Desmoche
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| Origin | Nicaragua |
|---|---|
| Type | Matching |
| Players | 2-4 |
| Skills required | Attention, Memory |
| Cards | 52 |
| Deck | Anglo-American |
| Play | Counter-clockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
| Playing time | 20 min. |
| Random chance | Low-Moderate |
| Related games | |
| Conquian | |
Desmoche (played in Honduras with slights variations, and known as Conquién) is a popular rummy card game usually played for small stakes which closely resembles other games in the rummy family, like Conquian and gin rummy, more than poker. It was probably devised in Nicaragua in the first half of the 20th century.
The object of Desmoche is to play, in either runs or sets, exactly ten cards on the table. The game is played by 2, 3 or 4 players with a standard deck of 52 playing cards.
Any player may start out as the dealer, which then rotates from round to round in a counterclockwise fashion. The player on the dealer's right may cut the deck before the dealer deals the cards face-down starting with the player on the right and continuing until each player receives nine cards. Cards that are not dealt remain in the deck, which is placed in the middle of the table and used throughout the remainder of the game.
After players are dealt nine cards each, but before play begins, each player chooses one card from their hand and passes it face down to the player on their right. The "Cambio" (also known as "exchange", "pass" or "trade") can be a crucial factor in deciding one's hand.
If any of the "automatic win" specifications (available below) have been met either before or after the Cambio, the player with the winning hand must declare they have won and place their cards face up on the table for the other players to confirm the automatic win.
Otherwise, normal play begins.
The player to the right of the dealer begins play by drawing a card from the deck, being careful not to place that card into the cards already in their hand. If the player can make use of the card to create a meld, he does so by placing the card on the table in front of him and adding the cards from his hand to finalize the meld, all cards in the meld must be face up. If the card cannot be immediately used, it is placed face up in the discard pile. If any other player can use that card to create a meld, they can then play it face up on the table in front of them. If more than one player can use the card, the first player in counter-clockwise order from the player who discarded it gets to take it.
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Wikipedia