Five-card bura is the same game as three-card bura, only longer and deeper. The deck has 36 cards, you hold five, and a hand takes 61 points to win. Five cards in hand mean more choice on every move, more combinations and more counting. Here is what stays the same, what changes, and how five-card bura is played in pairs, with four players at the table.
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What five-card bura is
The base is the three-card game. The ranks are the same: ace, ten, king, queen, jack, then nine down to six. So are the points: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2, everything else zero. After the deal one card is turned face up; its suit is trump, and it lies at the bottom of the stock to be drawn last. The leader plays one or more cards of one suit, and the responder either beats all of them or gives the same number. After each trick hands are refilled to five, the trick winner first.
What changes: the deck now includes the zero cards, the nines, eights, sevens and sixes. They add no points, but they give you far more "empty" cards to give away or to probe your opponent with. There are nine trumps in the deck instead of five. The total stays at 120, so 61 is exactly one more than half: at 60:60 nobody wins and the hand is a draw.
How it differs from three-card bura
- Cards in hand: three-card has three; five-card has five.
- Deck: three-card uses 20 cards, all of them scoring; five-card uses 36, sixteen of them worth nothing.
- Target: three-card needs 31 points; five-card needs 61, and 60:60 is a draw.
- Players: three-card is for two; five-card is for two, or four in pairs.
- Giving: in three-card bura given cards go face down; in five-card they go face up.
- Pace: three-card is often settled in a few tricks; five-card is longer and often goes to the last cards.
- Strategy: in three-card speed and a timely "var" matter most; in five-card it is managing trumps and combinations.
Five-card bura in pairs (2v2)
Bura in pairs has four players in two teams. Partners sit opposite each other, so turns alternate: you, an opponent, your partner, the other opponent. All four play to every trick. After the lead, each player plays the same number of cards and either beats whatever is strongest at that moment or gives. The trick goes to whoever played the cards that stand at the end, and its points belong to the whole team. The team needs 61, not each player. "Var" can be declared by whoever has just won a trick, and it counts the whole team's points.
Choosing a partner
A good partner is someone whose play you understand. Talking about your cards or signalling at the table is not allowed, so the only language is the cards themselves: what your partner leads, what they give and when they trump. With a friend you play often, that language grows by itself. With a stranger, watch in the first hands how carefully they spend trumps; it tells you a lot.
Working together at the table
- If your partner's cards already stand, do not beat them. Give a scoring card instead, so the points stay in the team.
- If an opponent's cards stand and your partner plays after you, it can be worth keeping your best trump and leaving the job to them.
- The last seat in a trick is the best one: it sees all three plays and knows exactly whether beating is worth it.
- Count the team's points together: you may say "var" on the strength of what your partner took.
An example. Hearts are trump. The opponent on your left leads the ten of spades. You beat it with the ace of spades, so your card stands. The other opponent trumps it with the seven of hearts, and the trick swings his way. Your partner plays last: he holds the queen of hearts and beats the seven. The trick, ten, ace, seven and queen, 24 points in all, goes to your team. Notice that your partner did not beat the card that was led first, but the one that was strongest at that moment.
Five-card bura points
Of the 120 points in the deck, 84 are on the aces and tens. In five-card bura fewer than half the cards score, so many tricks are "empty" and the hand is often decided late, when the trumps come out. An example: clubs are trump, and you lead the ace and ten of diamonds, 21 points. Your opponent holds the seven and nine of clubs. Both are trumps, so both beat. He takes 21 points for two worthless cards. That is five-card bura: even a low trump catches an ace.
A won hand scores the stake in match points, from 1 up to shashi, 6. Matches are played to 1, 3, 7 or 11, and a draw gives nobody anything. A bura, all five cards trumps and led together, wins the hand on the spot here too, but collecting five trumps is much rarer than collecting three.
Because reaching 61 takes time, a five-card hand often runs to the last card. If every card has been played and nobody said "var", the points are counted and the higher score wins, provided it is at least 61. With 120 in the deck one side always has 61 or more, except at 60:60. So a careful player sometimes never declares at all and plays to the end when unsure of the count.
Why it is the harder game
With three cards the choice is small and chance decides a lot. With five, every move has dozens of options: which suit, how many cards, what to keep. The main difficulty is counting. How many of the nine trumps are gone? Which aces are still out? How far are you from 61? The second is timing: a strong combination in a five-card hand, say three scoring cards of one suit, is sometimes better kept until your opponent's trumps run low. The third is that in pairs every card you play is also a signal to your partner.
Frequently asked questions
- How many points do you need in five-card bura?
- 61 out of 120. If both sides finish on 60, the hand is a draw and the match score does not change.
- How many people play five-card bura?
- Two, head to head, or four in two teams with partners sitting opposite. A three-player version is not played here.
- In pairs, does each player count separately?
- No, the points belong to the team. Whatever you or your partner take goes into one total, and "var" is declared by whoever has just won a trick.
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