Card games in Morocco

The 40-card Spanish-suited pack is used.

The most popular game is Ronda, a fishing game for two or four players (in partnership), in which three cards are dealt to each player, and capture is by matching cards and also taking cards in ascending sequence with the matched card. Ronda was already briefly described in 1908, by Xavier Lecureul, in "Quelques jeux au Maroc", Revue du Monde Musulman, vol. VI, n° IX, septembre 1908, p. 136-142.

Other card games are

• Sotta ("woman", i.e. Spanish sota - the lowest court card), a kind of coarse Strip Poker,
• Ch'kamba (also described in 1908), a simple Ace-Ten "play-and-draw" game,
• Venta ("sale"),
• Solo,
• Nouffi,
• Tres ("three"),
• El Bazga ("the soaked one") - probably related to the old Italian game Bazzica, in which players try to achieve a total as near as possible to 31 without exceeding it.

(From notes sent by Houssa Yakobi and edited by Thierry Depaulis.)