MARAFON-BECCACCINO

MARAFON

OBJECTIVE OF MARAFON-BECCACCINO: The objective of Marafon-Beccaccino is to score 41 points by winning tricks.


NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 players


MATERIALS: A Latin suited deck of 40 cards (or a modified 52 card pack), a way to keep score, and a flat surface.


TYPE OF GAME: Point-Trick Card Game


AUDIENCE: Any

OVERVIEW OF MARAFON-BECCACCINO

Marafon-Beccaccino is a point-trick card game for 4 players. Players will be in two partnerships; team members sitting opposite of each other. Marafon-Beccaccino is special because to win the game you must win it twice. 

The goal of Marafon-Beccaccino is to score 41 points over a series of hands. You do this by winning trick with valuable cards in them. 

To truly win the game though players see which team can win two total games, best out of three, style. The first team to win 2 games are the actual winners of Marafon-Beccaccino.

SETUP

To modify a 52-card deck you will need to remove the 10s, 9s, and 8s from the deck. Once you have done that you will have a 40-card deck to use. For the remained or the rules, I will use the terms for the Latin card deck, but cards are easily comparable except the queen which is closely related to the horse.

The deck should be shuffled by a random dealer. The player to the dealer’s left will cut the deck. Dealing is done anticlockwise in batches of 5 cards. Each player will receive a hand of 10 cards in total. 

Once all players have their hands, a player will then call trumps. In the first round, the player to call trumps will be the player holding the 4 of coins. They will also become the dealer for the next round, and the player to their right will call trumps. Also, the second round a forward the player to the dealer’s left is not allowed to look at their cards till after trumps are called, so they cannot influence their partner’s choice. 

The game can then begin. 

Card Rankings and Values

Marafon-Beccaccino has a nontraditional ranking and some cards have values attached to them. The ranking for Marafon-Beccaccino is 3 (high), 2, Ace, King, Horse, Jack, 7, 6, 5, and 4 (low). 

Cards have values as well. Aces are worth one point. 3s, 2s, Kings, Horses, and Jacks are worth 1/3 of a point. The final trick is also scored as one point. The remaining cards have no value.

GAMEPLAY

The game starts with the player who called trumps. They may lead any card from hand and all other players will follow in anticlockwise order. The following player must follow suit if able but if not may play any card including trumps. 

The highest-ranked trump wins the trick, or if not applicable the highest-ranking card of the led suit. The winner of a trick will lead the next trick.

A player who holds the three highest-ranked trumps (the 3, 2, and ace of the trump suit) may declare Marafona during the first trick. This scores their team an additional 3 points at the end of the game. 

Leading Tricks

When leading a trick, the leader may make certain declarations to get information out to their partner. Players may lie about their hands using these announcements, but it is not recommended. A player may only make one declaration per trick they lead. Three declarations can be made: Busso, Volo, and Striscio. 

Busso is to signal that you would like your partner to play their highest card in the suit you are leading. And if they win the trick you would like them to lead the same suit again.  A knock on the table can also be used to signal this. 

Volo is a signal to let others know you have no more cards of the suit you are leading. A nonverbal signal to this is to gently toss your card to the center of the table. 

Striscio is a signal meaning that along with the card you are playing you have one or more low cards (anything king or lower) in this suit. Sliding the card to the center of the table can also signal this. 

SCORING

Once a round is over teams will total their scores together. This will include the additional point for winning the last trick. Partial points do not count towards your total score, so any fractions are dropped. If you scored 4 and 2/3 points, then the 2/3 is dropped meaning you scored 4 points. These round scores are kept and tallied for a total score. Once a team reaches 41 points, they have won the game. 

At any point during a round, a player can claim their team has reached the 41 points necessary to win. During the round players are not permitted to look back at tricks they have won so it is best to keep a running total in your head as you play. If a player is correct their team wins the game but if they lose. 

END OF GAME

The game is played until a team has won 2 games. 

Nakoa Davis
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