Como Ganar en el Bacara

Si quieres aprender a jugar Bacara y conocer las reglas, este post es para ti. Deja de pensar que esta escrito en el idioma de los Inca y comienza a leer!

Bacara is one of the most popular card games in Peru. The game has been played by indigenous people for centuries and its spread to areas outside Peru is mainly due to the migration of native Peruvians, like my family. I have very fond memories of playing bacara with my grandmother while she would share her wisdom about how to win the game with me. My father would also play with me and then with my cousins and I have played bacara with many people since I was a child.

When I started playing the game, I had to play itstreet rules for quite some time until I learned the proper way to play. The game is made up of 13 cards each one representing one of the 13 months of a year. There are four suits in this game: flowers (roses), gold, stars and three beasts: snake, bunny and chancho. Each month has two playing cards (one red and one black) plus a special card called Juanchi which is used only in bacara de combate or bacara de chocolate (similar to tarot).

The game is played in pairs and the goal is to create stacks of 13 cards called cacho (literally translated as package or bunch). Cards are played face down and both players play at the same time. Each player has 13 cards. One of them may be discarded. After that, each player has to make one stack of three cards at a time, alternating between red and black cards. All players must also have a Juanchi card face down on the table beside their stack of thirteen cards (this is called la banca – literally translated as bank).

The first player breaks a stack of cards and exposes one card of it. The second player is allowed to make one or two stacks depending on the number of red cards she has and then discard both stacks. After that, each player must play a card from their hand as soon as they can. If a player has no red cards she must skip that round and her turn continues with the next round. If you have one or more red cards, you have to discard as many as you want but at least one card. If you have one red card and no black cards, then you must discard both red cards. If you have none of the above situations, you may peek at your opponent's entire hand to see if she has no red cards. Once a player peeks at another player's hand she must discard a card from her hand without looking at the discarded card.

If a player has a pile of thirteen and the other's have only stacks of four or five, the player with the thirteen loses because there is no chance for that pile to be won. On the other hand, if there is no stack of thirteen and they are both shortstack two or three , they each must take one more turn as mentioned before.

If on a player's turn she has no more cards left in her hand and the other player still has more than three cards, then the player with no cards must take another turn with all their cards. If both players have the same number of piles (two or three), they must make one or two piles according to the number of red cards each has and discard one card from each pile. Sometimes this last rule is ignored and when that happens you can see a few players make up stories to explain it.

The game ends when all thirteen months are stacked which is called "Salir". You can still win the game because your player stacks may be better than your opponent's but the game is over when you reach the "Salir" point.

Here are some more rules that I like:

1. If you play a card from your hand and it matches another card on the table, take that card and discard any other cards in your hand. Then you add the two cards to one pile (called una caja , literally translated as one box) at the bottom of your stack. This system is called "llevarse" which means to take something from somewhere else and bring it to where it belongs (you can see this in Scrabble).

2. If you have red cards in one pile and black ones in another, the red cards move to a new pile called "llevarse del otro color" which means to take the other color from somewhere else. After that, all the piles are shuffled and a new round starts with "llevarse".

3. If you expose a Juanchi card on your turn, you need to follow these rules as well: You must keep it in front of your face until another player plays a card of the same suit (black or red). You also keep that card face down on the table and you can peek at this card only when it is not exposed. It stays in front of your hand until you play it or the game ends. This is called "poner la banca" or "llevarse la banca". You can peek at the card as soon as another player plays a card of the same suit.

4. If a player has no more cards left in his hand and he has to take two turns, he takes his two turns without looking at their cards but discard whatever he wants from both turns.

5. The first card that makes a pile in a round is called "la poderosa" which means powerful in Spanish. Any card that matches this card must show their pile to the rest of the players or they will have to take a new turn. Also, you cannot peek at your opponents hand if they have red cards.

6. You can always peek at your opponent's hand but you cannot peek at the Juanchi card unless it is exposed or when there are already "llevarse" cards in front of them. If you peek at a "llevarse" card, you must discard one card from your hand and then take another turn as usual.

7.

Conclusion

Bacara is a great game. The most popular version is the slow one (with the black cards) and it is played by three or four people. This version is called bacara chancha. There is also a fast version of this game called bacara de chocolate (chocolate bacara) where all players can take multiple turns in one round and the discard piles are not reshuffled after each round. The Juanchi card does not have any effect in this version because there isn't enough time for anyone to use it before the next person's turn starts.