Pife or Cacheta: build your melds and go out first

About Pife or Cacheta

Two to four players, every player for themselves, with two 52-card decks shuffled together (104 cards, no printed jokers). Everyone gets 9 cards. On your turn, draw a card from the deck or the top of the discard pile, then discard one: the goal is to get your whole hand into melds. A SET is 3 or 4 cards of the same rank, all in different suits; a RUN is 3 or more cards in a row of the same suit — the ace can go below the 2 or above the king, but runs don't wrap around (K-A-2 doesn't count). You go out when, after drawing, 9 of your cards are melded and you discard the tenth — or all 10 are melded. If the deck runs out, the discard pile (minus its top card) is shuffled into a new deck, as many times as needed. The host picks the rules. In PIFE there are no wild cards, you can go out on someone else's turn using the card they discard, and the first player to go out wins the game. In CACHETA (or Pife-Pafe), the card turned up after the deal sets the wild card: the next card up in the same suit (one wild per meld; a wild taken from the discard pile counts as a regular card). When you're one card away from going out, you can also call ONE AWAY — from then on, if anyone discards the card you need, you cut the line and go out right away. In Cacheta everyone starts with 7 or 10 lives: going out takes 1 life from each opponent (2 if you go out with all 10 cards); lose them all and you're out, and the last one with lives left wins. If you take a card from the discard pile, you have to use it: it can't go back on the pile that same turn. Each player picks the deck design they see, from the four in the Kingdom's collection. The table is saved on the site: not everyone has to play at the same time, the game tells you when it's your turn, and anyone who opens the link after the game starts can watch. There's text chat, and the rematch happens right there at the same table.

In Selminha's words

“Pife and Cacheta are the card games of Brazilian kitchen tables and family weekends: everybody knows someone who always asks for "one more hand." I wanted both at the same table, with the rules picked by whoever sends the invite, and bots for when you're short on players.”

How to play Pife and Cacheta

1. Tap OPEN A TABLE, pick the rules (Pife or Cacheta; for Cacheta, 7 or 10 lives) and your deck, enter your name and COPY the link. Send it to up to three people, or tap ADD A BOT on the open seats.
2. With at least two seated, the host taps START THE GAME (empty seats sit that game out). Everyone gets 9 cards; in Cacheta, the round's wild card shows up in the middle of the table, next to the deck.
3. On your turn, draw: tap the deck or DRAW, or take the top discard (tap the pile or TAKE DISCARD). Then discard: tap a card to pick it and tap it again, or drag it to the discard pile.
4. The melds you've lined up side by side get a green line underneath, and the wild card gets a gold edge. SORT groups your melds; drag a card sideways to arrange your hand however you like. Can you go out? Tap GO OUT, or drag the leftover card to the discard pile.
5. In Pife, if anyone discards the card that lets you go out, you go out right away, even if it isn't your turn. In Cacheta, when you're one card away from going out, ONE AWAY shows up: call it, and if anyone discards the card you need, you cut the line and go out on the spot. When someone goes out, the board shows their melds and everyone's lives; any player taps NEXT ROUND. The chat sits in the right-hand column (on phones, behind the chat button). P or Esc opens the menu (the table keeps going); M toggles sound.

Full rules for Pife or Cacheta
More games to play with friends online

The rules for both

The deck

Two 52-card decks shuffled together (104 cards), no printed jokers. 9 cards each; the rest is the draw pile.

Your turn

Draw a card from the deck or the top of the discard pile, then discard one. If you take the discard, you have to use it: it can't go back that same turn.

Set

3 or 4 cards of the same rank, all in different suits.

Run

3 or more cards in a row of the same suit. The ace goes below the 2 or above the king; K-A-2 doesn't count.

Going out

After drawing, have 9 cards in melds and discard the tenth — or meld all 10 without discarding.

When the deck runs out

The discard pile, minus its top card, is shuffled into a new deck, as many times as needed.

Pife

No wild cards

Every card counts only as itself: nothing stands in for a missing card.

Going out on someone else's turn

If anyone discards the card that lets you go out, you go out right away, even if it isn't your turn. If two players can, the card goes to whoever comes first in turn order after the discarder.

Who wins

The first player to go out wins the game.

Controls on phone and computer

Computer

Tap or click the deck (or DRAW) to draw, and the discard pile (or TAKE DISCARD) to take its top card · tap or click a card to pick it and again to discard it, or drag it to the discard pile · use the GO OUT, ONE AWAY and SORT buttons · drag a card sideways to arrange your hand · ← → arrows browse your cards, ↑ jumps to the buttons and ↓ back to your cards, Enter picks and discards · P or Esc opens the menu · M sound · F full screen · compatible controller: the D-pad browses cards and buttons, A or X picks and discards, Start menu, Back sound.

Touch

On phones the game plays in portrait; on tablets it adapts to the way you hold the device, portrait or landscape, and never asks you to rotate. Your hand sits large at the bottom, with your melds marked; DRAW, TAKE DISCARD, GO OUT, ONE AWAY and RESIGN sit right above it. Invite with the COPY button: paste the link wherever you like (a chat, a message…).

Cacheta

The turn-up and the wild card

After the deal, the top card of the deck is turned up; the wild card is the next card up in the same suit (after the king comes the ace). It stands in for any card, one per meld, and it also counts as itself.

A wild from the discard pile

A wild card that gets discarded loses its power: whoever takes it from the pile gets a regular card.

ONE AWAY and cutting the line

When you're one card away from going out, you can call ONE AWAY. From then on, if anyone discards the card you need, you cut the line and go out right away, out of turn.

Lives

Everyone starts with 7 or 10 lives. Going out takes 1 life from each opponent (2 if you go out with all 10 cards); lose them all and you're out, and the last one with lives left wins.

What the host picks

The rules

Pife or Cacheta, for the whole game.

Lives

In Cacheta, 7 lives for a shorter game or 10 for a longer one.

Who plays

2 to 4: the host starts whenever they're ready, with whoever is seated, people or bots.