How to play Ronda
2 or 4 players · 40 Spanish cards · first to 41
Ronda is the most played card game in Morocco, and it is a fishing game: cards lie face up on the table and you capture them by playing a card that matches. There is no trump, no suit to follow and no trick to win. The only question ever asked of your hand is what it can take off the table — and what you are forced to leave lying there for the player after you.
Objective
Capture more than half the pack. Forty cards are dealt, so twenty is exactly half, and your side scores 1 point for every card over twenty. Bonus points come in during the hand for pairs, for catching the card just played and for clearing the table. The first side to 41 points wins the match.
The Spanish pack
Forty cards in four suits — cups, coins, swords and batons. Each suit runs 1 to 7 and then the three court cards: Sota, Caballo and Rey, which are numbered 10, 11 and 12. There are no 8s and no 9s, and nothing was removed to make it so. That is what a Spanish deck is.
The 10 sits next to the 7. Every run in this game is longer than it looks because of that one gap.
Taking the run
Play a card of the same number as one on the table and you take both. Then keep going: you also take every card above it that continues the sequence, and you stop at the first gap.
On the table
6 7 10 12
You play a 6
You take the 6, the 7 and the 10 — four cards including your own. The 12 stays where it is, because the 11 is missing and the run is broken there.
Capturing is never a choice. You choose which card to play; what it takes is decided entirely by what is already lying there. A card that matches nothing is simply left face up on the table, which is how the table grows — and it is now sitting there for your opponent.
A hand, start to finish
Three cards each, four on the table
The four face-up cards are laid out so they contain no pair and do not form one unbroken run — otherwise the first player could sweep the whole table before anyone else had moved.
Pairs are paid before a card is played
A pair among your three is a ronda and a set of three is a tringa. Both are scored the instant the cards arrive — see below.
One card each, in turn
Every card in your hand is legal — there is no suit to follow — so the whole decision is which one to let go of.
Three more, and declare again
When everyone has played all three, three more are dealt from what is left of the pack, and every batch is checked for a ronda or a tringa again. Six batches at two players, three at four.
The leftovers
When the pack is empty and the last card has been played, whatever is still on the table goes to whoever captured most recently. Being the last player to take something can be worth several points.
Ronda and tringa
These are things you hold, not things you do. Every time three cards are dealt to you, they are checked: a pair is a ronda and pays 1, three of the same number is a tringa and pays 5. PlayTash counts them for you, so there is nothing to announce and nothing to tap.
When more than one player has something
Only the best one scores — and it takes the points for all of them. Any tringa beats any ronda, and between two of the same kind the higher number wins. A tringa sitting opposite a ronda is therefore worth 6, not 5. Two players can genuinely tie, since there are four cards of every number, and then the total is split between them.
Este and missa
Este — catching the card just played
Play a card of the same number as the one played immediately before yours and you score 1, whether or not it captures anything. A third of that number in a row scores 5, and a fourth scores 10 — the biggest single swing in the game. Any other number breaks the chain, and so does a new deal: the first card out of a fresh batch never counts as a catch on the last card of the batch before.
Missa — clearing the table
A capture that leaves the table completely empty scores 1. It is worth more than the point: the player after you has to lay a card down on an empty table, where it cannot capture and has to stay. The last card of the hand is the one exception, because there the leftovers rule takes over instead.
Scoring
| Event | Points |
|---|---|
| Ronda — a pair in the three cards dealt to you | 1 |
| Tringa — three of the same number | 5 |
| Este — matching the card just played | 1, then 5, then 10 |
| Missa — a capture that clears the table | 1 |
| Cards — counted at the end of the hand | 1 per card over 20 |
The first four are paid as they happen and run up the score during the hand. The card count is settled when the hand ends, and that is when the match is decided: the first side to reach 41 wins.
Strategy tips
- 💡Look for the gap before you look for the pair. A 6 with a 7 and a 10 behind it takes four cards; the same 6 with an 8 in the way would take two, except there are no 8s — so runs here are long more often than not.
- 💡A card that captures nothing is a gift. You have put it on the table for the next player to act, and that is an opponent at two players and at four alike — partners sit opposite each other, never side by side.
