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A hand of Caída, move by move

By the Caída team · Updated October 28, 2026

The rules make more sense once you watch a hand. This one is between two players, Ana and Beto, with all six plays explained and the score at the end. To follow along we show both players’ cards, which nobody gets to see in a real game.

The table deal

Ana is the dealer: she deals, lays out the table and plays last in every hand. Beto, who comes after her, opens. Before laying the four cards, Ana chooses to call “1, 2, 3, 4”.

On “1” an ace comes up and on “3” a 3 comes up: two hits, for 1 + 3 = 4 points. Had she called “4, 3, 2, 1” she would have missed all four, and Beto would have picked up the point for the misdeal. The order is chosen before the cards are seen, so there’s no skill involved here: it’s pure luck.

Each player’s cards

Both of them have a canto. Each one knows what kind the other has, but not which cards. Ana knows Beto has a Ronda, a pair and an odd card, and Beto knows Ana has a Patrulla, three cards in a row.

Play 1: Beto plays a 5

The table has the 1, the 6, the 3 and the 10. Beto has none of those, so whatever he plays stays on the table. He picks the 5 and holds on to the knights of his Ronda. It’s a risk: Ana has three cards in a row and could easily have a 5.

Table: 1, 6, 3, 10 and 5.

Play 2: Ana makes a caída

Ana has a 5 and takes Beto’s, which he just played: that’s a caída, worth 1 point. Since the table also has the 6, which comes after the 5, she takes it in the same play (multiple capture). After the 6 there would have to be a 7, and there isn’t one, so it stops there.

→

Table: 1, 3 and 10. Ana has 5 points and 3 cards in her pile.

Play 3: Beto plays a knight

Beto only has his two knights left. He plays one and it stays on the table, because there’s no other 11. Now the 10 and the 11 sit next to each other: if Ana had a 10, she would take both.

Table: 1, 3, 10 and 11.

Play 4: Ana reads Beto’s canto

Ana has the 4 and the 6, and neither one takes anything. Which one does she let go? This is where paying attention pays off: Beto’s Ronda is a pair and an odd card, and he has already played a 5 and an 11. His last card has to be another 5 or another 11, or he wouldn’t have a pair. So he doesn’t have a 4 and can’t make a caída on it. Ana plays the 4 without worrying and keeps the 6.

Table: 1, 3, 10, 11 and 4.

Play 5: Beto takes his own knight

Beto plays his other 11. There’s an 11 on the table, but he played it himself, so it isn’t a caída: it’s a capture, and it doesn’t score. He takes both knights. After the 11 would come the 12, and there isn’t one.

That was his third card, but his Ronda doesn’t score. Ana’s Patrulla is in the same deal and sits higher in the ranking, and only the highest canto scores.

Table: 1, 3, 10 and 4. Beto has 2 cards in his pile.

Play 6: Ana closes the hand

Ana has the 6 left. She took the other 6 in play 2, so this one stays on the table. It was her third card: her Patrulla scores, 6 points.

Table: 1, 3, 10, 4 and 6.

Where they stand

Now Ana deals three more cards to each of them. The 6 she played stays on the table, but a new deal breaks the caída: if Beto opens the next hand with a 6, he takes it with no points. With two players the deck lasts six hands. When it runs out, the last player who captured takes whatever is left on the table and the piles are counted: each card over 20 is a point. Beto is at zero, and if the game ended like this he would get skunked.

What if the table had been different?

Say that later in the cycle Beto plays a 5 and the only card left on the table is a 6. If Ana takes both with her 5, she leaves the table empty, and that’s a Clean Table: 1 for the caída plus 4, as long as there are cards left for another hand. In the last deal of the cycle, those 4 don’t count.

With the Caída beats canto option, Ana’s Patrulla would have been pending when she played her third card. Since that was the last play of the hand, Beto has nothing left to answer with, and the canto scores before the next deal.