Two-player Ronda: the 1 vs 1 duel

Everything else is the same: capturing with a run, the Missa, the Ronda scoring and the instant stop at 33.

• The dealer is drawn at random for the first round, then the deal alternates between the two players every round.
• Five deals of 4 cards: 5 × 4 × 2 = 40, the whole deck passes through your two hands.
• The non-dealer plays first on every deal; the dealer always lays the last card of the deal.
• The table starts empty and is never cleared between deals: uncaptured cards wait for the next deal.

On your turn you lay one card: if its value is on the table, you take it along with the run above it, and that capture is compulsory. Otherwise your card stays on the table… and your opponent can answer it.

With two players, the chain is a game of ping-pong: if your opponent answers your card with the same value, that is a B'wahed (1 point); if you then lay the third, your B'khemsa (5) wipes out his B'wahed; if he lays the fourth, his B'3echra (10) wipes out the lot. Only the last player in the chain scores and takes the pile.

After every deal, both players may declare a combination from their 4-card hand. As in teams, declaring is optional and the best declaration takes the value of every declaration of the deal.

Example: on the third deal you declare a Ronda of 4s and your opponent a Double Ronda (his four Sotas). Same family of declaration: the higher pair wins, 10 against 4. Your opponent scores 3 points (2 + 1) at the end of the deal. Had your best pairs been equal, the total would have been shared, half points rounded down.

Worth knowing: a 4-card hand holds a declaration about 4 times in 10. Over the five deals of a round, each player therefore has a combination on about two deals on average.

• Cards left on the table go to the last player who captured; if nobody captured anything in the round, to the dealer.
• Each player counts their cards: 20 cards = 0 points, then +1 for each card above 20. The deck has 40: only one player can score this bonus.
• No Missa with the very last card of the round, played by the dealer.
• Every gain is added to the score at once: the game stops as soon as one player reaches 33, even mid-round.

1. Count everything. Whatever you cannot see in your hand, on the table or in the piles is with your opponent or in the deck. On the fifth deal the deck is empty: the cards you have not seen are exactly your opponent's 4 cards.
2. Play your position. When you are not dealing, your last card of the deal is followed by the dealer's, who can still answer it with a B'wahed: keep for that moment a value whose other copies are all gone.
3. The pair trap. Laying one of your two matching cards invites an opposing B'wahed that you answer with a B'khemsa, provided you know the fourth copy is already out.
4. Capture before you lay. Leaving a card your opponent can take with a B'wahed often costs more than a small capture.
5. Dealer, keep your risky card for the end of the deal: the next deal will protect it.
6. Think about the card bonus. Head to head, the player above 20 cards is sure to score; a long run captured late in the round can be worth several points.

Many tables play the duel differently: each player gets 3 cards and 4 cards are turned face up in the middle at the start of the round. The Atlas Carta app keeps the rule described here, an empty table and five deals of 4 cards. Other customs are gathered in the Ronda variants.

Want to test yourself? The Ronda quiz covers the key situations, head to head and in teams.