Lascuarenta.esClassic Games · Spanish CardsSpanish card games online: Cuatrola, Tute, Brisca and Chinchón

Lascuarenta.es (The Forty) brings together the classic games of the Spanish deck at one table. There are the ones from after-dinner get-togethers, village bars and summer terraces: from Cuatrola — which gives the site its name — to Chinchón, plus Tute, Brisca, Guiñote, Mus, Mentiroso, Pumba, Escoba and a Solitaire played with Spanish cards.

The idea is to bring the home table to the screen without dressing it up. If a game is played in pairs, it's played in pairs; calls are announced out loud and trumps lead as always. There are no roulette wheels or casino animations. Just what belongs in a real game.

You can play from a computer, tablet or phone, either in the browser or by installing the site as a free app, with no app store involved. Games between people run through servers in Spain. If someone's missing, house players — bots that know the same rules — take the seat so the table isn't left short.

The name comes from the best-known call in the Spanish deck: cantar las cuarenta ("calling the forty"). In Tute it's called with king and knight; in Guiñote, with king and jack. If that suit is trumps, the call is worth forty and can decide the hand.

It's one of those moves announced out loud, often with a sharp slap of the card on the table. The phrase "te voy a cantar las cuarenta" ("I'll give you what for") made its way into everyday speech, even if many people no longer remember it was born among playing cards. Recovering that memory is also part of this project.

The full story is on the blog, in the article «Cantar las cuarenta: de dónde viene la expresión» (in Spanish).

Each game has a page with the full rules: deck and card values, dealing, play, scoring, strategy, common mistakes and regional variants. There are also interactive tutorials to practise real moves, and open tables at any time.

Cuatrola is the house game: tricks, forcing, partnerships and calls, with its countdown from a hundred. Tute and Guiñote share the calls of twenty and forty. Brisca is faster-paced; Chinchón is about combining and closing; Mus is about signals and going all in; Mentiroso is about bluffing; Pumba is about penalties; and Escoba is about adding up to fifteen. For a calmer, solo game, there's Solitaire with the familiar cards.

There's also a chapter-based story mode, to play at your own pace, and tournaments with knockout rounds and a public podium.

All games are free and complete. There are no limits on games played, no better cards for those who pay, and no purchases that change the outcome of a hand.

Sotas are the site's decorative currency. They're used to get illustrated decks, card backs, felts and other table details. They're sometimes given away at the end of a game and are never lost for losing: they're only spent when you buy something. They can't be wagered or converted into euros. Lascuarenta.es (The Forty) isn't a casino, and it doesn't try to look like one.

The site is funded by advertising — only if you accept advertising cookies, and never over the felt — and by purchases from those who want a different look or prefer to play without ads.

For the crowd that used to get together on Sundays and now lives in different cities. For anyone who learned by watching their grandfather and wants to teach it to their friends. And for anyone starting from scratch who'd rather practise step by step before sitting down with other players.

If it's your first game, start with the rules, try the tutorial and then join an open table. If something doesn't match the way your household plays, write to us. Many things on this site started from an email explaining a village's variant.