Quinza rules — how to play

Overview: the fifteen family

Quinza — from the Spanish quince, “fifteen” — is a Moroccan capturing game played with the baraja. It is the Moroccan branch of the fifteen family of games, to which Spain’s Escoba also belongs: cards lie face up on the table, and a player takes whichever of them make exactly fifteen with the card they play.

Quinza has no calls and no runs as Ronda does: arithmetic alone decides. Points come not just from how many cards you take but from which ones — the Oros (gold) suit carries most of them, so the whole game turns on the gold cards.

Koutchina offers the game in two rule sets, chosen in the table’s rules: Quinza, the default, capturing on 15, and Rb3ine, a house rule set — the sister game that captures on 40. Apart from the capture total, the rules are identical.

Players, deck and deal

The baraja has 40 cards in four suits: Oros (coins), Copas (cups), Espadas (swords) and Bastos (clubs). Each suit holds ten cards: the numbers 1 to 7, then three courts — the Sota, the Caballo (knight) and the Rey (king). There is no 8 and no 9.

For summing, every card counts the number printed on it: 1 to 7 at face value, the Sota 10, the Caballo 11, the Rey 12. That is the Moroccan Quinza convention, and since the deck has no 8 or 9, the values jump from 7 straight to 10.

Quinza takes two to four players: two head to head, three each for themselves, or four in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite and adding their points together. The first dealer is drawn at random, and the deal passes to the next player at each new deal.

The dealer gives three cards to each player, then turns four face up on the table — on the opening deal only. Whenever every hand is empty, three more go to each player, with no new cards for the table, until the stock runs out. The player after the dealer plays first, and the turn then passes to the next player.

Capturing: make fifteen

On your turn you play one card. If its value plus the values of one or more table cards comes to exactly fifteen, you capture those cards, and your card goes to your pile with them. Example: play a 6 on a table of 4, 5 and Rey — 6 + 4 + 5 = 15 — and you take the 4 and the 5; the Rey stays.

When the cards add up more than one way, you choose which group to take — but only one group per play. A 6 on a table of 2, 3, 4 and 5 can take 4 + 5 or 2 + 3 + 4; the choice is yours.

Capturing is compulsory: if the card you play can make fifteen, you may not lay it on the table. You may, however, play a different card from your hand that makes no fifteen. A card that captures nothing stays face up on the table and joins the sums of the players after you.

Quinza is all about sums: a 5 does not take another 5, since 5 + 5 is 10. A 7 can never take a lone card, because no card is worth 8 — it needs at least two, such as 5 + 3. Each court has exactly one single card that completes it: the Rey takes a 3, the Caballo a 4 and the Sota a 5.

Gold and card points

Points are counted at the end of the deal from the cards you captured. Every non-gold card — Copas, Espadas or Bastos — is worth 1 point whatever its rank; there are 30 of them, so 30 points.

Oros (gold) cards are worth their printed number: 2 to 7 at face value, the Sota 10, the Caballo 11, the Rey 12. The exception is the gold Ace: it scores 10 points, even though it counts 1 when summing to fifteen. The gold suit adds up to 70 points.

Every deal therefore hands out exactly 100 points: 70 in gold and 30 in the other cards. That is why the player with more cards can lose to the one with more gold: the gold Rey alone is worth twelve ordinary cards.

Clearing the table

Capture everything on the table and you have cleared it. In Koutchina a clear earns no bonus: in Quinza only the cards score, so a clear is worth exactly the cards and gold it took.

A clear does change the table, though: the next player has nothing to add to and must lay a card on an empty table. The arithmetic starts over from that first card.

When the table holds a single card, a single card can take it only if it is a 3, a 4, a 5 or a court: the Rey takes the 3, the Caballo the 4, the Sota the 5, and the other way round. A lone 1, 2, 6 or 7 has no card that completes it to fifteen.

End of the deal and winning

A deal ends when every hand is empty and the stock is spent. The cards still on the table go to the last player who captured, and they score for that player as if captured — gold at its number, the rest at 1 each.

Each side then counts its pile: partners add their totals together, and at three players everyone counts alone. The deal’s points are added to the match totals, and a new deal begins with a new dealer.

The room’s creator sets the match target: 101, 151 or 301 points, with 151 as the default. Totals are checked at the end of each deal: the first side to reach the target wins; if more than one gets there in the same deal, the higher total wins, and equal top totals make the match a draw.

Because every deal hands out 100 points, a 101 match usually takes two or three deals, a 151 match three or four, and a 301 match five to seven.

How to play

1. Deal — Deal three cards to each player and four face up to the table. Whenever every hand is empty, deal three more to each player — none to the table.
2. Values — Numbers 1 to 7 count their face value, the Sota 10, the Caballo 11, the Rey 12. There is no 8 or 9.
3. Capture — Play a card that makes exactly 15 with one or more table cards, and take them all. If several groups work, choose one.
4. Compulsory capture — If your card makes 15, you must capture. A card that makes nothing is laid face up on the table.
5. Score — At the end of the deal, the cards left on the table go to the last capturer. Then gold scores its number (the Ace 10) and every other card 1: 100 points a deal.
6. Win — Points build up to the room’s target — 101, 151 or 301. The first side to reach it at the end of a deal wins.

Scoring & winning

• Gold cards: Ace 10, 2–7 at face value, Sota 10, Caballo 11, Rey 12 — 70 points for the whole suit. Only the Ace differs between summing and scoring: 1 toward fifteen, 10 in the count.
• Other cards: every Copas, Espadas or Bastos card scores 1 — 30 points, so a deal always hands out exactly 100.
• Example: a player who captured 22 cards, five of them gold — the Ace, 2, 7, Sota and Rey — scores 41 in gold and 17 in other cards: 58 points, leaving 42 for the opponent.
• Clearing the table: no bonus, and the leftover cards that go to the last capturer score only their usual value.
• Partnerships: at four players the partners’ totals are added together; at three, each player scores alone.
• Winning: the match target is 101, 151 (the default) or 301. It is checked at the end of each deal and the first side to reach it wins; if more than one does, the higher total wins, and equal top totals are a draw.
• Rb3ine: captures sum to 40 instead of 15; the points and targets are the same.

Strategy

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