Roby

• Object of the game
The principal objet is to group, as soon as possible, the 10 cards that the players hold in their hands, in melds of three or more cards, showing them in one or several times.

• The pack
The standard pack of 52 cards is used. Wild cards cannot be used.

• Number of players
It is an ideal game for four players, but it can be also played by five, six or more players. The game is always individual.

• Rank of cards
Any face cards, jack (J), queen (Q) and king (K), count as 10 each. The other cards count their pip value but ace which counts 11.

• The deal
Each player draws one card. The player who has drawed the highest card is the dealer and he will distribute ten cards to each player, two cards at a time, dealing two cards each time. The undealt remainder of the pack is placed face down in the centre of the table, becoming the stock, and the top card is turned face up beside it starting the discard pile.

Thereafter, the turn to deal rotates clockwise.

• The play
The player to left of the dealer plays first, drawing the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. Having done so, he will discard one card of his hand. Thus, successively, each player, in his turn, may draw the previous player’s discard or the top card of the stock, discarding one card of his hand.

The players will group the ten cards of their hands in combinations of minimum three cards forming groups of cards of the same rank or sequences of cards of the same suit. Ace can be melded with two or the king (K) of its suit.

Each player, in his turn, if he wishes, may lay his combined cards on the table in one or more melds. For any player, it is not possible to show their cards melded in the first turn of the play, unless one player has all his cards grouped in combinations. The next players, in their turn, may also lay their melds on the table or add cards in their opponents’ melds, with the requirement of having at least one or more own melds completed.

The players do not allow the players to discard any card that matches with the combinations already laid. The player who first lay all the cards on the table will win the game, achieving Roby. The opponents will score the points of the cards remaining in their hands, even if they had any meld formed.

Roby can also be made by the player who, after drawing one card of the stock and without having any own combination, could add all his eleven cards in their opponents’ melds.

The next hand is started and played according to the same rules. However, in order to show any combination, the value of the cards hold in the players’ hands must count, at the most, the difference between the total points scored in the previous plays and the 99 points needed to continue in the game, since if 100 or more points are reached, the player is eliminated. When a player scores or exceeds 100 points, he will be excluded from the game if he does not want to re-enlist. The only player who does not exceed 100 points wins the game.

• Re-enlistment bonus
When a player exceeds 99 points, if he wishes, he can re-enlist one or more times, taking the points of the player with the higher score. At least, two players must continue in the game as requirement to re-enlist.

• The scoring
Before starting the game, each player will put the decided amount in the centre of the table. When any player re-enlist, he will put a quantity equivalent to the total amount divided between the number of players staying in the game. The player who wins the game will take the total amount of the table.

Each time a player makes Roby, he will win that hand receiving from every opponent, except for the players who have exceeded 100 points and have not re-enlisted, the amount decided at the beginning of the game.