Brazilian canasta with two dead hands waiting on the table.
The Brazilian and Uruguayan canasta, and one of South America's most-played games. Two dead hands wait on the table for whoever empties theirs first.
Two 52-card decks with four jokers. Four players in partnerships, eleven cards each.
After dealing, two piles of eleven cards are placed face down on the table. These are the mortos — the dead hands. When a player empties their hand they take one, and play continues with it.
Jokers are wild. Twos are natural in a sequence of their own rank but may also be used as wild cards in a run.
Unlike canasta, buraco is built on runs: three or more consecutive cards in the same suit. Sets of the same rank are allowed but score less and are rarely worth it.
A buraco is a meld of seven or more.
Clean, with no wild card: 200. Dirty, with a wild card: 100. A clean buraco of exactly ace to seven, or eight to king, scores more still at many tables.
A dirty buraco can be cleaned by moving the wild card to the end of the run once the natural card arrives.
Jokers 20, aces 15, kings down to eights 10, and everything from the seven down to the two 5. That is what the cards on the table are worth, and what they cost you if you are caught holding them.
You may take the entire discard pile on your turn instead of drawing — no conditions attached, which makes it a much more open game than canasta.
You may only go out after taking a morto and after your side has at least one buraco.
Scoring includes 100 for going out, and penalties for cards left in hand. Game is 3000 points.