CAU ROBAT

OBJECTIVE OF CAU ROBAT: The objective of Cau Robat is to win a certain number of hands as determined before the game. 

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 3 to 5 Players

MATERIALS: Spanish 40 card Deck, away to keep score, and a flat surface.

TYPE OF GAME: Fishing Card Game

AUDIENCE: Children

OVERVIEW OF CAU ROBAT

Cau Robat is a children’s Fishing game for 3 to 5 players. Players will use a 40 card Spanish deck to play. The goal of the game is to win a certain number of hands before other players. Players can win hands by taking the most cards during gameplay. 

Taking cards happens when players play equal cards to the ones face up on the table, this is the basis of the game. 

SETUP

The dealer should be chosen randomly and passed anticlockwise after each hand. Cards are also dealt anticlockwise by the dealer.

The dealer will shuffle the deck and deal 4 faceup cards to the table (5 for a 5-player game). These cards should all be different ranks so if there are 2 or more matching cards of rank these get reshuffled into the deck and redealt till all cards are different. 

Hands are then dealt in batches of three until all cards are dealt (except in 5-player games where the last batch will just be one card.) Once players have received their hands the game can begin. 

Card Rankings 

The suits in Cau Robat do not matter all that matters are the rank and order of cards. The rank of cards is 12, 11, 10, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1.  For sequencing this is the order that is used except 12 also follows the 1 making the order a continuous loop. So, a sequence of 6, 7, and 10 are valid but so is 11, 12, 1, 2. 

GAMEPLAY

The game starts with the player on the dealer’s right and continues anticlockwise. For a player’s turn, they will play one card from their hand face up to the table onto one of the piles. Two things can happen then, either your card matches a card on the table, or it does not. If it does not, then nothing happens, and your card is left on the table to be scored later by you or another player. If it does, then you will take cards dependent on the layout of the cards on the table and which card your played card matches. 

When your card just matches a single card on the table, not in any form of sequence then you capture the single card and both that card and the played card are placed on top of your scoring pile the will kept next to you. Your score pile will need to be in the order that you capture cards as it is important for card capturing later. 

If the card you matched is part of a sequence of cards, then you can score the sequence along with the card you matched. For example, if a pile contains a 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, and 11 and you play an 11 then you can score the 11, 10, 7, and 6. You do not score for completing sequences, so playing a 5 would not score you any cards. 

When the top card of a player’s pile falls into a sequence, then the whole pile can be captured along with the sequence. For example, as above the pile contains a 3, 4, 6, 7, 10, and 11, but there is also a player whose top score pile card is a 5. By playing an 11 all the cards in the pile on the table are captured as well as the player’s full pile covered by the 5. These are all placed in the capturing player’s pile in order, without changing the other player’s pile order at all. The above scenario only works, however, if a player can play a card that matches one of the cards in the faceup pile and not the player’s score pile. A 5 would not score anything in this example. Also, if there are any faceup 5s on the table then the player’s pile cannot be scored. In this case playing an 11 would again only score you the 11, 10, 7, and 6. 

CALLING CAU

When a player plays a card and does not capture a card with it, the next player after them may call Cau. This means that the player will play a card of equal rank of the card the previous player just played. This can be doubled by the next player after them by calling Recau, this means they will also play a card of matching rank to capture the previous cards of both players. Finally, Contracau can be called which means that player will play the 4th and final card of that rank.

When a Cau, Recau, or Contracau is called successfully, that player gets the following benefits. For a call of Cau, the first card is captured and scored with the second played card of equal rank, and a penalty of the first card of the players score pile is paid to the capturing player. For a call of Recau, this player will receive both the first player’s card and the Cau called card to score along with the card played by the active player. Two penalty cards, one from each player who played the capture cards, from the top of their score piles, will be given to the active player. For a call of Contracau, the player will receive all 4 cards of the rank to score to their pile and all three previous players will need to pay a penalty of the top card of their score pile to the active player.

When these cards are played, they can be played as part of sequences which will also be scored according to the rules above in gameplay. 

An example would be, Player A plays a 7 to a pile containing a 6, 10, and 11. The score nothing. Player B calls Cau and plays another 7 to the same pile. They would have scored the two 7s along with the 6, 10, and 11, however, Player C calls Recau. Player C plays a third 7 to the same pile, they would have scored, three 7s, the 6, 10, and 11, but now Player D calls Contracau. They play the 4th and final 7 to the pile. They score all four 7s, the 6, 10, and 11, and each player pays the top card from the score pile as a penalty. 

TABLE CLEARING

If your play clears the table of all faceup cards, then each other player will pay you a penalty of the top card of their score pile. If this happens during a Cau or other variation, then these penalties are paid before the Cau penalties. 

SCORING

After all, cards have been played out, players will total the cards in their score piles. The player with the highest total of cards wins the hand. If there is a tie, both players count the hand as a win.

END OF GAME

The game ends once a player reaches the agreed-upon total of wins. 

Nakoa Davis
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