Carioca♠

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Players and cards

This is Argentine Carioca over 7 deals for 2–4 individual players. Mix 2 ordinary 52-card packs and 4 jokers: 108 cards. Only jokers are wild; twos are natural cards. Aim for the lowest penalty total while completing each deal’s required contract. No one may buy a discard out of turn.

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Trios and runs

A trio is exactly 3 cards of one rank, including same-suit copies from different packs. An initial run is exactly 4 consecutive cards of one suit. A may precede 2 or follow K, but K–A–2 cannot wrap. Later, a run may stretch from low A to high A if these are distinct physical cards and every intervening rank is present. Each initial trio or run allows at most 1 joker representing a particular missing card.

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The deal contracts

In order: deal 1 needs 2 trios, 6 cards; 2 needs a trio and a run, 7 cards; 3 needs 2 runs, 8 cards; 4 needs 3 trios, 9 cards; 5 needs 2 trios and a run, 10 cards; 6 needs a trio and 2 runs, 11 cards; 7 needs 3 runs, 12 cards. Until completing the entire contract, you may neither lay down individual parts nor add cards to anyone’s melds.

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Deal and opening

Choose the first dealer by lot. Deal and play counterclockwise; the next deal passes to the right. In deals 1–6 give each player 11 cards; in deal 7 give 12. Turn the next card up to start the discard and leave the rest as a face-down stock. The dealer’s right neighbour starts.

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Playing a turn

Each turn: take 1 top stock card or 1 top discard; optionally meld; discard 1 card. To open, lay down the entire exact contract at once, with no additional cards on that turn. On later turns you may add any number of cards to your own or others’ trios and run ends. You may not create new independent melds after opening. Keep a card for the compulsory final discard; when that discard empties your hand, the deal ends immediately.

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Jokers and an empty stock

After the initial opening, the limit on jokers in a meld is removed. A natural card may replace a joker even inside a run and move it to another legal position in that same run; never take it into your hand or move it to another run. Every position must still form a continuous sequence.

For stock exhaustion this guide declares a home agreement: leave the top discard in place and shuffle the other discards into a new stock. If nothing can be recycled, cancel this deal without points and replay it with a complete shuffle; retain the contract number.

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Scoring

The player who closes scores 0. Everyone else totals only cards still held: 2–10 at face value, J/Q/K each 10, A each 20, joker 50. Melded cards carry no penalty. Add this result to the previous total. For example, remaining A, Q and 3 give 20+10+3=33. Do not use Central American Loba’s different card values.

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Ending the game

In the final deal the opening lays all 12 contract cards after drawing; discard the thirteenth to close immediately. After deal 7 the lowest penalty total wins. Equal lowest totals share victory, with no extra deal. An incorrect opening deal is replaced by a complete redeal before the first turn, without penalty.

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History and selected variant

Carioca belongs to contract rummy. Pagat documents an Argentine profile separately from Chilean variations; the name does not imply one international code. This guide does not mix the seven-deal contracts with other local ladders. An exact origin date and a sole author are not reliably established.

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Worked example

In deal 2, after drawing, a player holds among other cards 8♣ 8♦ 8♥ and 4♠ 5♠ 6♠ 7♠, plus 8♠. The player opens with the trio and run, exactly 7 cards. Adding 8♠ now is illegal: it is an extra card on the opening turn. After a normal discard and the others’ turns, the player draws on the next turn and may extend the run with 8♠. Holding a trio of eights does not prevent this choice.

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Common questions