rey, which is basically the King. Next is the Horse, otherwise known as the Queen. And then there’s the Sota, also known as the Jack. After that, we have the 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, and 2, in that order. So, these are the cards we’ll be playing with, ranked from highest to lowest.

When playing cards, each card has a value that determines its score. For example, 9s are worth 5 points, aces are worth 4 points, Reys are worth 3 points, Horses are worth 2 points, and Sotas are worth 1 point. All other cards do not have a point value.

How to Play

The game starts with the player to the right of the dealer. As the dealer, you have the option to lead any card you choose to start the round. Once you play a card, the other players must follow suit if they have a card of the same suit. If they don’t have a matching card, they can play any card they want. The goal is to win each round by playing a higher-value card than your opponents. If you’re losing, you can play a trump card to turn the tide in your favor. However, you can only play a trump card if you don’t have a card that matches the suit led by the first player. If you don’t have a trump card or a matching suit card, you can play any card from your hand. The game continues round by round until all the cards are played.

So here’s the deal: the way you win a trick in this game is by playing the highest trump card, if there is one. If no one plays a trump, then the trick is won by the highest-ranking card of the suit that was led. The person who wins the trick gets to collect all the cards in a separate pile, and they also get to lead the next trick.

Now let’s talk scoring:

Once all the tricks have been played and won, it’s time to tally up the points. First, you add up the total value of all the cards that you and your teammate won. Then, you get an extra point for each trick that you won. Here’s where it gets interesting: if your team scores more than 36 points, you have to subtract your total points from 36. Whatever’s left is your game score for that round. The other team, unfortunately, doesn’t get any points.

And now for the endgame:

The game comes to a close when one team reaches or goes beyond 40 points. Once that happens, they are declared the winners of the game.

The game comes to a close when one team reaches or goes beyond 40 points. Once that happens, they are declared the winners of the game.