Banakil rules

Banakil is a card game for four players in two fixed teams (two players per team). In every deal the players try to lay their cards on the table as legal melds (runs and sets), and one of them tries to get rid of all his cards to end the deal.

The players' points for a deal are added together to give the team's score, which goes onto its running total. The first team to reach 202 points wins the match, with a special margin rule if both teams reach 202 or more together (see the section on winning the match).

• Banakil is played by exactly 4 players in two teams of two. There is no solo play, no 3-player game and no free-for-all.
• Partnerships are fixed: your partner always sits opposite you.
• The direction of play is always counter-clockwise; it never changes during a match or between deals.
• The match is played with the screen in landscape orientation.

Seating from your point of view:

Banakil is played with 106 cards: two complete standard decks (52 x 2 = 104 cards) plus 2 Jokers.

Because there are two decks, there are 8 cards of rank 2. These twos are the banakla (a wild card) in this game.

Scores can therefore contain half points, such as 87.5 or 202.5.

• Each player receives 18 cards, and the starting player receives 19 cards.
• The remaining cards form the closed draw pile (face down, nobody can see them).
• The player with 19 cards acts first in the deal and may start playing at once without drawing a card first.

Who starts?

• First match of a series: the room host performs the "cut" of the deck by choosing a cut position from 1 to 105 within 15 seconds. The starting player is determined from the cut, counter-clockwise, and the host can neither predict nor steer the result. If the host does not cut in time, the game cuts automatically.
• Later matches in the series: the team that won the previous match starts (its player with the lowest seat number), with no new cut.
• Later deals inside a match: the start passes to the next seat counter-clockwise.

A turn consists of these steps in order:

1. Draw (except the 19-card starter on his first action of the deal).
2. Arrange and prepare (optional).
3. Meld, add to, or modify the team's melds (optional).
4. Discard one card onto the discard pile; the turn then passes to the next player (on your right, counter-clockwise).

A deal can also end by melding, with no discard needed (see "Ending a deal").

Drawing from the closed pile

The player draws exactly one card from the closed draw pile. The card is not visible before it is drawn.

Drawing from the open discard pile

• When you tap the discard pile its face-up cards are shown clearly; you can review their order and choose the card you want to reach.
• If you choose a card from inside the pile you must take the chosen card and every card above it. You may not take a middle card alone or leave behind cards that were above it.
• Before you confirm, the interface shows how many cards you will take (for example "take 4 cards").
• You are not obliged to meld the card you took from the discard pile.

Example: the pile from top to bottom is A, 7, K, 5, Q, 9, 3. If you choose the 5 you take A, 7, K and 5.

Discarding

At the end of your turn you discard one card face up onto the discard pile.

Arranging your hand

You may sort your cards by suit, by rank, or manually by dragging a card to any position. If you choose manual order your hand is never rearranged automatically.

The staging area

A separate area lets you prepare cards before laying them down. In it you can:

• move cards from your hand into it, return them to the hand, and reorder them;
• prepare more than one meld (runs and sets) in the same turn.

Cards in the staging area are not officially melded: they are still part of your hand, they do not change any score, and opponents do not see them as laid down. A legal group is shown green and an illegal one red, with a short reason.

The "Meld All" button lays down all legal groups at once; they are checked again before being accepted. Cards may be prepared even when it is not your turn, but they are only laid down on your turn. If the turn or the time ends before melding, the cards stay in your hand.

Every meld needs at least 3 cards. There are two kinds:

1. Run

• Three or more cards that are consecutive and of the same suit. Examples: 5♥ 6♥ 7♥, and 9♠ 10♠ J♠ Q♠ K♠.
• The Ace counts as 1 (A-2-3) or as 14 (Q-K-A). There is no wrap-around (K-A-2 is not allowed).

