About Cuarenta

Cuarenta (Spanish for forty) is a fishing style card game originating in Ecuador. It can be played by two or four players (two teams of two). It is played with 40 cards from a standard deck of 52 (removing the 8, 9 and 10s for keeping score). An 8, 9 or 10 face up represents 2 points, face down represents 10 points. Reaching 40 points wins the game.

  • At the beginning of a new set, a player (from each team) draws a card from the deck to see who deals first. High card wins, aces are 1.
  • Cards are shuffled then cut by a player on the opposing team. Cards are dealt five at a time to eachplayer going counter-clockwise.
  • Before a players initial turn after a deal, special announcements must be made where applicable (ronda, doble ronda)
  • MATCHING/ADDITION/SEQUENCE
  • Points are not awarded for capturing cards played in the previous round.
  • After all cards are dealt and played (4 rounds for 2 players, 2 rounds for 4 players) collected cards are counted. If a player/team has 20 cards, they get 6 points. Add 1 point for each additional card after that. Odd points are rounded up to the nearest even number. Example: 21 cards is 7 points, rounded up to the nearest even number is 8 points.
  • 10 points for the opposing player or team if there are any irregularties from the dealing of cards. A new round is then started with the opposing player to the right of the dealer, dealing the new round. ("pasa la mano con diez")
  • 2 points for capturing the card played right before your turn ("caída")
  • 2 points for clearing the table of cards ("limpia")
  • In the case of a "caída" and "limpia", both are scored for a total of 4 points
  • 4 points for a ronda (3 of a kind, only before 32 points)
  • X points if a player uses a ronda to capture a card of the player immediately before them
  • X points if a player captures a card from a ronda belonging to the player immediately before them
  • Doble ronda (4 of a kind) wins the game