Carioca Rummy - Carioca Rummy Rules & How To Play

Carioca Rummy is a variation on the popular game of Contract Rummy. Other Rummy games are sometimes variations on this form, and are sometimes regional, which is the case with Carioca Rummy. The game was also recently released as a product developed by software giant Microsoft. This particular form of the game is popular in Argentina and Chile and is played by two people, rather than three or more, which is how your general Contract Rummy should be played. That is only one of the differences that separate Contract Rummy from Carioca Rummy, but it’s one of the more important one and sets up the set of rules that make up the game, which we’ll discuss now.

Whether you are familiar with the original version of Rummy or not, we’ll go into all the rules of Carioca Rummy so that nothing is left out or left to interpretation. As mentioned before, Carioca Rummy should be played with two people. Two decks of 52 cards are used, giving a grand total of 104 cards needed to play the game. This number could get bumped up to 106 if you plan on playing with two jokers. While this is a completely optional move, it does make the game easier so you may want to consider it if you’ve never played before.

Once you have your deck ready to go, give it a good shuffle and draw a card along with your partner. Whoever is holding the lowest card (Ace being the lowest, King being the highest) will deal first. This person gives out twelve cards to each person. The rest of the cards go in a pile facedown on the table, and the top card is flipped over and set next to the deck. Now that you have all the cards where they need to be, you’re ready to start playing the game.

The object of Carioca Rummy is to complete “contracts.” These are made up of either sets or sequences. Sets are three or more cards of the same value (ie triple 2’s, 3’s, etc.). Sequences are four or more cards of the same rank (heart, club, etc.) and in consecutive order. Once you have a contract, you set the cards down, and lay off the rest of the cards in your hands onto the sets and sequences you have made. You can also lay off on the contract your opponent has laid down if he has done so. The first person to get rid of all their cards is the winner.

In Carioca Rummy, sets and sequences are called by a different name. Sets are known as trios, and sequences are called escalas. These two are combined to make up certain contracts that are defined by whichever deal you are on. The typical game of Carioca Rummy consists of eight deals, each requiring a different combination of trios and escalas to create the contract for that deal. The following are the contracts related to each deal:

As you can see, each deal increases the number of cards that are part of a contract by one. During the game, a player either picks a top card off the discard pile or off the top of the face down deck. He can keep this card and drop one from his hand, or drop the card and move on. This continues until someone has made a contract, laid it down, and gotten rid of the rest of the cards in his hand. Once this is done, it’s time to score the deal.

The player with cards still in his hand at the end of the deal gets a number of points depending on the cards in his hand. These points are added together throughout the game, and the person who has the fewest points at the end of the game is the winner. Here is the breakdown of the cards and their worth in points:

Obviously, it’s better to be left with smaller cards, such as 2’s or 3’s when time comes around for scoring. A helpful hint in this game, and any other Rummy game, is to get rid of your high cards first. Either focus on trios or escalas that involve low numbers, or make sure to get high cards as part of your contract as soon as you can.

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