Spanish Playing Cards

Yes, this is actually a post about playing cards. Did you know there are different types of playing cards throughout the world? We didn't. (We admit, this shows our ignorance. But that's partly why we're here -- to learn new things.) Although Spaniards play games such as Poker and Bridge with a standard 52-card deck, Spain also has its own 40-card deck that is categorized as a Latin-suited deck. There are also related Italian and French decks. The Spanish deck, which was derived from earlier Moorish cards, was apparently exported by Spain in its conquests and today is used in Southern Italy, parts of France, Hispanic America, North Africa and the Philippines. In the description that follows, I will give the Spanish words for various things in parentheses.

Like a regular deck of cards, the Spanish 40-card deck (una baraja de naipes) is made up of 4 suits (los palos), but they are not the same suits.  Instead of diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs, la baraja gives us golds (los oros), cups (las copas), swords (las espadas) and clubs (los bastos). Each suit contains only 10 cards, rather than the 13 in a standard deck. The cards are the numbers one through seven along with three picture cards: the jack/knave (la sota), the horse/knight (el caballo) and the king (el rey). The #1 card is still called the ace, but spelled As. Note that some decks add cards for eight and nine in each suit and thus have 48 cards. Here is how they are portrayed:

The naming convention for cards is exactly the same as in English. For example, the number six card in golds is "el seis de oros," the jack of cups is "la sota de copas," and the king of swords is "el rey de espadas."

What games can you play with a Spanish baraja? The internet tells me that there is a complicated trick-taking game called Ombre (from the Spanish word for man (hombre)) that swept Europe in the 17th Century, but we did not tackle this game. We learned a game called Chinchon, which is basically a 2-4 player version of gin rummy using 7 cards per hand. When someone goes out, they receive -10 points while everyone else receives the points in their hand (with each picture card worth 10). If you reach +100 points, you are eliminated and the game continues with the remaining players until only one player is left. You can also win by reaching -100 points (which seems less likely). In addition, there is also kind of a nuclear victory option called a Chinchon. A Chinchon is a run of seven cards (all in the same suit), and if you complete this difficult hand, you immediately win the game regardless of how many points anyone had before that deal.

So, if you come visit us in Spain, not only do you get to visit a beautiful city and eat great food, but we can play a rousing round of Chinchon!

Hasta pronto,

Jeff and Shana