Desmoche

Desmoche

Origin	Nicaragua
Type	Matching
Players	2-4
Skill(s) required	Attention, Memory
Cards	52
Deck	Anglo-American
Play	Counter-clockwise
Card rank (highest to lowest)	A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Playing time	20 min.
Random chance	Low-Moderate
Related games
Conquian

Desmoche, is a popular rummy card game usually played for small stakes which closely resembles other games in the rummy family, like Conquian and gin rummy, more than poker.^[1] It was probably devised in Nicaragua in the first half of the 20th century.

Object of the game

The object of Desmoche is to play, in either runs or sets, exactly ten cards on the table. The game is played by 2, 3 or 4 players with a standard deck of 52 playing cards and aces can be either played as a high or low card.

Dealing

Any player may start out as the dealer, which then rotates from round to round in a counter-clockwise fashion. The player on the dealer's right cuts, then the dealer deals the cards face-down starting with the player on the right and continuing until each player receives 9 cards. If the dealer deals an incorrect amount of cards to any player, he forfeits the hand, and his cards are removed from the game. Cards that are not dealt remain in the deck, which is placed in the middle of the table and used throughout the game. The winner of the prior hand will become the dealer of the following hand.

Gameplay

After the deal and before play begins, each player chooses one card from their hand and passes it face down to the player on their right. The "pass" of "trade" can be a crucial factor in deciding one's hand.

Each player always maintains nine cards in their possession, including both the cards in hand and the cards which have been played on the table, with the exception of the winner at the end of the game who will end with exactly ten cards.

The player to the right of the dealer begins play and each player, on their turn, draws the top card off of the deck and reviews it privately. If the player can make use of the card he does so, otherwise the card is placed in the discard pile.

After a card has been placed on the discard pile, in may be picked up by any other player if the card immediately serves that player to make a meld. If a player uses a card from either the deck or the discard pile, in order to maintain a count of nine cards, the player must "pay" for this card by discarding a card from their own hand. Once a player discards, play continues to that player's right, regardless of whether other player's turns seemed to have been skipped.

Melds

Melds in desmoche must contain the minimum of three cards. They can be runs of the same suit, i.e. 8♠ 9♠ 10♠, containing three to ten cards or groups of three or four cards of identical rank, i.e 8♠ 8♥ 8♣. Once a player has played a meld on the table he can add to it at any time. He can also take a card from any of his melds to use in another meld (Desmoche), as long as all melds that remain on the table are still valid melds.

There are strict rules for laying down melds. A player is disqualified if their cards aren't arranged in the correct order. Runs must be placed in ascending order, like 8♠ 9♠ 10♠ and not 8♠ 10♠ 9♠. Sets must be played with suit color alternating, i.e. 8♠ 8♥ 8♣ not 8♠ 8♣ 8♥.

Automatic wins

After the cards have been dealt:

• If a player gets four cards of identical ranks(8♠ 8♥ 8♣ 8♦), he wins automatically.
• If a player completes the four identical ranks with the "Exchange", is also considered an automatic win.
• If 2 players get four cards of identical ranks, the player closer to the right of the dealer wins. This win is referred as "Cuatro Cuerpos".
• If a player gets all cards of the same color after the "Exchange."

After the deal, if a player has no matching melds of 2 cards or higher, and no matching runs of 2 cards or higher of the same suit, i.e 1♠3♣4♦7♥8♠10♦J♠Q♥K♦, he wins automatically, A player can also "search" this win by the "Exchange". This win is referred as "Peladia"

Rules variations

When a card is discarded and more than one person can make use of the card, the person closest in the counter-clockwise rotation to the player who discarded the card gets first priority. This means that, if the person on the far left of the circle wants to use the card, and, the person in the first order of the rotation wants to use it as well, the player in the first rotation gets to have that card. Often players signify in order when a card does not "serve" them by knocking on the table.

If a card placed on the discard pile can be added to a meld currently on the table, and the card is not taken by a player who is earlier in the rotation, then the card is automatically added to the meld and the player is forced to "pay" for that card. For example, if a player has the Ace, 2, and 3 of Hearts played on the table and the card being discarded is the 4 of Hearts, then the card is automatically placed on that sequence if no player earlier in the rotation claims it, and the player has to pay for that card. However, this rule is not always followed.

After the initial hands of nine cards are dealt, no other card is to enter a player's hand. All cards removed from the deck must either be moved directly to the discard pile, or directly to the table. If a player makes the mistake of bringing a card they have picked up from the deck to their hand, they forfeit that round.

Only the top card on the discard pile should be visible at anytime, and it is illegal to view the cards below.

Betting

The betting in Desmoche is like in Poker; it takes place before the cards have been dealt. Each player can bet any amount they want; it all depends in their level of comfort with their cards on hand.

A player can bet on his hand delt or higher up the stakes by playing "oro", or highest diamond; not every player is required to play and you are required to bet before your hand is picked up. Or the player can also bet on the "par rojo", which is the highest red pair. Once again not all players are required to play par rojo, only the ones who choose to.

Disqualification

A player can be disqualified for several different reasons. Players get disqualified from the current round that is being played by the other players. When a player picks up a card he has a "personal time". This time is allowed for the player to think about what he is going to do with the card and cannot get disqualified during this time. This personal time does not ends until the player has discarded a card of his own unto the stack of discarded cards. After the personal time, a player can get disqualified.

See also

• Rummy
• Continental
• Desmoche terms

References

1. ^ Roger N. Lancaster [1] Life is hard: machismo, danger, and the intimacy of power in Nicaragua pg. 193 University of California Press (2004) ISBN 0520089294