- 💡Low cards capture more. A 1 can pick up a run all the way to the 12; a 12 can only ever take the 12.
- 💡Watch what has just been played. Matching it scores an este even if there is nothing on the table to take, and it is the cheapest point in the game.
- 💡Clearing the table is worth more than the missa point, because whoever follows you has to leave a card behind on an empty table.
- 💡Twenty-one cards wins the count, and a hand can end 20-20 with nobody scoring for cards at all. The leftovers go to whoever captured last, so a capture on the final card can be worth several points.
About Ronda
Ronda is played across Morocco — in and around Rabat, Marrakesh and Fez, and in the north from Tangier and Tétouan to Oujda, as well as in Ceuta and Melilla. Its vocabulary carries that geography with it: most of the terms at a table have an Arabic, a Spanish and a French version, and which one you hear depends on who is dealing.
It belongs to the family of fishing games, where a layout of face-up cards is captured by matching it from hand. That makes it a cousin of Cassino, which is the best known fishing game in English, of Escoba in Spain and South America, of Chkobba in Tunisia, and of Seep in northern India and Pakistan. What sets Ronda apart from all of them is the run: matching a card does not take one card, it takes the whole unbroken sequence above it.
The 40-card Spanish pack it is played with is the same deck used for Tute, Truco, Escoba and dozens of other games from Spain, North Africa and South America. Its four suits are cups, coins, swords and batons, and because they have no printed symbols in the way hearts and spades do, PlayTash draws them.
There is no scholarly account of where the game came from. The rules on this page follow pagat.com, the reference used when Ronda was built here, cross-checked against two other published descriptions of the game.
PlayTash runs Ronda online for two players or four, against friends or against bots.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are there no 8s or 9s?
Because a Spanish pack has 40 cards rather than 52. Each suit runs 1 to 7 and then the three court cards — Sota, Caballo and Rey — numbered 10, 11 and 12. Nothing was taken out for Ronda; that is simply what the deck is. What matters at the table is the consequence: the 10 is the card immediately above the 7, so 6, 7, 10, 11, 12 is five cards in unbroken sequence.
What does it mean to take the run?
Capturing is not just the card you matched. Once your card has paired with one on the table, you also take every card above it that carries the sequence on without a gap. With 6, 7, 10 and 12 lying face up, playing a 6 takes the 6, the 7 and the 10 — four cards including your own — and leaves the 12, because the 11 is missing and the run stops there.
What is a ronda, and what is a tringa?
Both are things you are holding, not things you do. A ronda is a pair among the three cards you were just dealt, worth 1 point; a tringa is three of the same number, worth 5. On PlayTash they are counted for you the moment the cards arrive, so there is nothing to call and nothing to tap.
Two of us have a pair. Who scores?
Only the best one — and it takes the points for all of them. Any tringa beats any ronda, and between two of the same kind the higher number wins. So a tringa sitting opposite a ronda is worth 6 to the tringa, not 5. A genuine tie is possible, since there are four cards of every number, and then the total is split and any half point dropped.
What is este?
Playing a card of the same number as the one just played, immediately after it. That is worth 1 point whether or not your card captures anything. A third of that number in a row is worth 5, and a fourth 10 — which is the biggest single swing in the game. A new deal breaks the chain, so the first card out of a fresh batch never counts as a catch on the last card of the batch before.
What is missa?
Clearing the table completely with a capture, worth 1 point. It also hands the next player an empty table, where nothing can be captured and whatever they play has to be left lying there. The one card it is not paid for is the very last of the hand, because there the leftovers rule takes over instead.
How is the hand actually won?
On cards. Forty are dealt and twenty is exactly half, so one side always finishes above it and scores 1 point for every card over twenty. The rondas, tringas, estes and missas are added on top as they happen. Whatever is still lying on the table when the last card is played goes to whoever captured most recently, which can be worth several points on its own.
Can three people play?
Not here. PlayTash deals Ronda to two players or to four, and at four the partners sit opposite each other and pool their captures into one pile. A three-player version of the game does exist, with its own card threshold, but this table does not offer it.