King of diamonds (the one-eyed king) is worth 0 points.Score is determined by summing up the value of each of your cards. The objective is to end the game with the lowest score. In the beginning of the game all players will look at their bottom two cards (the ones closest to them) one time only. Cabo: the rules I know SetupĮach player starts with four cards, placed face-down and arranged into a two-by-two grid. With Melissa’s permission, I will now share with you the rules for a game I know as Cabo. Her game seems more kid-friendly and more beginner-friendly. The game I know as Cabo is a little different from the one that Melissa Limes sells. I was a little disappointed to discover that Cabo is owned property, but I was very excited to discover the origins of this game. Melissa founded Eventide Games LLC, registered Cabo as a trademark, and registered a copyright for the rules. This game was designed by Melissa Limes and Mandy Henning. Hard work was put into the creation of this game. I had assumed Cabo was a folk card game of unknown origins, like Big Two, Durak, and Egyptian Ratscrew. I contacted the owner of and asked whether Cabo was IP-protected and whether the origins of the game were known. After chatting with friends I met at P圜on, I looked into what it would take to print a custom card deck to sell or gift to friends. I have thought about making an online version of this game, printing playing cards with custom Cabo-themed artwork, and making an open source program that knows the rules of Cabo so I could use it as a teaching tool. There is now a Wikipedia entry for Cabo and I ran across a website selling special Cabo playing cards: (now offline).

Them: Hm okay.Ĭabo did not have a Wikipedia article when I first learned about it and I couldn’t find anything online about it. Them: What kind of game is it? Me: An information management game (“memory game” seems to discourage people). Would you like to play a fairly quick card game? It’s called Cabo. The conversation usually goes something like this: I have spread this game to dozens of people at tech conferences, most recently during P圜on 2015. It plays quickly and is perfect while idling between activities. About five years ago a friend taught me a card game called Cabo.

Memory game cards website