Burraco rules
Burraco is an Italian card game for 2 players (one against one) or 4 (two pairs). The goal is to lay runs and sets on the table, make "burracos" and be first to reach the target score. Here are the rules as they are played on FantaCarte.
The cards and the deal
You play with two 52-card decks and 4 jokers, 108 cards in all. Each player gets 11 cards. Then two pozzetti of 11 cards are set aside, one per team (or per player, with two), to be taken later. One card is turned face up to start the discard pile; the rest form the deck you draw from.
Your turn
- Draw a card from the deck or take the whole discard pile.
- Meld new runs or sets, or add cards to those your team has already laid down.
- Discard one card: the turn passes to the next player.
If the discard pile was a single card and you took it, you can't discard it again straight away.
Melds: runs and sets
Run
At least 3 cards of the same suit in sequence, for example the 7, 8 and 9 of hearts. The ace can go before the 2 or after the K.
Set (tris)
At least 3 cards of the same rank, for example three Ks.
Wild cards: jokers and pinelle
Jokers and 2s (the pinelle) are wild cards: they replace any card. Each meld can contain at most one wild card. A pinella of the same suit placed where the 2 belongs in a run counts as a normal card. You can't meld groups made only of wild cards.
The burraco
A burraco is a meld of at least 7 cards. There are three kinds:
- Clean: no wild cards. Worth 200 points.
- Semi-clean: 7 natural cards in sequence plus a wild card at the end of the run. Worth 150 points.
- Dirty: with a wild card in the middle. Worth 100 points.
The pozzetto
When you run out of cards in your hand you take your pozzetto: 11 new cards to carry on with. If you take it by melding all your cards, on the fly, you keep playing straight away; if you take it by discarding your last card, you play it on your next turn. The team that doesn't take its pozzetto loses 100 points.
Closing
After taking the pozzetto, if your team has at least one burraco, you can close: you meld all your cards and are left with none, with a final discard (which can't be a wild card). Closing is worth 100 points. If the deck gets down to 2 cards, the round ends without a close.
Scoring
At the end of the round melded cards count as positive, cards left in hand as negative:
| Card | Points |
|---|---|
| Joker | 30 |
| Pinella (2) | 20 |
| Ace | 15 |
| 8 to K | 10 |
| 3 to 7 | 5 |
| Bonuses and penalties | Points |
|---|---|
| Clean burraco | +200 |
| Semi-clean burraco | +150 |
| Dirty burraco | +100 |
| Closing | +100 |
| Pozzetto not taken | −100 |
How long a game lasts
On FantaCarte you choose between three targets: 505 points (quick game), 1005 points (classic) and 2005 points (long). Whoever reaches the target first wins; if both pass it in the same round, whoever has more points wins.
Want to win more often?
Once you understand the rules, read the 10 tips to win at Burraco: the discard pile, wild cards, safe discards, closing and playing as a pair.
Further reading
- Burraco scoring: how points are counted, with a full example
- How to play Burraco: the simple guide for beginners
- Burraco cards: the deck, jokers, pinelle and how much each card is worth
- The pozzetto: how it works and when to take it
- Burraco for 2 or 4 players: what changes
- Burraco for 3 players: how to play with three
- Burraco glossary: pinella, pozzetto, wild card and the other terms
- Burraco against the computer
- Burraco and Canasta: differences and origins
- Card games to play as a family, even at a distance
Truly random cards
On FantaCarte the deck is shuffled every round with a cryptographic random number generator and every card drawn is chosen at random from those left. Nobody picks the cards and nobody sees anyone else's, not even the CPU.
Ready to try? Play Burraco online with friends, on phone or computer, with nothing to download. There's also a guided game that explains the moves one at a time.
Play on FantaCarte