Cards4Couples
Medium · 3/5Fishing gamesMexico / southwestern USA

Porrazo

Also known as Parosso, Parear, Contra Parazzo

A lively fishing game full of little scoring flourishes: capture table cards by matching rank, grab bonus points for matching the card the previous player just laid down (a 'porrazo'), and declare pairs in hand for extra points.

You'll need: One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. Cards rank Ace (low) to King (high); suits do not matter. A cribbage board helps because points are scored throughout.

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Objective

Reach 61 cumulative points first by capturing cards and scoring the game's many bonuses.

Setup

  1. 1Deal three cards to each player; keep the rest face down.
  2. 2Once during their turn as dealer (after any three-card deal, before players look), the dealer lays four cards face up as the 'tendido' and scores it.
  3. 3After each round of three cards is played out, deal three more, until the deck runs out.

How to play

  • On your turn, play one card face up.
  • If it matches the rank of a card on the table, capture both (plus any cards in an unbroken ascending run above the matched card; sequences turn the corner K-A-2).
  • If it matches nothing, it stays on the table for others to capture.

Declarations

  • Ronda / Rondine: after looking at a new three-card hand, announce (without showing) if you hold a pair (ronda) or three of a kind (rondine). The highest declared set scores after the cards are played.

Scoring

Scored in points · play to 61

Scoring events

  • Porrazo: matching the card the previous player just played (when it captured nothing) scores by rank — King 4, Queen 3, Jack 2, others 1.
  • Counter porrazo: matching a porrazo card scores triple (K 12, Q 9, J 6, others 3) and cancels the porrazo.
  • San Benito: playing the fourth of a kind after a counter porrazo wins the whole game outright.
  • Ronda scores K 4 / Q 3 / J 2 / other 1; Rondine scores triple those; any rondine beats any ronda.
  • Cards in place: playing an Ace/2/3/4 (without capturing) so the table holds exactly that many cards scores that value.
  • Limpia (sweep): clearing the whole table scores by the rank of the last card taken (K 4 / Q 3 / J 2 / other 1).
  • Tendido: the dealer scores for Aces-4s landing in matching positions in the layout, plus any matched sets.
  • Most cards captured overall scores the difference between the two sides' card counts (a common option halves this by scoring cards over 26).

Winning

The first player or team to reach 61 or more points wins, which can happen mid-deal.

Game mechanics referenced from pagat.com (John McLeod); rules text is our own wording.

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