Casino

casino, also spelled cassino, card game for two to four players, best played with two.

A 52-card deck is used. When two play, the dealer deals two cards facedown to the opponent, two cards faceup to the table, and two more facedown to himself and then repeats the process so that all have four cards. No further cards are dealt to the table.

The aim is to capture cards from the table, especially spades, aces, big casino (10 of diamonds), and little casino (2 of spades). A card played from the hand may capture by:

• Pairing—that is, by taking all other table cards of the same rank as itself. It is the only way face (court) cards can be taken.
• Combining—that is, by taking two or more table cards numerically equivalent to itself. For example, a 10 can take two 5s, or it can take a 6, 3, and ace (1).

Cards may also be won by building; a card is played to the table to form an announced combination that can be captured by another hand card on the next turn—provided that the opponent does not capture the build first. For example, a player holding two 3s may add one of them to a 3 on the table and announce, “Building 3s.” The build of 3s can subsequently be captured only by a 3, not by a 6. Or, holding a 3 and a 6, a player might play the 3 to a 3 on the table and announce, “Building 6,” in which case the build can be captured only with a 6. A numerical build, however, can be extended. For example, the opponent, holding a 2 and an 8, could play the 2 to the two 3s (provided it was announced as 6 and not 3s) and announce, “Building 8.” But no one may make a build without the relevant capturing card in hand.

Capturing all the cards on the table is called a sweep and earns a bonus point. The player indicates this fact by leaving the capturing card faceup in his pile of won cards. A player unable or unwilling to capture must trail—that is, play a card from hand to table and leave it there. It is not permissible to trail a card that can make a capture. Following a sweep, the next player can only trail.

Each time players run out of cards, the dealer deals four more cards to each until no cards remain in stock. When all cards have been played from hand and none remain in stock, the player who made the last capture adds to his won cards all the untaken table cards, but this does not count as a sweep unless it is one by definition.

Each player then scores what was won as follows: 1 point for each sweep, ace, and little casino, 2 points for big casino, 1 point for taking the most spades, and 3 points for taking the most cards (unless tied). Game is 11 or 21 points. Three- and four-handed casino games follow the same rules, with four playing in two partnerships.