How to keep score in Burraco

Burraco is scored at the end of each hand. Each team adds its burraco bonuses and the cards it melded, then takes away the cards still in its hands. The first team to reach 2,005 wins.

At a glance

• Players: 4 in two teams, or 2 or 3

• Who wins: First team to 2,005

• Cards: 2 decks and 4 jokers, 11 each

• Scored: After every hand

What each card is worth

A card is worth the same in a meld on the table or left in your hand. Melded cards count for your team, and cards in hand count against it. A wild card counts its own value, not the card it stands for.

Burraco bonuses and closing

A burraco is a meld of seven or more cards. On top of the cards' own points, each burraco earns a bonus, and so does closing.

• Burraco pulito (clean), with no wild card in it: 200

• Burraco sporco (dirty), with a jolly or a pinella used as a wild card: 100

• Chiusura (closing): 100 for the team that goes out

• Pozzetto not taken: −100 for a team that never picked up its pozzetto

To close, your team must have taken its pozzetto and made at least one burraco. If the hand ends because the stock runs down instead, nobody gets the 100 for closing.

Adding up a hand

For each team: burraco bonuses, plus the points of every melded card, plus 100 for closing, minus the points of the cards left in both partners' hands, minus 100 if you didn't take your pozzetto. A hand score can be negative.

Write the hand's score under each team and keep a running total. The game ends when a team reaches 2,005 at the end of a hand, and the higher total wins. Shorter games go to 1,005 or 505.

What people often get wrong

• The closer's partner still counts. When one player closes, the cards in their partner's hand count against the team.

• Wild cards keep their value. A jolly in a meld is 30 and a pinella 20, whatever card they stand for.

• A two in its own place isn't wild. In a run like ace, two, three of hearts, the two is a natural card, and the burraco can still be clean.

Variants that change the score

• Semipulito: some tables pay 150 for a burraco of eight or more cards that has a run of seven natural cards plus one wild card. Elsewhere it's a dirty burraco.

• Target: some tables play to 2,000 instead of 2,005.

• Three players: the pair's hand score is split in half between the two partners, and the player on their own scores the whole of theirs.

A scoring example

The first hand of a team game. Team A closed. Team B never got to its pozzetto.

Team A's other partner still held 25 points of cards when A closed, so those count against them. After one hand it's 560 to 70, with a long way to go to 2,005.

Keep score in Tallynight

Burraco is set up for you: rounds, highest score wins, to 2,005. Add each team as a player. After each hand, type both teams' scores on one keypad, minus signs included, and the table keeps the totals and who's in front.

• Offers to end the game when a team reaches 2,005

• Play to 1,005 or 505 for a shorter game, and keep it as a favourite

• Tap any hand to fix it

• A race chart that replays the game at the end

• Get Tallynight on the App Store: free, no ads.

• Print a Burraco score sheet if you'd rather keep score on paper.

Questions

How much is a clean burraco worth?

200 points, plus the points of its cards. A dirty burraco, with a wild card in it, is 100.

How much is a pinella worth in Burraco?

20 points, in a meld or in your hand. A jolly (joker) is 30 and an ace 15.

What happens if you don't take the pozzetto?

Your team loses 100 points at the end of the hand. You also can't close until your team has taken it.

How many points do you play to in Burraco?

2,005 is the usual target for a full game. Shorter games go to 1,005 or 505.

Can a Burraco score be negative?

Yes. With few melds, a lot of cards left in hand and no pozzetto, a team's hand score can go below zero, and so can its total.

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