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Despite the vast offer of games, card games are still many people’s favorites. - Beyond the realm of casinos, where poker and blackjack are mainly played, numerous card games with Spanish decks are enormously popular.
Currently, our lives are closely linked to technology. We need a mobile phone or a computer to do almost anything and play. Online casino games in Spain (and in the world) have experienced an unprecedented boom for many years; the success of video poker, the different versions of the baccarat game, virtual roulette, or online slots are suitable proof of this.
American blackjack can also be played through our mobile device in its online blackjack version. However, other card games still require the human, face-to-face component. They are those traditional Spanish games that, for the most part, are outside the scope of casinos.
The Cards Of The Spanish Deck
The main characteristics of the Spanish deck are:
- There are four suits in their French and English namesakes, but they are different. In our national card, the four suits are clubs, swords, cups, and gold.
- Each suit subsists of 12 cards instead of 13 in the English or French deck.
- As in the French or English deck, the ace represents 1; in some games, it is usually the highest-value card.
- The cards in which characters appear in the Spanish deck are the king, the horse, and the jack.
- There are two cards that act as a wild cards or joker.
- It should be noted that the Spanish deck is also trendy in Latin America.
Donkey
This popular and straightforward Spanish card game can make us have fun with family or friends. The game allows between 4 and 8 players, although there are usually 4.
We must learn its golden rules to learn how to play cards in the Donkey. They are simple: the first thing we must do is select four cards for each player. The only condition is that these four cards are of the same suit. For example, four aces, four kings, four deuces… Then they will shuffle, and four cards will be dealt to each participant. The players will then have to choose one of the cards to pass to the player to their right; all players will make that discard simultaneously.
What is the objective of the game? Well, get four equal cards, as simple as that. The first player to achieve it (remember: 4 similar cards of each suit) will have to say “donkey” out loud and place their hands in the center of the game table. The rest of the participants will do the same at that exact moment. The one furthest behind will write down the first letter of the word donkey, and so on. The first to complete the word will have lost. The one who manages not to complete it will win.
The Mus
The mus is one of the games with the longest tradition in Spain and Latin America; It is a hobby with no less than 200 years of history. A genuinely Hispanic game and therefore played with a Spanish deck, usually the 40-card deck.
In general, the mus admits 4 participants who will be grouped in pairs of two. It is not easy to list the basic rules of this game as they vary depending on where it is played. But in any case, essential norms are constantly repeated; on each hand, the same plays will always be given.
- Game: it is about exceeding or at least equaling 31 points. If no player reaches that sum, everything will be resolved in “the point,” a play where each participant tries to achieve a combination close to 30.
- Big: it is about obtaining the highest possible score by adding the value of the cards.
- Small: it is about obtaining the lowest possible value combination.
- Pairs: it is about achieving a combination with the most significant number of identical cards. The higher the value of these cards, the better.
In these plays we have just seen (also called “casts”), players can bet the amount they want or even the game’s total. This last maneuver is called “órdago.”
One of the most extraordinary characteristics of this game is that the couples try to communicate (to carry out game strategies) without saying a word through certain gestures.
In short, mus is a card game for couples with a long tradition in Spain; it is perfect for socializing and having a good time with friends, even if it is not precisely one of those card games to drink; it requires maximum concentration.