2. Set (same rank)

• Three or four cards of the same rank, each of a different suit (no repeated suit).
• Sets are allowed only for Aces and for 3s: for example A♠ A♥ A♣ and 3♠ 3♥ 3♦ (or all four of the rank).
• A set of any other rank (4 up to K) is not allowed.
• The 2 forms no set of its own, and the banakla (2) cannot be used inside a set; only the Joker can (next point).
• A Joker may complete a set of Aces or a set of 3s (for example A♠ A♥ JK), as long as the set does not exceed 4 cards (one per suit).

The card of rank 2 is a wild card that stands in for the card a run needs. The banakla works inside runs only.

Example: in the run 7♥ 8♥ 2♣ 10♥ the 2♣ stands for 9♥.

• Each meld may hold only one banakla and only one Joker, and must contain at least one real (non-wild) card. Two banaklas or two Jokers in the same meld are not allowed.
• A 2 may also be used as a natural 2 in its own run (for example A-2-3 of the same suit).

Moving the banakla

If the real card the banakla was standing for is laid down, the banakla does not return to the hand; it stays in the same run and can be moved to another legal position inside that run.

Example: the run 7♥ 8♥ 2♣ 10♥ (where 2♣ = 9♥). When 9♥ is placed, the banakla becomes free and can move to the end: 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ 10♥ 2♣, standing for J♥. If J♥ is placed later, the banakla can move again to stand for Q♥.

It may also move to the start of the run when that is legal: 5♥ 2♣ 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ 10♥ where 2♣ = 6♥.

A player or his partner may move the banakla in the team's melds, and the meld must be legal after every change.

• The Joker is a high-value wild card (4 points). It works inside runs, and it can also complete a set of Aces or a set of 3s (see "Types of melds").
• A meld may hold only one Joker (and only one banakla).
• The locked Joker: a Joker placed inside a run keeps the rank it was placed to represent; adding cards next to it does not free it and it cannot be repositioned. The Joker leaves the meld and returns to your hand only when you place the exact real card (the required rank and suit) in the same action, provided the meld stays legal without it.
• A released Joker goes back to the hand of the player who released it and may be used again in the same turn, as long as every meld is legal at the end.
• The banakla (the 2), by contrast, stays movable inside its run and never leaves the meld.

• The melds on the table are team melds: a player may add to his own melds and to his partner's, and the partner likewise. Neither may add to or change the opponents' melds.
• During your turn you may add cards to your team's melds, build onto your partner's melds, replace a wild with the real card, move the banakla, and release a Joker under the rules above.
• The table may never be left in an illegal state when the action ends; an illegal change is refused and changes nothing.
• Team melds are shown in one shared area, but each card remembers which player laid it, because points are counted per player and then added up for the team.

If the closed draw pile runs out, the discard pile (except its top card) is shuffled to form a new draw pile. This can happen at most twice per deal. After that the deal is dead: it is scored without the +20 finishing bonus (see the scoring section).

• A turn lasts 40 seconds. In the last 5 seconds a visual warning and a light countdown sound appear.
• If time runs out without a valid move, the game acts for you: it draws a card from the closed pile if you still had to draw, then gives you only 5 seconds to discard, and if you do not, it discards for you.
• If you opened the discard pile and started selecting cards but time ran out before you confirmed: the whole operation is cancelled and all cards return to the pile in their original order; one card is then drawn for you automatically from the closed pile and you get 5 seconds to discard.
• The automatic discard never throws a 2 or a Joker (while you hold other cards); it picks the card least useful to your hand, avoids breaking a possible pair or run, and on a tie throws the card with the lowest point value.

• If a player disconnects the match does not end: its state is kept, the order of play continues, and the game may act for him when his turn comes.
• He has a 60-second grace period to reconnect and rejoin the same match. After the grace period a bot (computer player) takes his seat so the match can continue.
• Cards that were in the staging area do not count as laid down; they stay in the hand when the turn ends.
• If a player leaves deliberately, a bot takes his seat at once and the match does not collapse for the other three; leaving cannot be used to change the result of the round.

A deal ends when a player gets rid of all his cards with a legal move. He can finish by melding with no final discard, or by discarding his last card.

