Chinchón♠

01 /

Fournier’s Spanish profile

Chinchón belongs to the Spanish rummy family and is also played in Latin America with local changes. We choose cardmaker Fournier’s 40-card profile without jokers: a small unmatched remainder permits closing, while a complete melded hand deducts 10 rather than automatically winning the match. Versions with 48 cards, jokers or a separate instant win for a long run are not mixed into it.

02 /

Forty cards, seven in hand

There are 2–4 individual players. Use A,2,3,4,5,6,7,J,Q,K in each suit: 40 cards. In a Spanish pack J is sota and Q the knight. Runs follow A–2–3–4–5–6–7–J–Q–K; A is low only and K–A wrapping is forbidden. Penalties are A=1, 2–7 face value, J=8,Q=9,K=10. Choose first player by lot; their left neighbour deals. Deal anticlockwise, 7 face down each, next card starts the discard pile, remainder is stock. Deal passes right after each deal.

03 /

Legal melds

A meld is at least 3 equal-rank cards of different suits or at least 3 consecutive cards in one suit. With one pack, a set cannot exceed 4. A card cannot serve twice. Keep melds in hand until closing, rather than laying them down during ordinary turns. Run 6–7–J is legal because absent ranks do not create gaps; 7–Q–K is illegal because J is missing.

04 /

Draw, discard and close

First player starts, then turns run anticlockwise. Draw the stock top or discard top, then discard one face up. Your hand grows to 8 then returns to 7. To close, after drawing arrange the remaining cards into melds with total unmatched value at most 5, place the final discard face down and expose the melds. There is no next draw. A completely melded hand may also close.

If stock runs out without closing, shuffle old discards into new stock while retaining the top discard face up: our explicit practical boundary agreement.

05 /

Laying off after closing

Others expose their melds in turn. Unmatched cards may extend already exposed sets or either end of runs, respecting suit and sequence. Then the next player exposes melds; continue permitted additions until nobody can add. Do not transfer an already melded card or break another meld. If closer melded all 7, nobody may add to that closer’s melds; other exposed melds remain available. Finally count only each player’s remaining unmatched cards.

06 /

Penalties and match end

Start at 0. Each deal adds the value of unmatched cards. A closer with all 7 melded instead receives −10; totals may become negative. This need not be one run. Others with no unmatched cards score 0, not the closer’s deduction. Our match eliminates players above 100, not exactly 100; re-entry is disabled. Last survivor wins. Explicit all-eliminated agreement: lowest final total wins; if the minimum ties, only those tied continue until their totals differ.

07 /

Closing with two complete melds

Hand is 3♥,4♥,5♥,7♣,7♦,7♠,A♦. Draw 6♥ and discard A♦ face down. Run 3♥–4♥–5♥–6♥ and three 7 cards remain: all 7 are melded. Closing scores −10 and opponents cannot add to these melds. An earlier 24 becomes 14. This profile does not require waiting for a seven-card run and does not automatically end the whole match.

← On a small screen, scroll the diagram horizontally. →

Common questions