Marafone

Romagna’s partnership game with 40 cards. Hold the 4♦ to name trump, catch aces for whole points, and score a maraffa with the Ace, 2 and 3 of trump. First to 41. 4 players, in partnerships.

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How to play Marafone

  1. 1Marafone (also called Beccacino) comes from Romagna in Italy. Four players play as partners sitting across from each other, with 40 cards: the eights, nines and tens are taken out. Everyone gets ten cards.
  2. 2Whoever holds the 4♦ looks at their hand, names any suit as trump, and leads the first trick. They deal the next hand.
  3. 3You must follow the suit led if you can; if you can't, play anything, trump or not. The highest trump wins the trick, or the highest card of the suit led if no trump was played. The winner leads next.
  4. 4From high to low, each suit runs 3, 2, A, K, Q, J, 7, 6, 5, 4.
  5. 5Only the cards you win count. An ace is worth a point; threes, twos, kings, queens and jacks are worth a third of a point each; the rest nothing. The last trick earns an extra point. Leftover thirds are dropped.
  6. 6Maraffa: if the player naming trump holds its Ace, 2 and 3 and leads that Ace to the first trick, their side earns 3 extra points.
  7. 7The first side to 41 points wins. A side that gets there in the middle of a hand calls itself out and wins at once.

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