Casino Card Game Rules

Casino, often spelt Cassino, is a classic card game for two to four players with an ordinary 52-card deck. Despite the name, it is not a casino game: it is a “fishing” game, like the Italian Scopa, in which you play a card from your hand to capture cards of the same value from the table, or cards that add up to it. You can also combine cards into builds to capture later. Points come from taking the most cards, the most spades, the aces and two special cards, Big Casino and Little Casino, and the first to 21 wins. This guide covers the Casino card game rules: dealing, capturing, building, scoring, variations, tips and odds.

Casino Rules at a Glance

The Deal

1. Deal four cards to each player and four face up to the table, laid out separately so everyone can see them. Traditionally the deal is in twos: two to each other player, two to the table, two to the dealer, then the same again.
2. Put the rest aside. When everyone has played their four cards, the dealer deals four more to each player, but none to the table.
3. Repeat until the deck is gone. That is 6 deals for two players, 4 for three and 3 for four. The dealer says “last” when dealing the final cards.
4. The deal passes to the left after each hand is scored.

How to Play Casino

The player to the dealer’s left goes first, and play goes clockwise. On your turn you play one card from your hand, and use it in one of these ways:

1. Capture with a face card

A jack, queen or king captures one card of the same rank from the table, and nothing else. With two queens on the table, a queen takes only one of them.

2. Capture with a number card

An ace to 10 captures every table card of the same rank, and any sets of number cards that add up to it. An 8 can take an 8, a 5 and a 3, or a 4 and two 2s, all in one play. Each card can only belong to one set: with A, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 8 on the table, an 8 takes the 8, the 6 and 2, and the 5 and 3, but not the ace as well. Put the captured cards and your card face down in your pile.

3. Build

You can play a number card onto table cards to make a build, announcing the number that will capture it, for example “building 8”. You must hold a card of that number, and the build must include the card you just played. There are two kinds:

• Single build: cards that add up to the number, such as a 3 played on a 5 to build 8.
• Multiple build: two or more cards or sets that each equal the number, such as 6+3 and 5+4 and a 9, all building 9.

From then on the build can only be captured as a whole, and only by a card of the announced number. Anyone holding that card can take it, including your opponent.

4. Capture a build

Play a card of the build’s number to take the whole build. You can capture loose table cards that make the same number at the same time.

5. Add to a build

You can add a card from your hand to a single build to raise its number, if you hold a card to capture the new total: a 2 on a build of 6 makes “building 8”. A multiple build’s number can never change, but you can add more cards that make the same number. You must always use a card from your hand, and you can never break up a build.

6. Trail

If you do not want to capture or build, place your card face up on the table. You may trail even a card that could capture. The one exception: if you were the last to make or add to a build on the table, you must capture or build instead, and you may not play away the card you need to take it.

End of the Hand

When the last cards have been played, whoever made the last capture takes any cards left on the table. That is why the dealer announces the last deal.

How to Score Casino

Each player or team counts the cards they captured. There are 11 points in every hand:

If players tie for most cards or most spades, nobody scores that point. The first to 21 or more wins, however many hands it takes. If two players reach 21 in the same hand, the higher score wins; if they are level, play another hand.

Casino Variations

Casino vs Scopa

Casino and Scopa are both fishing games, and the capturing works much the same way. The differences:

Casino Strategy Tips

• Dealer, keep a face card for last. Your last card can capture a matching face card and, with it, every card left on the table.
• Don’t trail point cards. An ace, the 10 of diamonds or the 2 of spades left on the table is there for the next player to take.
• Build to protect cards. A build can only be taken by its number, so building onto a valuable card ties it up until you capture it, unless your opponent holds the same number.
• Count the spades and cards. With two players, seven spades or 27 cards settle those points for good.
• In partnership games, trail for your partner. If you suspect your partner holds a second 10, trail yours instead of capturing, and leave both for them.

Casino Odds

These figures come from 60,000 simulated two-player hands for each pairing, with players who always take the most valuable capture they can but never build:

• Capturing pays: a player who takes the best capture each turn scored 7.6 of the 11 points a hand, against 3.2 for a player choosing cards at random.
• Going first helped: with both players capturing, the non-dealer averaged 5.8 points a hand and the dealer 5.0, even though the dealer often takes the last cards.
• Ties on cards: the cards split 26–26 in 7% of hands, so nobody scored the 3 points. Spades can never tie with two players, because there are 13.
• Sweeps: 0.9 a hand on average, if you play with sweeps.
• Game length: a game to 21 took a median of 4 hands.
• Big Casino is one of the four cards dealt to the table 1 deal in 13, exactly.

Builds change these numbers: a good builder protects cards and steals the opponent’s builds, so treat the figures as a guide to the capturing side of the game.

Where Casino Comes From

Casino first appears in London card-game books at the end of the 18th century: the earliest rules date from 1792, spelt “Cassino”. It was often said to come from Italy, but there is no evidence of it being played there, and the earliest references to Scopa come later. Nor is the name about gambling: in the late 18th century a casino was a summer house or country villa. The game spread to Vienna and Prague by 1795, then grew popular in America in the late 19th century, where building and new versions such as Royal Casino developed, before Gin Rummy took its place. It is still one of the few fishing games well known in English-speaking countries.

More Card Games

For another fishing game, try Scopa, or its Italian partner Briscola. For two players, see Cribbage and Gin Rummy.

Casino card game: frequently asked questions