How to play Burraco: the guide for beginners
Never played Burraco? No problem: here's the game explained in plain words, in the order you'll meet it at the table. In ten minutes you'll be ready for your first game.
The idea in one sentence
You lay groups of cards (runs and sets) on the table, try to make at least one burraco, that is a meld of 7 cards or more, and close by running out of cards. Whoever reaches the agreed score first wins.
1. Who plays and with which cards
It's played by two, one against one, or by four, two pairs against each other. You need two 52-card decks with 4 jokers: 108 cards. Everyone gets 11 cards; another 11 per team form the pozzetto, which you take later. The cards and their values are explained in Burraco cards.
2. Your turn, in three moves
- Draw: a card from the deck, or take the whole discard pile.
- Meld (if you can): lay new melds on the table or add cards to your team's.
- Discard: one card onto the pile. It's your opponent's turn.
At first you don't have to meld: you can just draw and discard, waiting for the right cards.
3. Which melds you can lay down
- Run: at least 3 cards of the same suit in sequence, for example the 5, 6 and 7 of spades.
- Set: at least 3 cards of the same rank, for example three queens.
Jokers and 2s (the pinelle) are wild cards: they take the place of a card you're missing. Careful: at most one wild card per meld.
4. The burraco, the real goal
When a meld reaches 7 cards it becomes a burraco and earns a bonus: 200 points if it's clean (no wild cards), 100 if it's dirty (with a wild card). Without at least one burraco you can't close, so it's the first goal to aim for.
5. The pozzetto
When you run out of cards in your hand you take the pozzetto: 11 new cards to carry on with. If your team hasn't taken it by the end of the round it loses 100 points. All the details are in the Burraco pozzetto.
6. Closing
After the pozzetto, if you have at least one burraco, you can close: you meld all your cards and make your last discard. Closing is worth an extra 100 points and ends the round.
7. Who wins
At the end of the round melded cards count as positive, cards left in hand as negative, then the bonuses are added. Rounds go on until someone reaches the target: on FantaCarte 505, 1005 or 2005 points. The count, with an example, is in Burraco scoring.
Three tips for your first game
- Don't waste wild cards on short melds: keep them to reach a burraco.
- Before discarding, look at what your opponent has melded, so you don't give them the card they need.
- Take the discard pile when it gives you lots of useful cards, not just one.
Try it with no pressure
On FantaCarte there's a guided game that explains the moves one at a time, then you can practise as much as you like, for free, on phone or computer. When you're ready, the full rules and the tips to win are waiting for you.