Cabo

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing a turn
5. End of a round
6. Scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Cabo is a memory game. Every player has four cards lying face down in front of them, and you only know some of them. Over the course of a round you try to swap your high cards for low ones, so that at the end your cards add up to as few points as possible. Whoever thinks they are lowest calls “Cabo!” – but if they are wrong, it costs them.

This is an adaptation of the commercial game CABO for a standard deck of cards. The deck described below has exactly the same card values as the original, so you can also play these rules with the original CABO cards.

• Players: 2–4 (5 is possible, but the draw pile runs out faster).
• You need: one 52-card deck plus 2 jokers, and paper and pen for the scores.

The cards

Take a normal 52-card deck, add the two jokers and remove the two red Kings (♥K and ♦K). That leaves exactly 52 cards. Every card is worth points; the suit (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣) does not matter.

Setup

1. Shuffle the cards. One player deals: each player gets 4 cards face down (picture side hidden), one at a time. Don't look at them!
2. Each player arranges their four cards in a 2 × 2 grid in front of them: two cards in a row close to you, two cards in a row behind them.
3. Now every player looks once at the two cards nearest to them, memorises them and puts them back face down in the same place. From now on you may only look at your cards when an action allows it – so remember well!
4. Put the remaining cards face down in the middle as the draw pile. Turn the top card face up next to it: this starts the discard pile.

The player to the left of the dealer starts; play then continues clockwise (to the left). The dealer changes clockwise each round.

Playing a turn

On your turn you do exactly one of these three things:

• A) Draw the top card from the draw pile,
• B) Take the top card of the discard pile, or
• C) Call “Cabo!” to end the round.

A) Draw from the draw pile

Take the top card of the draw pile and look at it without showing it to anyone. Then choose:

• Exchange it: Pick one of your face-down cards. Put the new card face down in its place and put the old card face up on the discard pile. You now know that card, so remember it! (No action happens.)
• Discard it: Put the new card straight onto the discard pile, face up. If it is a 7–Q, you may now use its action:
• 7 or 8 – Peek: secretly look at one of your own cards, then put it back face down.
• 9 or 10 – Spy: secretly look at one card of another player, then put it back face down.
• J or Q – Swap: swap any one of your cards with any one card of another player. Neither of you looks at the cards; each goes into the other's place, still face down.

Example: You draw a 9. It is too high to keep, so you discard it and use its action: you look at one of Ben's cards and see a Joker. Good to know – maybe you can swap it later with a Jack or Queen!

Actions only work when you draw the card from the draw pile and discard it immediately. A card you get rid of by exchanging never triggers an action.

B) Take from the discard pile

Take the top card of the discard pile. You must exchange it with one of your cards (exactly as above). You may not use its action. Because everyone saw this card, the other players now know one of your cards.

Exchanging several cards at once

When you exchange a card (in A or B), you may instead exchange it for two or more of your cards – but only if all of them have the same value. Turn the chosen cards face up:

• They really match: put all of them on the discard pile and place the new card face down where one of them was. You now have fewer cards – great!
• They don't match: turn them face down again in their places. As a penalty, the new card is also placed face down next to your cards. You now have one card more!

Example: You remember two 5s in your grid. You draw an A. You turn over both 5s – they match – so you discard both and put the A in their place. You now have three cards, and 9 points fewer.

C) Call “Cabo!”

If you think you have the lowest total, call “Cabo!” at the start of your turn instead of drawing. Your turn is over.

• Every other player now takes exactly one more turn.
• Your cards are protected: nobody may swap with your cards any more (but they may still spy on them).
• Then all players turn their cards face up and the round is scored.

End of a round

A round ends when

• someone called “Cabo!” and everyone else has had their last turn, or
• the draw pile runs out: the round ends immediately and is scored normally (there is no Cabo penalty, since nobody called).

Scoring

Everyone turns up their cards and adds up their points.

• The player with the lowest total scores 0 points.
• Every other player scores their total.
• Cabo penalty: if the player who called Cabo does not have the strictly lowest total (someone else has the same or less), the caller scores their total +10. The player with the lowest total scores 0 as usual.
• Kamikaze: a player who ends the round with exactly two Queens and two Kings (12 + 12 + 13 + 13 = 50) scores 0, and every other player scores 50.

Write down each player's score and keep a running total.

Example: Anna calls “Cabo!”. Ben and Clara each take one more turn, then everyone reveals: Anna: Joker, A, 3 = 4 · Ben: 2, 5, 4, 6 = 17 · Clara: 8, A, 2, 3 = 14. Anna is lowest and scores 0; Ben writes down 17, Clara 14.

Next round Anna calls again with 6 points, but Ben also has 6. Anna is not strictly lowest, so she scores 6 + 10 = 16. Ben has the lowest total and scores 0; Clara scores her total.

Winning the game

Play several rounds. As soon as a player's running total goes over 100, the game ends after that round. The player with the lowest running total wins.

Lucky 100: if a player's running total reaches exactly 100, it is reset to 50. This can happen only once per player per game.

Tips for beginners

• Your memory is your most important tool. Say your known cards quietly to yourself every few turns.
• Use Peek (7, 8) early in the round to learn your unknown cards.
• Watch what the others take from the discard pile – then you know some of their cards, and whether a Swap would be worth it.
• Call “Cabo!” when you are fairly sure you have about 5 points or less. Waiting too long gives the others time to catch up.
• Jokers and black Kings are the extremes: keep a Joker, get rid of a King (unless you're going for Kamikaze!).

Variants

These are optional house rules – agree on them before you start.

• No early Cabo: nobody may call “Cabo!” before every player has had at least one full turn.
• No lucky 100: play without the rule that resets exactly 100 to 50.
• Six cards: each player gets 6 cards in a 2 × 3 grid (still looking at the two nearest cards at the start). Rounds are longer and harder to remember.