The complete guide to Karata

Get rid of every card in your hand. The first player with an empty hand wins the round. That sounds simple, and the first ten minutes of Karata are simple. What makes the game is the last two cards, because you cannot finish on a special card, and because everyone can see how close you are.

A standard 54-card deck: 52 cards plus two Jokers. Each player is dealt 5 cards (3 when there are five or more players, so the draw pile survives the round). The rest becomes the draw pile, and one card is turned face up to start the discard pile. One detail that catches people out: a special card can never be the starting card. If the flipped card is a 2, 7, 8, Jack or Joker it is set aside and another is turned, until an ordinary card appears. Nobody should be forced to answer a draw stack before they have even had a turn.

Play a card that matches the top of the discard pile by suit or by rank. A 9 of hearts can be followed by any heart, or by any other 9. If you cannot play, you draw one card from the pile. If that card can be played, you may play it immediately or keep it — your choice, and it is a real choice, which we come back to in the strategy guide. You may also throw several cards of the same rank at once. Three 9s go down as one play. This is how a hand collapses from six cards to three in a single turn, and it is the main reason a player who looks safe suddenly is not.

A 2 forces the next player to draw 2 cards. A Joker forces them to draw 5. They stack. The next player does not have to accept the punishment — they can add their own 2 or Joker and pass a bigger total along. Each 2 adds 2, each Joker adds 5, and only a 2 or a Joker can answer one. A worked example. You play a 2, so the total is 2. The next player adds a 2, making 4. The third player adds a Joker, making 9. The fourth player has neither, so they draw all nine cards and the stack resets to zero. Nine cards is usually a round-losing blow, which is why a Joker held back until the stack is already large is one of the most brutal plays in Karata.

A 7 skips the next player. Two 7s thrown together skip two players. But a skipped player is not helpless. If they hold a 7 of their own they may 'plug' it — play it into the skip and pass it on to the next player instead. This is the one moment in Karata where a player acts out of turn, and it is where the shouting starts. One rule people get wrong: your own 7 never skips you. If a 7 comes back around the table to you, the skip you started is not yours to serve.

An 8 reverses the direction of play. Two 8s reverse it twice, which puts it back the way it was. With three or more players that is exactly what it sounds like: the order flips, and the player who just went is suddenly up again. But in a two-player game there is nobody else to pass to — reversing direction means the turn comes straight back to you. So in a two-hander, any number of 8s means 'my turn again'. This catches almost every new player. Two players, you throw an 8, and instead of your opponent moving, you play again. Chain a few 8s and you can empty a surprising amount of your hand in one turn.

A Jack can be played on anything, and it demands. When you play a Jack you name what the next player must produce: a suit, or 'a special card'. They must satisfy the demand or keep drawing until they can. A Jack also acts as a bridge. Because a Jack can be played on anything, you can lay a Jack down and follow it with a group of cards that had nothing to do with the pile — the Jack carries them. If you are holding three 4s that will not go anywhere, a Jack in front of them makes them playable. Demanding 'a special card' is the aggressive option and it is underused. Ordinary players hold mostly ordinary cards; asking for a special is often asking them to draw.

When you are down to your last card you say it: Kadi Moja. One card. This is not politeness, it is the balance of the game. Declaring tells the whole table you are one turn from winning, and invites every 2, Joker and Jack at that table to be aimed at you. A silent player about to win is a player nobody can stop. The game has a house rule for how strict this is. By default you simply win when your cards run out. Switch on 'must call to win' and forgetting to declare costs you: your last card does not win, and you draw a penalty card instead.

You cannot win on a special card. If your final card is a 2, 7, 8, Jack or Joker, playing it does not end the round — its effect happens, and you carry on. This single rule shapes the whole endgame. A hand of four cards that ends in a Joker is not a four-card hand, it is a three-card hand with a problem attached. Good players work out their finishing card early and protect it. Everyone else discovers the issue with one card left and a table watching. You may finish on several ordinary cards of the same rank at once. Two 6s as your last two cards is a perfectly good ending.

When somebody goes out, everyone else counts what is still in their hand. Low is good. Joker 50. Two 20. Jack 10. King 4. Queen 2. Ace 1. Everything from 3 to 10 is worth its face value. Notice what that does to the shape of a hand. A Joker you never got to use costs you fifty points on its own — more than an entire hand of middling cards. Holding the big weapon too long is how good players lose rounds they were winning.

A single round is a quick game. Turn on elimination and it becomes a match: after each round the player with the highest score is knocked out, and play continues until one player is left. Elimination changes the maths. In a plain round you are trying to go out first. In elimination you are often trying not to come last, which is a different game — sometimes the right move is to dump points rather than chase a win you cannot reach.

An optional variation, and every player at the table has to agree to it. Cheat mode lets you hide one card from your visible count. Your hand shows as one card smaller than it is. The point is the declaration. You can say Kadi Moja while actually holding two, and if nobody calls it you get away with it. But any player may call your bluff — and if they are right you lose the round on the spot. If they are wrong, they draw two cards. It is a game of nerve bolted onto a game of cards, and it is not for everyone. That is why it is off unless the whole table opts in.