Cabo - game

Cabo is a 2010 card game by Melissa Limes that involves memory and manipulation. The game uses a dedicated deck of cards with each suit numbered from 1 to 13, and certain numbers being marked as "Peek", "Spy" or "Swap". The objective of the game is for each player to minimize the sum of his or her cards, four of which are played face-down to the table at the start of a round. Face-down cards may be revealed and swapped by card effects.

Cabo combines elements from shedding and matching type card games. It is similar to the traditional card game Golf and the 1995 Mensa Select award-winner Rat-a-Tat Cat.

Gameplay

Each player is dealt 4 cards, face down. After each deal, players may peek at any 2 of their own cards.

In clockwise order, players do either of three things:

• pick a card from the draw pile, and either keep the card (placing one of their own cards on the discard pile) or discard it (if the card drawn and discarded is a choice card, the choice card can be used if so desired).
• pick a card from the discard pile and place one of their own cards on the discard pile
• call "Cabo"

Whenever a player discards cards from their hand, they may discard any number of cards of the same rank. If a player draws then discards a "choice" card, they may choose to use its ability, as follows:

• 7 or 8: the player may "peek" at one of their own cards
• 9 or 10: "spy" on one of another player's cards
• 11 or 12: swap any two cards on the table, of any player

When a player calls cabo, the other players each get one more turn and then everyone has to turn their hidden cards face-up, and lay down the cards from their hand. The player with the lowest score wins.