Basra♠

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Aim and equipment

Play with 2 individuals or 4 in opposite partnerships, anticlockwise, using 52 cards without jokers. Capture floor cards, the majority and scoring cards. This is the Egyptian profile: hands of 4, majority worth 30, target 101. Lebanese hands of 6 and majority worth 3 are excluded.

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Setup and deal

Choose the first dealer randomly, shuffle and have the left neighbour cut. Deal 4 each starting on the right, then 4 face up to the floor. Bury opening jacks and 7♦ inside the undealt pack and replace them from its top until the floor is valid. Dealer’s right starts. After everyone plays 4 times, deal another 4 each without replenishing the floor. Next dealer is on the right.

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Legal actions

Play 1 card. A numeral captures all matching ranks plus chosen disjoint groups totalling its value; A=1. Thus 8 may take an 8 and 3+5 together. Never reuse a floor card in two sums. If alternative sums overlap, select a valid disjoint allocation. K takes only K and Q only Q; neither has a numeric value. Without a capture, leave the played card on the floor. You may choose a noncapturing card despite holding another capture, but must capture with the card actually played. Store captured cards and the played card face down; partners pool captures.

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Declarations

J takes the entire nonempty floor without a sweep bonus. On an empty floor it remains for a later jack. 7♦ also takes everything: award 10 only when every captured floor card is numeric and their total is at most 10. On an empty floor 7♦ stays and later behaves as a seven. Any other complete capture of a nonempty floor is a basra worth 10; mark it with the capturing card face up. J on a lone J does not score a double basra in this profile.

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Scoring

After all 52 cards are played, the last capturer receives any floor remainder without a basra. Majority, at least 27 cards, scores 30. At 26–26 carry those 30 to the next majority; another tie adds another 30. Each A and J scores 1, 2♣ scores 2, 10♦ scores 3, each basra 10. The ordinary budget is 43 plus basras and carried awards. A=1 for capture is unrelated to poker ranking.

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Ending the game

Add deal scores until someone reaches 101 after a complete count. If both do, the higher total wins; exact equality requires another deal. Do not claim victory during the last packet merely from captures: majority and scoring cards remain to be counted.

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Context and variants

Basra is a Middle Eastern fishing game. Recorded Egyptian, Yemeni and Lebanese practice differs in bonuses and deal; these accounts establish no exact inventor. There is no building of groups as in some Casino forms. Other 7♦ bonuses and double J–J sweeps belong to other profiles.

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Worked example

The floor holds 3♣, 5♦ and K♠. Play 8♥ to take 3+5 with your eight; K♠ remains, so no basra. A next player unable to capture the king adds a card beside it. In a separate deal, 29 cards give majority 30; with 2 aces and 1 jack that is already 33 before other awards.

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Common questions