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How to play Cabo

The official game of Cabo is similar but has different rules.

I learned Cabo while visiting Nelson, at the Tasman Bay Backpackers hostel, playing with other travellers.

Shout out to Yentl Doggen for sharing similar rules to those I remember.

What do you need to play Cabo?

How to win a game of Cabo?

The objective is to finish with a lower score than your opponents.

Getting towards the lower score is done by strategically playing, switching and discarding cards.

Whenever a player calls "Cabo", all other players have one final chance to turn things around. The player with the lowest score is the winner of the round.

While Cabo is a game that involves thinking and strategy, the luck of the draw also plays a large part. I recommend playing multiple rounds and keeping score to find the ultimate winner.

Card Values:

The addition of jokers is quite fun, as it means that a player who has discarded all their cards (a score of 0) can still lose to a player with a joker (a score of -1)!

How do you start a game of Cabo?

Each player is dealt four cards face-down from the card deck. Do not look at these cards! Players arrange their cards in a 2x2 grid in front of them.

The rest of the cards are placed face down in a stockpile in the centre of the table.

Each player's cards and the stockpile must be reachable by every other player. If another cannot reach your cards, move them closer to the centre of the table.

Once the cards are in position, the dealer will call "3, 2, 1, Peek!" Every player simultaneously looks at the two cards closest to them (i.e. the bottom row of the 2x2 grid).

Players should keep their cards hidden from other players, as you don’t want anyone else to know your cards.

The player should try to memorise these two cards. Once memorised, the cards must be returned to exact locations face down again. As soon as the player releases the cards, they can never peek at them again!

Once all players have returned their cards to the table, the game may continue.

To officially start a game of Cabo, the top card of the stockpile is flipped face up and placed on the table, within reach of all players. This will be the discard pile.

As soon as this card is placed on the table, all players have a chance to snap one of their cards.

Snapping a card:

When any card is discarded (included the initial card), any player can place their hand on top of the discard pile and call "Snap". The player may then pick up any players card (their own, or another players) and place it on top of the discard pile. Players must race to call "Snap", as only one card may be matched on to the discard pile each turn. If multiple players try to call "Snap", the person who touched the discard pile first wins.

If a player plays a matching card from their cards, they can continue the game with one fewer card. However, if a player snaps the wrong card, they must take back the discarded card and are penalised by having to pick up an extra card from the stockpile and add it to their cards.

If a player successfully snaps using another player’s card, they can move one of their cards to the other player’s cards. However, if a player snaps the wrong card from another player, they must take a penalty of two cards from the stockpile.

Penalty cards must be placed directly next to a player's existing cards, aligned to the grid. The exact position (above, below, left, right) is for the player to decide, but once placed, like other cards, cannot be moved afterwards.

How to play Cabo?

For the initial round, play is started by the player to the dealer’s left. Subsequent rounds are started by the person who won the previous round.

On their turn, the player draws a single card from either the stockpile or the discard pile. They should not show this card to anyone else. They then must decide what to do with that card:

Keep: A player may decide to keep the drawn card, replacing any of their existing cards. The replaced card is placed face-up on the discard pile.

Discard: If a player does not want to keep the card, they can discard it face up on the discard pile.

Special Power: If a player draws a special card from the stockpile, they have the option to use its power. This is done and the player can decide to use that power within their turn. Once the next player takes a card from the stockpile, the superpower is lost.

The game continues clockwise, where the other players can do the same.

Special Cards

These are the powers of the special cards:

Seven or Eight: a player may look at any one of their cards. They must not show the card to any other player.

Nine or Ten: a player may look at any card from another player. They may not look at their cards and must not show the card to any other player.

Queen or Jack: a player may swap any one of their cards with any card from another player. The player is not allowed to look at the cards they are swapping.

Black King: a player may look at another player's card and then choose whether or not to swap that player's card with one of their cards. A player may not look at one of their cards and must not show the peeked card to any other player. If a player chooses to swap, it must be the same card they peeked at.

Remembering the Special Cards

Cabo is an easy game for new players to learn, but one of the most common questions is "What do the special cards do again?"

Here is a little rhyme to remember the special cards:

Seven or Eight, know your fate…

Nine or Ten, know a friend…

Jack or Queen, switch between…

Black King, choose to swap…

How does a game of Cabo end?

When one player thinks they have the lowest score, they may call "Cabo" at the end of their turn. All other players then have one final turn before the game ends.

Alternatively, if a player runs out of cards (by successfully snapping their last card away), each player gets one final turn.

After the last player has taken their turn, there is a final chance for a player to snap a card on to the discard pile.

All cards are then flipped face up, and the total score for each player is calculated. The player with the lowest total value score wins the round.

If the player who called "Cabo" successfully finishes the round with the lowest score, they win a bonus of -5 points for that round. Note, if the game ends because a player runs out of cards, no one wins the -5 point bonus.

Write down the score for each player after every round. Then collect the cards, shuffle and deal a new hand to each player.

Royal Roulette

There is another strategy to win the game. If a player can finish the game with exactly four cards: the two black Kings and any two Queens, they will score -50 points!

However, this is a risky mission. If they do not collect all of these cards, or finish with extra cards, they are almost certain to have the highest score of the round.

Six Card Alternative Version

Once you are comfortable playing Cabo, you can try playing with six cards instead of the usual four.

Players arrange their cards in two rows of three. At the start of a round, a player can peek and memorise three cards at once.