Play Banakil online with friends, free

How to play Banakil

1. Two 52-card decks plus 2 jokers: 106 cards. Everyone gets 18 cards; the player after the dealer gets 19 and starts by throwing one, with no draw.
2. Play goes counter-clockwise. On your turn, draw the top card of the stock or the top card of the discard pile. A card you took from the pile can't be thrown again the same turn.
3. Then lay down as much as you like for your team: new melds, cards added to your team's melds, or a wild taken back. There is never a minimum value.
4. Melds are runs (3 or more cards of one suit in a row; the ace goes low, A-2-3, or high, Q-K-A) or sets of 3s or aces only. A set can be any size, and suits may repeat.
5. The 2s and jokers are wild, but every meld needs more real cards than wilds. A 2 in its own spot in a run of its suit, like the 2♥ in A-2-3♥, counts as a real card.
6. You may add only to your own team's melds, never to the opponents'.
7. Throw one card to end your turn. The round ends the moment a player has no cards left, after a meld or a throw.
8. After each round, the first team to reach the target wins: 222 in a Full game, 111 in Quick.

Banakil scoring at a glance

• Card values, for cards on the table and in hand alike: 3 to 6 are worth ½, 7 to King and the ace 1, a 2 is worth 2 and a joker 4.
• Each team scores the cards in its melds minus the cards left in both partners' hands. Scores can go below zero.
• The team that goes out also gets +20.
• A Hand: put all your cards down in a single turn, having laid nothing before that turn. Your team scores +51 and the other team 0 for the round.
• If every opponent had already put cards on the table that round, a Hand is worth +102 instead.
• Take a wild back: if a wild in your team's meld stands for a card you hold, put that card in its place and take the wild into your hand. In a set of 3s or aces, any 3 or ace frees it.
• If the stock runs out, the discard pile is shuffled into a new stock once; the second time, the round ends with no +20.
• Both teams over the target in the same round: the higher total wins; an exact tie plays another round.

Banakil in Rayoosh

• 2 vs 2 with your partner opposite, or 1 vs 1 with the same rules.
• Quick: first team to 111 (75 in 1 vs 1), about 18 minutes. Full: first to 222 (150 in 1 vs 1), about 35 minutes.
• Pearls by finishing place: 50 each for the winners of a Quick game and 80 for a Full game, plus a big-win bonus when a +102 Hand decides the match. Never bought, never cashed out.
• Select 3 or more cards to see the meld and its value, or tap Suggest melds. Every team meld the selected card fits lights up, and a wild you can take back glows gold.
• Works on phones, tablets, computers and TVs with a remote, in Arabic, English and Hindi.

Tips to win at Banakil

• Lay melds early: cards on the table score for your team, and cards stuck in your hand cost you when the round ends.
• Hold back only when a Hand is close: +51, or +102 once the opponents have laid down, is worth far more than a normal round.
• Keep your wilds for the meld that needs them, and take them back from your team's runs whenever you hold the real card.
• Collect 3s and aces: they are the only cards that make sets, and a set can keep growing.
• Look at the opponents' melds before you throw, and don't hand the next player a card that fits their runs.
• Compare the two tables before you go out: going out ends the round, and +20 may not make up for a weaker table.

Play Banakil with friends

Create a private table, share the link in your group chat, show the QR code or read out the room code, and your friends are seated in seconds with no download.

• Computer players fill any empty seat, so a 2 vs 2 never waits for a fourth.
• Text chat with quick phrases, voice chat, emotes and gifts at the table.
• A short lesson and practice games against the computer, any time.
• Once Rayoosh is installed, you can play the computer even without internet.