How to Play Basra
Description
A capturing game from the Arab world where clearing the table completely — a Basra — scores bonus points and earns a moment of quiet satisfaction everyone at the table will notice.
Also known as: Bastra
Objective
Capture cards from the floor and score more points than your opponents.
Setup
Two or four players, using a standard deck.
Deal four cards to each player and four cards face up to the floor in the middle.
Rules
On your turn, play a card from your hand. Capture a matching card from the floor, or a combination of number cards that add up to your card's value.
Queens can only capture Queens; Kings can only capture Kings — face cards don't count toward number totals.
Jacks are special: play one while the floor has cards on it, and it captures everything there at once.
Can't capture anything? Add your card face up to the floor instead.
When hands run out, everyone gets four more cards from the stock and play continues until the deck is exhausted.
Winning
Clearing the entire floor in one capture is a basra — worth ten bonus points, on top of whatever cards you captured.
At the end, score points for capturing the most cards overall, plus bonuses for specific cards like the Aces, Jacks, and other marked bonus cards.
First player (or team) to reach the match target (often 101 points) wins.