Piñatas
Piñatas Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Components
- A: 80 Playing Cards (ranks 0-15 in 5 suits)
- B: 5 Suit Tokens
- C: 68 Point Tokens (values 1 and 5)
Credits
- Design: Reiner Knizia
- Illustration: Dom2D
- Graphic Design: Matt Paquette & Co., Anca Gavril & Co.
- Rules Editing: Jeff Fraser
- 3D Artist: Filip Gavril
© Dr. Reiner Knizia, 2025. All rights reserved.
Setup
- If you have 2-4 players, remove playing cards from the deck according to the table below.
- Place the point tokens and pinata tokens to one side of the play area. Randomly select 1 suit token and place it in the middle. This is the trump suit for the round.
- Shuffle the deck and deal each player a hand of 13 cards (or 14 with 5 players). Place the leftover cards in a facedown discard pile.
- Whoever most recently went to a party is the first player.
| 2 Players* | 3 Players | 4 Players | 5 Players | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cards in Deck | Remove 11-15 of each suit | Remove 11-15 of each suit | Remove 13-15 of each suit | Use all cards |
| Player Hands | 13 cards | 13 cards | 13 cards | 14 cards |
*See page 6 for additional 2 player rules.
Playing the Game
The game is made up of rounds, and each round is made up of tricks.
To start the first trick of the round, the first player leads any card in their hand, placing it faceup in front of themselves. The suit they play is the lead suit for the trick.
Going clockwise, each other player must play a card of the lead suit faceup, if they have one. If they don't have the lead suit, they instead play any card in their hand.
Winning a Trick
When everyone has played a card, the highest-ranked card of the lead suit wins the trick. However, if any card of the trump suit was played (matching the suit token in the middle), then the highest-ranked card of the trump suit wins instead.
The winning player takes all cards in the trick and places them in a facedown pile in front of themselves, separate from any tricks they've previously won. They then lead the next trick.
Example: Marie leads a pink 4 and Lukas follows with a pink 7. Antonio doesn't have any pink, so he plays a green 12. Nina doesn't have pink either, so she plays a yellow 2. Since yellow is trump, Nina wins the trick.
Going Out
The number of tricks required to go out is based on player count:
| Players | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tricks to Go Out | 7 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
When a player has won the required number of tricks, they place all cards left in their hand facedown on the discard pile (but keep the tricks they've won in front of themselves).
They then count the total number of tricks all other players have won this round (including players who have gone out) and score that many points. Each player keeps track of their score using point tokens.
After a player goes out, the next player clockwise who hasn't gone out leads the next trick.
End of Round
The round ends when all but 1 of the players have gone out. The remaining player scores points equal to the number of tricks they alone have won. If the game hasn't ended, play a new round.
New Round
Shuffle all playing cards and deal each player a new hand, as in setup. The last remaining player from the previous round is the new first player.
After looking at their hand, the first player chooses the trump suit by placing any 1 of the 5 suit tokens in the middle. They then lead the first trick.
Scoring Examples
Example 1: Marie has taken 3 tricks and gone out. She counts the tricks everyone else has won and scores 1 + 2 + 1 = 4 points.
Example 2: Lukas goes out 3rd, scoring 3 + 3 + 2 = 8 points. This leaves Antonio as the only remaining player, so he scores 2 points for his 2 tricks.
Special Cards
Rank 0 Cards
When a 0 is played in the same trick as the highest card of its suit, it counts as the highest card in its suit instead of the lowest.
The highest card of each suit will be either 10, 12, or 15, depending on player count. A 0 that beats the highest card of its suit still loses to any card of the trump suit (unless it is the trump suit).
Rank 5 and 7 Cards
When you win a trick with a 5 or 7 you played, you must split the cards you take into 2 piles. Each pile counts as 1 trick toward going out and scoring.
Splitting a trick can allow you to go out with 1 more than the required number of tricks. A single trick can't be split more than once, since only the winning 5 or 7 matters.
End of Game
When any player has 25 or more points after going out, they immediately win the game. Do not finish the current round.
2 Player Rules
With 2 players, the round ends immediately when either player wins 7 tricks. The player who went out scores the tricks their opponent has taken, as normal. Their opponent scores the number of tricks they would need to win to have 7.
Example: Marie wins her 7th trick. Lukas has 4 tricks, so Marie scores 4 points and Lukas scores 3.