At the end of a deal the players' remaining cards are revealed for a short time, showing the value of each hand, the value of the melds credited to each player, the +20 for the finisher, then each player's result, then the team result and the running total. The next deal then starts automatically.

Each player is scored separately, then the two players' scores are added for the team. The rules currently in force:

• Personal opening: a player counts as "opened" in a deal only when he himself successfully lays down a new legal meld from his hand (3 or more cards). Adding cards to an existing team meld does not count as opening.
• A player who opened: his score = the value of the cards he himself laid on the table (including cards he added after opening) minus the value of the cards left in his hand.
• A player who never opened: his score is exactly -20 and nothing else.
• The finisher: receives +20 added as a separate adjustment. The finisher's partner does not receive this bonus.
• The team's score for the deal = the sum of its two players' scores, added to its running total.

Each card is worth the amount in the value table in the "deck" section.

Example: a player opened and laid down cards worth 14 and still holds 3.5 points; his score is 14 - 3.5 = 10.5. A player who never opened scores -20 whatever he holds.

If the closed pile runs out after the maximum number of reshuffles (two), the deal is dead. The personal-opening rule still applies (a player who opened scores his points, one who did not scores -20), but there is no +20 because nobody finished the deal.

The winning target is 202 points (not 222). Both teams' totals are checked after every deal.

• If only one team reaches 202 or more, it wins the match.
• If both teams are at 202 or more, the gap between their totals decides:
  • A gap greater than 5: the higher team wins at once.
  • A gap of 5 or less: an extra tie-break deal is played, and tie-break deals continue until the gap is greater than 5.

• Deal: one distribution of the cards, lasting until a player finishes his cards. Match: a group of deals until a team wins at the 202 target. Series: best of 3 matches between the teams (if the players choose it).
• A 2-0 result ends the series at once and no third match is played. At 1-1 a third match is played, and its winner takes the series 2-1.
• After the first match ends, a 10-second window opens in which each team may swap the seats of the two partners only (one asks and the other agrees). Changing teams is not allowed. If nobody asks for a swap during the window, everyone stays in his seat.
• The next match starts with the team that won the previous one.

• Remember that points are counted per player: someone who never opened himself loses 20 points, so try to lay down your first meld early.
• Adding to your partner's melds raises the value you have laid down, but it does not count as opening.
• High-value cards left in your hand (the Joker is 4, a 2 is 2) are subtracted from you at the end of the deal if you have not laid them down.
• When you draw from the discard pile you take the chosen card and everything above it, so check the number of cards before confirming.
• The automatic discard never throws a 2 or a Joker, so do not count on the timer to get rid of them.
• Remember that same-rank sets are allowed only for Aces and 3s; other ranks need a same-suit run.
• Check the gap between the teams once both reach 202: a gap of 5 or less means a tie-break deal.

• Banakla — the card of rank 2; a wild card that stands in for a missing card inside a run.
• Joker — a high-value wild card (4 points).
• Run — three or more consecutive cards of the same suit.
• Set — three or four cards of the same rank and different suits; allowed only for Aces and 3s.
• Meld — a legal run or set laid on the table.
• Team melds — the melds both partners may add to and modify, but not the opponents' melds.
• Adding (walking a card) — placing a card onto an existing meld.
• Opening — a player laying down a new legal meld from his own hand.
• Staging area — a space to prepare cards before melding, where they do not count as laid down.
• Closed draw pile — the face-down cards from which one card is drawn.
• Open discard pile — the face-up discards; drawing from it takes the chosen card and all above it.
• Cut ("fat") — the host cutting the deck to decide the starting player.
• Deal — one distribution of cards, until a player finishes his hand.
• Match — consecutive deals until a team wins at the 202 target.
• Series — best of 3 matches.
• Tie-break deal — an extra deal played when both teams are at 202+ and the gap is 5 or less.
• Dead deal — a deal whose pile ran out after the maximum reshuffles; scored without the +20.