December 28th is Card Playing Day! Another day attributed to celebrating something very random. This one I can get behind though! Recently we were playing cards and were wishing for a set of Briscas cards and a rules refresher so we could play—it had been a while. I decided then and there to gather the basic rules so we could add Briscas to game night and celebrate Card Playing Day with a game.

Briscas is a popular trick-taking card game played in Puerto Rico and other parts of the Mediterranean and Latin America. The game is closely related to Briscola, the Italian game, while the Puerto Rican version has its own local variations.

That history is interesting, but if you are here because you want to play a game of Briscas, the rules are the important part. The basic game uses three cards per player, a trump suit determined by the face-up card, and tricks that can be won with a higher card of the led suit or with a trump.

Here are the basic Puerto Rican Briscas rules to get a game started:

Briscas Puerto Rico Rules

Players: Two or three play each by themselves. Four, two against two as partners, facing each other.

The Deal: Dealer gives each player three cards, one at a time in order to his right (counter-clockwise), instead of to the left as in most other games. In the three-player version, a four (of any suit) is removed from the pack, thus playing with only 39 cards.

Stock and Trump Suit: The undealt remainder of the pack is placed face down in the center of the table, forming the stock. Its top card is turned face up and placed partially underneath the stock. This card fixes the trump suit (“la Vida” or “el Palo del Triunfo” ).

The Play: The object is to get the highest score by wining the most point scoring tricks (tricks where there are “Briscas” (1s or 3s) or, 12s, 11s and 10s). Each trick consists of a card led by one player plus a card played by each other player in turn. The player at the dealer’s right makes the first lead, and thereafter the winner of each trick leads to the next. Players may lead and play cards of any suit, as they are not required to follow suit (“asistir”). A trick is won by the highest card played of the suit led, or if it contains a trump (“una Vida” or “un Palo del Triunfo” ), by the highest trump it contains.

The Draw: At the end of each trick, and before the start of the next trick, the winner of each trick draws a card from the top of the stock, and the other players follow in order to his right (counter-clockwise). For the last drawing round, the last player to draw will draw the trump suit card.

The Win: When all tricks have been played (20 tricks in 2-player games, 13 in 3-player, and 10 in 4-player) each player or team scores the points in his/their won tricks. Player or team with highest score wins the game, and draws are possible.

Exchanging the trump suit card rule: The use of this rule is optional and is generally agreed between the players before play starts.

When the trump suit card is a 10 or better (11, 12, 1 or 3) , it can be exchanged by the 7 of the same suit by any player holding it, and before the very first hand is played, it can be exchanged by the 2 of the same suit by any player holding it. Before the first hand is played, exchanging the trump suit card with the 2 has precedence over exchanging it with the 7.

When the trump suit card is a 7 or less (4, 5 or 6), it can be exchanged with the 2 of the same suit at any time.

Rules sourced from: https://members.tripod.com/~j_carrillo_vii/Briscas1.htm#Briscas

This article was written by Captain Tim and the Crew of Caribbean Trading Company.

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