Pife and Cacheta Rules: How to Play Brazilian Rummy

The goal

The goal is to go out: to have your whole hand arranged in melds, which are sets and runs. In Pife, the first player to go out wins. In Cacheta, going out costs everyone else lives, and the last player with lives left wins.

Players and deck

The game uses two standard 52-card decks shuffled together, jokers removed: 104 cards in all. Every player plays for themselves. Under the card maker's rules, Cacheta is for 2 to 5 players and Pif Paf for 3 to 8, though many people also play Pif Paf one-on-one.

The deal

• Each player gets 9 cards, face down.
• The rest of the cards go face down in the middle of the table as the draw pile.
• Discarded cards go face up on the discard pile, next to the draw pile.
• The player to the dealer's right goes first, play moves to the right (counterclockwise) and the deal passes one seat each round.

Melds: sets and runs

Set

Three cards of the same rank in different suits, or four, one of each suit. For example: the 7 of hearts, the 7 of spades and the 7 of clubs.

Run

Three or more cards in a row in the same suit. For example: the 4, 5 and 6 of diamonds.

In a run, the ace can go below the 2 (ace, 2, 3) or above the king (queen, king, ace), but it can't wrap around: king, ace, 2 isn't a run.

Your turn

• On your turn, draw one card: the top card of the draw pile or the top card of the discard pile.
• Then discard one card from your hand onto the discard pile, so you're back to 9 cards.
• At many tables, if you take the top discard, you have to use it: you can't discard it on the same turn.

Going out

You go out when, after drawing, you have 9 cards in melds and discard the tenth. You lay down your hand, and the round ends. In Cacheta, you can also go out with all 10 cards in melds and no discard. That's called going out with 10, and it's worth more.

Pife: going out on a discard

Pife has no wild cards. Under the card maker's rules, any player can go out using the card another player has just discarded, even when it isn't their turn; Brazilians call this going out with the louca. The first player to go out wins the round.

A player who lays down a hand that doesn't actually go out has made a false claim, called a rebate. The most common penalty: they pick the cards back up, stay in the game and, from then on, can only go out on a card drawn from the draw pile. Many tables agree on a different penalty beforehand, or none at all.

Cacheta: the turn-up card and the wild card

In Cacheta, after the deal, the top card of the draw pile is turned face up: it's the turn-up card, called the vira. The wild card is the next rank up in the same suit: if the turn-up is the 6 of hearts, the 7 of hearts is wild; if it's a king, the ace of that suit is. Since there are two decks, there are two wild cards. That's what the card maker's rules page says. An article on the same maker's blog says the next rank up in either suit of the turn-up's color instead, which would make four wild cards.

A wild card can stand in for any card missing from a meld, one wild card per meld. It can also be used as itself. Under the most common rules, a wild card taken from the discard pile counts only as a regular card.

Cacheta: calling one away

In Cacheta, a player who is one card away from going out can announce it, which Brazilians call na boa. From then on, if that card lands on the discard pile, they cut the line: they take it out of turn and go out on the spot. A player who cuts the line and can't use the card is penalized: they can't cut the line again and can only go out on their own turn.

Lives in Cacheta

Each player starts with an agreed number of lives, usually 7 or 10. The player who goes out takes 1 life from each opponent, or 2 for going out with 10. A player with no lives left is eliminated, and the last player with lives left wins.

When the draw pile runs out

If the draw pile runs out before anyone goes out, at most tables the discard pile, except for the top card, is shuffled into a new draw pile, as many times as needed; at others, it's turned over without shuffling. The round only ends when someone goes out.

Variations

• Repeated suits in a set: the card maker's rules page calls for all-different suits, but an article on its blog lets a set grow with an extra card in one of the suits it already has, since there are two decks. Some tables play that way.
• Same-color wild cards: some tables, as an article on the maker's blog describes, make the next rank up wild in both suits of the turn-up's color, so there are four wild cards.
• Playing for chips: many Pif Paf tables play for chips, at stakes agreed beforehand.
• Taking the discard: at some tables, you can only take the top discard to go out.

Tips for beginners

• Watch the discard pile: the cards other players throw away and pick up show which melds they're building.
• Prefer two cards in a row in the same suit, like the 5 and 6 of diamonds, to cards with a gap, like the 5 and 7: the first pair is completed by a 4 or a 7, the second only by a 6.
• In Cacheta, save your wild card for the meld that's hardest to finish.
• Take a discard only when it completes or extends a meld: everyone sees what you picked up and learns what you're building.