Escudo de Lascuarenta.es con los cuatro palos de la baraja españolaLascuarenta.es (The Forty)

Learn to play

Pumba tutorial: practise play by play

Pumba tutorial

Pumba is learned in one hand: play by suit or number and make the most of the special cards. Practise three real plays, review the key points, and then play against the bot.

See Pumba tablesFull rules
Step 1 of 3

Stopping an opponent

On top of the discard pile there's a five of cups. The next player has just one card left.

Discard

Your hand

What do you do?

Correct: 0

Key points

The essentials del Pumba

Deal and goal

Played by 2 to 6 players with the Spanish deck: five cards to whoever opens the hand and four to the rest. The goal is to empty your hand before anyone else.

Suit or number

Play a card that matches either the suit or the number of the top of the discard pile. If you can't or don't want to, draw: a maximum of twice per turn, after which you must play or pass.

Special cards

Ace: an opponent draws one. Two: the next player draws two and loses their turn, stacking if they also play a two. Seven: reverses the direction. Jack: wild card that picks the suit. Knight: skips a turn. King: play again.

Calling "Pumba!"

Once you're down to one card you must call it before playing your second-to-last card. If you forget, you draw two as a penalty: press the "Pumba!" button in time.

Points and elimination

Whoever empties their hand subtracts five points and the rest add up their cards (two, Jack and King worth ten; Knight nine; the rest their number). On reaching the chosen limit — 100 or 200 points — you're eliminated; the last player standing wins.

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.

Sota de Oros de una baraja de Lascuarenta.esSota de Copas de una baraja de Lascuarenta.es
Sota de Espadas de una baraja de Lascuarenta.esSota de Bastos de una baraja de Lascuarenta.es
The sotas (jacks) of the four suits in the Baraja Antigua, in the style of early 20th-century decks.

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.

Rules of CuatrolaPartnerships, forcing suit and five tricks that countRules of TuteForty cards, calls made out loudRules of GuiñoteCalling the forty, swapping the seven, forced playRules of ChinchónSets, runs and the art of discardingRules of BriscaThree cards, the trump card and constant drawingRules of MentirosoBluffs, face-down cards and accusationsRules of MusPartnerships, signals and going all inRules of PumbaSnap twos, jacks as wildcards, fast discardingRules of La EscobaAdding up to fifteen and sweeping the tableRules of SolitarioYou against the deal: Klondike, Spider and Pyramid