Rules
Keep the lowest hand.
Cabo is a memory game for two to five players. Learn just enough, remember what matters, and end the round at the right moment.
Goal and setup
Finish the match with the lowest total score. Each player receives four face-down cards and privately sees positions 1 and 2 once at the start of every round. After that, cards stay hidden unless a power reveals one.
A through Q score their numeric rank: A is 1, J is 11, and Q is 12. The two Kings are worth 13 each. Both Jokers are worth 0.
Taking a turn
Classic mode briefly shows initial cards for 5 seconds and peeked or mismatched cards for 3.2 seconds; remember them yourself. Assisted mode keeps known cards visible and restores them after reconnecting. Unresolved drawn cards stay visible in both modes.
The room can use an unlimited, 30, 60 (default), or 90-second step timer. Each valid game step resets it; the server safely completes timed-out turns. Between rounds, everyone can ready up early, or the next round starts automatically after 20 seconds.
If both draw sources are empty, timeout calls Cabo; final turns with no cards available can be skipped.
- At the start of your turn, draw from the deck, take the top discard, or call Cabo.
- A deck card is shown only to you. Replace one to four cards with it, or discard the drawn card.
- Taking the top discard must be followed by replacing one to four cards; it cannot activate a power.
- When replacing multiple cards, all selected cards must share a rank. Explicitly choose which selected position receives the drawn card before confirming.
- If selected cards do not match, they remain and are revealed. The drawn card is added to either end; selecting three or four wrong cards also adds one unseen penalty card.
- Your turn ends after the replacement or after resolving—or skipping—an available card power.
Only a card drawn from the deck and then discarded can activate a power. A card taken from the discard pile never activates its power.
Card powers
| Ranks | Power |
|---|---|
| 7–8 | Privately look at one of your own positions. |
| 9–10 | Privately look at one position belonging to another active player. |
| J–Q | Blindly swap one of your positions with any position of another active player. |
You may skip a power. Swapped cards are not revealed to either player.
Calling Cabo
You may call Cabo only at the beginning of your turn. Every other active player then receives one final turn; the caller does not.
- If the caller has a strictly lower hand than every other player, the caller scores 0.
- If anyone ties or beats the caller, the caller scores their hand value plus a 5-point penalty.
- Every other player adds their hand value to their total.
When any active player reaches the room’s target score, the match ends. The active player—or tied players—with the lowest total wins.
Shooting the Moon: a player ending the round with exactly two Queens and both Kings scores 0, while every other active player scores half the target score. This overrides normal Cabo scoring.
Connections
A disconnected seat is reserved for 60 seconds so the player can reconnect. If the grace period expires, that player forfeits and the remaining players continue.
Choosing to leave during an active match is an immediate forfeit. Do not use Leave when you only intend to refresh or briefly reconnect.