I’ve been trying to find any information about Kargaburo online, but to no avail. So I decided to write a post about it instead.
Kargaburo or “kargadeburo” or “karga burot” is a type of shedding card game in the Philippines, which is very similar to “Cangkul” of Indonesia. Both games are somewhat similar to the Spanish card game “Burro” or “Los Burros”. The objective of the game is to get rid of cards by following suit. This card game is very popular among children.
Kargaburo has a very special place in my childhood life, all five of us (my parents and two younger brothers) would used to play this together at night. I think this is the only game that all five of us would play together.
Etymology
It is unknown when the game has started or where its name came from. However, ”Karga” is the Filipino word for ‘carry’ which may also mean ‘to add.’ This is probably due to the nature of drawing a card from the stock and adding it to your hand (karga). While ”Buro” may be the Filipinization of Burro. “Burot” on the other hand means to bulge, to bloat or to inflate in Cebuano, which will happen to your cards on hand if you keep adding cards from the stock.
Rules
The game can be played by 2 or more players but is best played by around 2-5 players. Standard international French deck of 52 cards is used with each suit ranking from 2 to Ace. With the Ace being the highest and 2 being the lowest.
The dealer deals 5 cards to each player and drop one card face up. This will be the Lead Card. The dealer then stacks the remainder of the pack face down to form a Drawing Stock. The player at the right of the dealer starts the game by playing a card of the same suit as the lead card. The next player at the right follow suits and so on. When all have played one card, whoever played the highest card puts the played cards (the Trick) aside and leads a new card to the next trick, which may be the same or a different suit. Everyone must play a card of the suit that was led. The game goes on until a winner is determined.
A player who does not have a card of the suit that was led must draw the top card of the stock. If it is of the required suit he must play it. If not he must add it to his cards without showing it to the other players and draw another. The player must continue to draw cards until a card of the right suit is found and played. The player is required to play the drawn card with the right suit immediately, whether it is a lower card, and end his turn. Waiting to draw a higher card if you had already drawn a card of the right suit is not allowed. Thus it is not possible to draw two cards of the same required suit.
If a player has no card of the required suit and draws all the remaining cards from the stock without finding a card of the right suit, or if a player is unable to follow suit when the stock is already empty, the player must pick up all the played card/s on the trick so far and add them to his/her hand regardless if all the players has already played a card. Whoever played the highest card on the picked up cards leads a new card to a new trick.
The first player who runs out of cards wins the game. When there are more than 2 players, the game continues to determine the dealer for the next game which is the last player left still with cards on hand. The winner of the game will be the first player to play a card on the next game whether the winner is on the right of the dealer or not. The next one to play would be the player at the right of the winner and so on until everyone has played a card.
Difference to Cangkul
Despite being very similar to each other, Kargaburo and Cangkul has some differences:
- In Cangkul, the game starts with 7 cards and the player to the left of the dealer would begin by playing a lead card of his/her choice. The dealer will not drop a lead card.
- In Cangkul, when the stock runs out before a player can play a card, he/she would just pass and the trick continues until everyone has played a card. By then would the player only pick up the complete played cards for that trick.
- In Cangkul, if two or more players have to pass in a trick because they cannot follow suit and the stock is exhausted, the players who passed take turns drawing a card from the trick, beginning with the first player who passed and continuing clockwise.
Two or more players passing a trick is only possible in Cangkul as the player who cannot play a card will immediately pick up the trick whether everyone has played a card or not in Kargaburo.
The rules above are based on my memories and is as accurate as it can be. If you find any fault, please do not hesitate to comment below or to contact me. Thank you for reading and God Bless =>
*Photo used for featured image by Aditya Chinchure on Unsplash
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