Cambio — Rules

Overview

Cambio is played by 2 or more people (best with 3–6) using one standard 52-card deck plus jokers. The goal is simple: end the game with the lowest point total in your hand.

Setup

Shuffle the deck with the jokers included.
Deal 4 cards face down to each player, arranged in a 2×2 grid.
Place the remaining deck in the center, leaving room beside it for a discard pile.
Each player gets one chance to peek at their two closest cards. After that, you may not peek again unless you draw and discard a 7 or 8.
The one-hand rule applies for the whole game: you may only ever touch and play cards with one hand.

The player to the dealer's right goes first, then play passes left.

Turn Structure

Draw the top card from the deck.
Choose to either swap it into your hand (the card you replace goes face-up onto the discard pile) or discard it directly.
If the discarded card is a special card, its ability triggers immediately. Swapping a special card into your hand instead of discarding it does not trigger its ability.
Play passes to the left.

Card Values

2 – 10	Face value
Jack	10
Queen	10
Black King (♣ ♠)	10
Red King (♥ ♦)	−1
Ace	1
Joker	0

Keep Aces, Jokers, and Red Kings — ditch face cards, Black Kings, and high numbers.

Special Cards

Special abilities trigger only when the card is discarded — tap a tile for the full explanation.

When you discard a 7 or 8, you may secretly look at one of your own face-down cards.

This is the only way to refresh your memory of your hand after the initial setup peek — use it whenever you're unsure what a card in your grid is.

When you discard a 9 or 10, you may secretly look at one face-down card belonging to another player.

Use this to track high-value cards in opponents' hands so you know what's worth targeting later with a switch, or what to avoid if they call Cambio.

When you discard a Black King (clubs or spades), you may look at one of your own face-down cards and one of another player's face-down cards, then decide whether or not to swap them.

This is the only special card that lets you see both cards before committing — use it to offload a high-value card only if the opponent's card is actually worse.

Sticking

If a card in your hand matches the rank on top of the discard pile, you may "stick" it at any time — even during another player's turn — discarding it to reduce your hand by one card.
Only one player can successfully stick a given card: whoever acts first wins it.
A correct stick on a card you knew was in another player's hand lets you give one of your own cards to that player.
A wrong stick means you keep the card and receive a penalty card. If you wrongly stick someone else's card, they keep their card and you still take the penalty.

Some groups play with a house rule disallowing sticking your own just-discarded card — this isn't universal, so agree on it before you start.

Penalties

You receive an extra face-down, unseen penalty card added to your hand for:

Using two hands to handle cards.
Making a wrong stick.

Ending the Game & Winning

A player calls "Cambio" at the start of their turn, before touching the deck — they then cannot draw or play that turn.
Every other player gets one final turn.
Hands are revealed and totaled. Lowest score wins.
Tiebreakers: the player who didn't call Cambio wins; if multiple non-callers tie, the player holding the least-value cards wins (e.g. a Joker + Ace beats a Red King + 2).

Strategy Hints

After drawing, you can try to immediately stick your own newly discarded card — but the one-hand rule means you have to be fast, otherwise someone else will know your card.
Track opponents' cards with Spy and Look & Switch so you know what's safe to leave alone and what's worth going after.