Game Night with Tony
If you've ever had dinner in one of the houses at Casa Bernabé, chances are good that you've seen one of our missionaries, Tony Breunig, on his way to one of them, pan of brownies in hand, to play cards. Tony has a standing nightly card game with a different house almost every night of the week. In addition to being a highly anticipated fun activity, he uses card games to help teach the kids math and decision making skills. One of the favorite games on campus is called 3-13 (Tres-Trece), and if you learn the rules you can jump into any game night that's happening while you're here. The kids are always looking for a new guest to beat!
The game is called 3-13 because you start with 3 cards, and as each round continues, you add a card until you get to 13 cards. For 3-4 players, play with one deck of cards, and add a deck for every 4 additional players added. Points are bad in 3-13, and the goal is to have the lowest score. We've included a few of the Spanish terms in this explanation so you'll be ready when you hear the kids using them. If these instructions are unclear or you have questions, this is a good guide to 3-13 HERE.
To begin, shuffle the decks of cards (cartas) together and each player grabs 3 cards. The remaining cards are the draw pile, and there will be a discard pile. The goal is to create sets/groups (grupos) of a minimum of 3 cards of the same number in any suit, or a straight flush/run/sequence (escalera) of the same suit. For example, three number 5 cards of any suit, or a 3, 4, and 5 of all spades (or all of another suit). In this round, cards with the number 3 are wild (comodín), and can be used in place of any card.
The player to the dealer's left draws first, and they discard a card they don't want to end their turn. The next person plays, and so on. Once a player has made their group of three, they say “Bajo” (“Ba-ho”), meaning "Down," and they put their cards on the table. Every other player then has just one more turn to try to create their group of 3. The person who “Bajo’d” first receives no points, and if any other players are able to make a group of 3 cards in the final turn, they also receive no points. Every card you are left with after everyone has their final turn counts for points. The number on the card is the point value. Face cards count as ten points, and aces count as one point. Add up the total number of points for each player, and write it down for each round.
For the next round, players start with 4 cards and the person who “Bajo’d” in the last round begins. Now players have to create sets/groups of four cards in the same number or straight flush/run/sequence of four cards in the same suit. Once you get to round 6, you can create two groups of 3 cards, and in round 9, you can make three groups of 3 cards, etc. Now, since you have four cards and are on the fourth round, the number 4 cards are wild (comodín).
The first player to “Bajo” receives no points, and the other players have one more chance to create groups of cards. Whatever cards you have that don't fit in a group or run count for points. For example, if you had 3 Kings and one card of the number 9, you would receive 9 points. The three Kings count as a group and receive no points, but any extra cards that do not make a group of 3 count for the number of points on the card. Total up the other players' points and add them to the points from the previous round.
The game continues by adding one more card for each round, until players get to 13 cards, hence the name 3-13. The wild card (comodín) continues to change to the next card up each round as well (5s are wild in the round with five cards, etc.). The player with the least points in the end wins and is crowned the champion. Here at Casa Bernabé, the winner receives a nice cold glass of Coca Cola in a frosted glass mug!
