Overview
At a glance
Is this game right for my group?
ABG editorial scores on a 1–5 scale.
Harder to teach
High replayability
Highly interactive
Scales well
Deep strategy
How it plays
How does it play?
Buraco (Burraco) is a Brazilian Canasta-like (Rummy) game for four players in fixed partnerships in which the aim is to lay down combinations in groups of cards of equal rank and suit sequences, there being a bonus for combinations of seven cards or more.
Core mechanisms
Key systems that shape the decisions players make.
Read the full game description
Buraco (Burraco) is a Brazilian Canasta-like (Rummy) game for four players in fixed partnerships in which the aim is to lay down combinations in groups of cards of equal rank and suit sequences, there being a bonus for combinations of seven cards or more. Buraco is a variation of Canasta, originated in Uruguay and Argentina in the mid-1940s, with apparent characteristics of simplicity and implications that are often unforeseeable and absolutely involving. Its name derives from the Portuguese word "buraco" which means “hole”, applied to the minus score of any of the two partnerships. Buraco is played with two 52-card decks of standard playing cards plus all four Jokers. Team members sit opposite each other, so that no team member is sitting next to their own teammate.