Cambio

The 60-Second Beginner Guide

Cambio is a hilarious game of memory and sabotage. You have 4 cards face down in front of you, but you only know what 2 of them are! Your goal is to trade your high cards for low cards by drawing from the deck. The fun part is the "Power Cards". If you draw a 10, you can peek at your friend's card. If you draw a Queen, you can steal your friend's card and give them your trash! You have to memorize where all the good cards are moving on the table. When you think your 4 cards have the lowest total score, you yell "CAMBIO!" to trigger the end of the round. It's pure chaos!

1. Setup

  • 1Every player is dealt exactly 4 cards, placed face-down in a 2x2 square in front of them.
  • 2Before the game begins, every player is allowed to secretly peek at their two BOTTOM cards for just a few seconds, and then they must put them back face-down. You must memorize them!
  • 3The rest of the deck forms a draw pile, with one card face-up to start a discard pile.

2. How to Play

On your turn, you draw one card from either the face-down deck or the face-up discard pile.

You can use the drawn card to SWAP with one of your face-down cards (discarding your old card), or you can just discard the drawn card.

Power Cards: If you draw a 7 or 8 from the deck and discard it, you get to secretly peek at one of your own cards. A 9 or 10 lets you peek at an opponent's card. A Jack or Queen lets you blind-swap one of your cards with an opponent's card!

Calling Cambio: Instead of taking a normal turn, if you think your 4 hidden cards add up to the lowest score at the table, you can yell "Cambio!". Every other player gets exactly one more turn, and then everyone reveals their cards.

Scoring

  • •The goal is to have the LOWEST total score.
  • •Aces are 1. Number cards are face value. Jacks and Queens are 10. Black Kings are 13.
  • •Red Kings are the best cards in the game; they are worth ZERO points! Jokers (if used) are -1.

Winning Conditions

  • ✓If the player who yelled "Cambio" actually has the lowest score, they get 0 points! If they were wrong and someone else has a lower score, the caller gets a huge 15-point penalty.
  • ✓The game continues for multiple rounds. The first player to reach 100 points is eliminated. The last player standing wins!