Cabo (game)


Cabo is a 2010 card game by Melissa Limes that involves memory and manipulation. The game uses a dedicated deck of cards with each suit numbered from 1 to 13, and certain numbers being marked as "Peek", "Spy" or "Swap". The objective of the game is for each player to minimize the sum of his or her cards, four of which are played face-down to the table at the start of a round. Face-down cards may be revealed and swapped by card effects.
Cabo combines elements from shedding and matching type card games. It is similar to the traditional card game Golf and the 1995 Mensa Select award-winner Rat-a-Tat Cat.
Cabo can also be played with a standard playing card deck, and goes under names including Cambio, Pablo and Cactus.

Gameplay

Each player is dealt 4 cards, face down. After each deal, players may peek at any 2 of their own cards.
In clockwise order, players do either of three things:
Whenever a player discards cards from their hand, they may discard any number of cards of the same rank. If a player discards all of their cards they are considered safe and their value can not move from 0. If a player draws then discards a "choice" card, they may choose to use its ability, as follows:
When a player calls cabo, the other players each get one more turn and then everyone has to turn their hidden cards face-up, and lay down the cards from their hand. The player with the lowest score wins.

Editions and variants

The second edition of Cabo, published by Bezier Games, was published in April 2019. It includes changes such as new artwork, modified rules, a scorepad, and four player reference cards. Rules modifications include:
In August 2019, Bezier Games released Silver, a variant with additional rules modifications and a werewolf theme. Changes include: