The Ronda cards: values, runs and face cards

The Spanish suits are easy to recognise from their pictures: oros (gold coins), copas (cups), espadas (swords) and bastos (clubs or batons). Good news: in Ronda the suit never matters. A 5 of cups captures a 5 of clubs, and a Ronda of 5s can mix any suits.

Each suit has ten cards: 1 (Ace), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, then three face cards numbered 10, 11 and 12. The full Spanish deck also comes in a 48-card version with 8s and 9s; Ronda, like most traditional games, uses the 40-card version without them.

Value matters for three things: which cards you can capture (same value), how far a run goes, and settling declarations (a Ronda of Reyes beats a Ronda of 7s).

When you capture a card, you also take the whole unbroken run that continues upwards from it. The order is:

Since there are no 8s or 9s, the 7 and the Sota (10) are consecutive. A 6 played onto a 6-7-10 table takes all three cards. A run stops at the first gap and never wraps around: nothing follows the Rey.

• Sota (10): a standing page — the equivalent of the jack.
• Cabal or Caballo (11): a knight on horseback.
• Rey (12): the crowned king. There is no queen in the Spanish deck.

Spanish cards have their number printed in the corners, so even without knowing the pictures you can read 10, 11 or 12. In the Atlas Carta app, the cards keep this traditional design.

The same 40-card deck is used for many games: Escoba and Scopa (capturing games related to Ronda), Brisca, Tute… In the Atlas Carta app it is also used for Touti, a trick-taking and bidding team game where the cards have completely different values: see the Touti cards.

Everything about this deck beyond Ronda (artwork, history, other games): our guide to Spanish playing cards.