Ramino

Italy

Thirteen cards, open at 50, and each hand is rounded to the nearest ten.

Play Ramino onlineFree, no account needed. The table starts from exactly the rules on this page, and the host can change any of them to match how your family plays.

How to play

The idea

Get rid of every card in your hand by laying down melds. The first player out ends the hand and everyone else is penalised for what they are still holding. The match ends when somebody reaches 1000. A low score is a good score.

Melds

There are only two kinds, and both need at least three cards.

  • Set — the same rank in different suits, like 9♠ 9♥ 9♦. Four at most, since there are only four suits, and two identical cards never count.
  • Run — a sequence in one suit, like 5♥ 6♥ 7♥. The ace sits at either end, so A-2-3 and Q-K-A both work, but a run may not turn the corner: K-A-2 is not a run.

A set is not a run. Three nines are a set however you look at them.

The deal

2 decks are shuffled together — 108 cards, including 4 jokers. The player to the dealer’s right cuts, choosing how far down to take it. Everyone gets 13 cards.

Your turn

  1. Draw one card — from the face-down stock, or the top of the discard pile. Click the stock to draw.
  2. Lay down what you can — new melds, cards added to melds already on the table, or a swap for a joker.
  3. Discard one card to end your turn. Drag it onto the discard pile, or select it and press Discard.

Opening

Before you can put anything on the table you must open: one lay-down, worth at least 50 points. Until then you cannot meld, add to anyone else’s melds, or take a joker off the table.

Jokers count as whatever card they stand for towards that total.

Jokers

A joker stands in for any card, 1 per meld at most. Once you have opened you can hand over the real card it represents and take the joker back, but you must play it again the same turn.

Left in your hand at the end, a joker costs you 25 points — the most expensive card in the game.

Going out and scoring

You go out by getting rid of everything, finishing with a discard.

Everyone else counts what is left in their hand: pip value for the numbers, 10 for a picture card, 11 for an ace, 25 for a joker.

The rules in full

Ramino Italy

Cards

  • 13 cards each.
  • 2 French packs — 108 cards, 4 of them jokers.
  • An ace sits at either end of a run: 11 points high, 1 low.
  • A joker left in hand costs 25.

Melds

  • Sets and runs, 3 cards at least.
  • At most one wild card in any meld.
  • You may hand over the real card to take a joker back off the table.
  • You may add to anybody’s melds.

Playing

  • Your first lay-down must be worth 50.
  • Only the top card of the discard pile.
  • No taking from the pile until you have opened.

Finishing and scoring

  • You go out by discarding your last card.
  • What you are caught holding counts against you.
  • Laying everything down in one turn doubles everybody else’s penalty.
  • Each hand is rounded to the nearest ten.
  • The match ends when somebody reaches 1000.
  • The lowest total wins.

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