What You Are Sitting Down To
The card game called Casino has nothing to do with a gambling venue. It is a fishing-style capture game for two to four players, usually played in partnerships when four sit down. The table in front of you is a small pile of face-up cards, and the object is to claim those cards with cards from your hand. The player or partnership holding the most points at the end of the deal wins the hand, and the game continues until someone reaches a target score the players have agreed on before the first deal.
You will hear it called Cassino in older rulebooks, but the game is the same. The full deck is used. Cards have capture values that have nothing to do with poker or blackjack rank: aces count as 1, number cards count at face value, jacks count as 11, queens 12, kings 13. Suits do not matter for most captures, but they matter for scoring at the end.
The Deal and the Table
The dealer shuffles and offers a cut. The deal is four cards to each player, two at a time, and four cards face up in the centre of the table. That centre group is called the table or the layout. The remaining cards sit face down as the stock. When the stock is exhausted and every hand has been played out, the deal is over and the table is scored.
Deal passes to the left after each hand. In a four-player game, partners sit opposite each other and combine their captures in one pile, but each player still plays from their own hand without showing it to the partner. No player may look at the partner's cards or discuss what to play.
If the four cards dealt to the table contain a build or a capture opportunity before anyone has played, the dealer simply deals another four cards on top of them and repeats this until the table is clean enough to start. A table with four cards of the same rank is also redealt, because it would be swept immediately.
The Sequence of a Turn
On your turn you play exactly one card from your hand. You have four legal ways to use it, and you must choose one. You may trail, capture, build, or extend a build. After you play, you draw one card from the stock so that you hold four cards again. The turn passes to the left.
A trail is simply laying a card face up onto the table without taking anything. You do this when you cannot or do not want to capture. A capture is taking one or more table cards whose values add up exactly to the value of the card you play. If you hold a 10 and the table shows a 6 and a 4, you play the 10 and take both cards. If the table shows a card equal to the one you play, you take that single card. You place your played card and every card you captured face down in the pile in front of you.
A build is a promise. You place your card on top of one or more table cards to create a combined value, and you announce that value. If you hold a 3 and the table shows a 5, you may place your 3 onto the 5 and say "building 8." You have created a single unit worth 8, and only an 8 may capture it. You cannot capture a build on the same turn you create it.
An extension, sometimes called increasing a build, adds to a build you or your partner already made. If a build of 8 is on the table and you hold a 2, you may add your 2 and announce "building 10." The whole pile now captures as a 10. You may only extend a build if you hold in your hand a card equal to the new total, because the rule that you cannot capture on the same turn still applies. You must be able to take the build on a later turn.
What You May and May Not Do
The capture rules create the game's main decision points, and most procedural arguments at a kitchen table come from three mistakes. The first is capturing a build with the wrong card. A build of 8 is not a pile of individual cards anymore; only a single card worth 8 takes it. A player who tries to take it with a 5 and a 3 is playing incorrectly, and the table must be restored.
The second mistake is building without the matching card in hand. You may not announce a build of 9 unless a 9 is still in your hand or your partner's hand, because a build you cannot capture is a gift to the opponents. Some rule sets allow a build only when you hold the exact card; others allow it when your partner holds it, but you may not know that for certain, so most players require it in your own hand.
The third mistake is trailing onto a table that already contains a build or a single card you could have captured. The capture rule is not optional in most rule sets. If the table shows a card equal to the card you are about to trail, you must capture it instead. If you hold the exact card that takes an existing build, you must take the build. The rule is called compulsory capture, and it prevents a player from hiding a scoring card by laying a useless one on top of it.
Scoring the Hand
When the last card is drawn and the final hands are played, the players count what they have captured. Points are awarded for four things: cards, spades, the ten of diamonds, and the two of spades. The player or partnership with the most cards gets 3 points. The player with the most spades gets 1 point. The ten of diamonds, called the big casino, is worth 2 points. The two of spades, called the little casino, is worth 1 point. Aces are worth 1 point each, and they are counted as part of the cards in the scoring pile.
That gives a total of 11 points available in every hand, with one exception: when the capture counts are tied, the points for cards or spades are not awarded to anyone. The hand ends with a sweep if one side takes every card from the table on the final play, and a sweep is worth 1 point. The first side to reach 21 points wins the game, though players sometimes agree on a different target before starting.
| Scoring item | Point value | How it is won |
|---|---|---|
| Most cards | 3 | Largest capture pile at the end of the hand |
| Most spades | 1 | Most spade cards captured |
| Big casino (ten of diamonds) | 2 | Captured during play |
| Little casino (two of spades) | 1 | Captured during play |
| Aces | 1 each | Captured during play |
| Sweep | 1 | Taking every table card on one play |
Reading the Table Before You Play
Casino rewards a player who watches the table as a set of totals rather than as individual cards. Before you touch a card, count what is available: which single cards match your hand, which combinations of two or three table cards add up to a card you hold, and which totals your opponents appear to be building toward. A table with a 7, a 3, and a 4 is a 7 and a 7 to anyone holding a 7, so the next player will likely sweep it if you do not.
Because a build locks a group of cards behind a single total, it can protect scoring cards from a simple capture. If you hold the ten of diamonds and the table shows a 5 and a 5, you could capture both with a 10, but you could also build them as a 10 and force the next player to hold a 10 to take them. The risk is that an opponent does hold one, or extends the build to a value you cannot match. The decision is always a trade between taking points now and protecting a larger capture later.
Partnership play changes the arithmetic. You may extend your partner's build, and your partner may capture a build you made. You still may not signal what you hold, but you can infer from the cards your partner plays and the cards they leave alone. A partner who trails a low card onto a table full of scoring opportunities is usually telling you they hold nothing useful and are waiting for the next deal.
Variations You Will Meet
Rule books differ on a handful of points, and a group that has played for years will treat its own version as standard. The most common variations concern whether a build may be captured by any combination of cards or only by a single card of the announced value, whether trailing is compulsory when a capture is available, and whether the dealer redeals a table that contains a build. Some groups also play that the last player to capture a card gets the remaining table cards at the end of the hand, while others leave those cards uncaptured and unscored.
| Rule point | Strict version | Relaxed version |
|---|---|---|
| Capturing a build | Only a single card of the announced value | Any combination summing to the value |
| Trailing when a capture exists | Compulsory to capture | Trailing allowed |
| Building without the matching card | Not allowed | Allowed, but risky |
| Table cards at the end | Left uncaptured | Given to the last capturer |
| Redeal on a build in the opening table | Redeal | Play as dealt |
Before the first hand, agree on the version you are playing. The strict version is the one in most published rule sets, and it is the version this article describes. If you are teaching the game to new players, the strict version is easier to enforce because it removes the argument about what a build is worth after it has changed hands twice.
FAQ
Can you capture a build with two cards that add up to the build value?
Under the strict rule, no. A build is a single unit, and only a single card of the announced value captures it. Some casual groups allow combination captures, but that changes the game's defensive play, so agree on the rule before the deal.
What happens if nobody can play a card without trailing?
Trailing is always a legal move, so a player always has something to do. The question is usually whether trailing is allowed when a capture is available. In the strict game it is not, and the player must take the available card or build.
How many points do you need to win a full game of Casino?
The standard target is 21 points across multiple hands, but the target is a table agreement, not a fixed part of the game. Some groups play to 11, which is one full hand's worth of points, and others play a set number of deals and score at the end.
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