Cuarenta: Ecuador's national card game explained
Cuarenta is Ecuador's national game, played with the Spanish deck: capture by pairing and sequences, shout your caídas and limpias, first to 40 points wins.
Cuarenta is the card game Ecuador made its own — its national game, played with the 40-card Spanish deck and crowned every December at the world championship held in Quito since 1969 during the city's fiestas. You capture cards by pairing them and then dragging off any ascending sequence that follows; snatching the very card your rival just played is a caída (two instant points, announced with relish), and clearing the table is a limpia. Captured cards count at the end — six points at twenty cards, one more per extra card — and the first side to shout forty wins, ideally leaving the losers below ten for the ceremonial humiliation of the zapatería.
Our complete guide — Andean history, full rules, scoring and the game's gloriously noisy vocabulary — is available in Spanish: Reglas del cuarenta. You need a traditional 40-card Spanish deck from our playing cards collection.
Playing Cards
Gemini Casino Phthalo Green – Playing Cards
Icon Black – Playing Cards
Premier Edition Restricted Red – Playing Cards
Premier Edition Jet Black Private Reserve – Playing Cards
One Piece – Robin – Playing Cards
Lounge Edition Terminal Turquoise – Playing Cards
Lounge Edition Taxiway Yellow – Playing Cards
Cardistry Fanning Yellow Edition – Playing Cards
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