Learn to play
Cuatrola tutorial: practise play by play
Cuatrola tutorial
Seven fixed plays to master forced follow, automatic cantes and the Solo and Cuatrola bets. Tap the card you'd play: if you get it wrong, we explain why.
Only scoring cards
Cuatrola is played with the 20 scoring cards: Ace (11), three (10), King (4), Knight (3) and Jack (2). You're the forehand, trump is coins, and the table is empty. Lead a suit that isn't trump.
You lead: the table is empty
Your hand · tap the card you'd play
The tutorial and games against the computer never affect your public stats.
Key points
The essentials de la Cuatrola
Points and hands aren't the same
Points come from the cards (Ace 11, three 10, King 4, Knight 3, Jack 2) plus cantes and the last-trick bonus. Winning the hand scores 1 point on the board, 2 if it was Solo, 4 with Cuatrola and 5 with Quintola in the variant that includes it.
The turn moves to the right
The forehand sits to the dealer's right and speaks and plays first. On the next hand, the previous forehand deals, and the new forehand is the one to their right.
Cantes trigger on their own
If you hold the King and Knight of the same suit, the cante is scored automatically as soon as you or your partner win a trick: 20 points, or 40 if that suit is trump.
Never lead below your Ace
With the Ace of a suit in hand, leading a lower card of that suit means losing it and being left with an Ace that never wins a trick. Only do this if that suit has already been played this hand, or if you hold many cards of it.
Only draw trumps when you can win
Leading trump without the Ace or three hands control to your opponent. It can be done when the trump Ace is visible in the shown card and belongs to your partner.
Force your opponent to trump
Without the trump Ace, it's better to play a suit that has already been played: whoever lacks it will trump and waste a card they'll need later.
When following, play the Ace with the Ace
When you have to follow and beat, don't hold back: the Ace you save usually ends up captured anyway. Only keep it if you have three or more cards of that suit and the player behind you could trump it.
Questions
Questions about this tutorial
Origins
History of the deck
Origin of the deck
The 40-card Spanish deck arrived on the peninsula in the 14th century and established its four suits —coins, cups, swords, and clubs— as symbols of medieval social classes.
The Tute
Heir to the Central European Marriage, Tute popularized the 20 and 40 declarations and became the quintessential table and tavern game.
La Cuatrola
A pairs variant from the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is played only with the 20 scoring cards (aces, 3s, kings, knights, and jacks): all are dealt, 5 per player, and the trump card is one of the dealer's cards, which they show to the table. Whoever dares to 'sing Cuatrola' commits to winning all five tricks alone.
Full rules
Rules of every game, in writing
Check the deck and its values, the deal, how a round unfolds, scoring, strategy, common mistakes, regional variants and table vocabulary.