Vying · Basque Mus family · 3 players

Encaje

Mus Francés

Four contests, one hand, and a reversed objective: shed every stone before the other players do.

WWest15 stones

EEast15 stones

Current contest Discard No bet

Your choice

Select one card to discard face down.

YYou15 stones

01 How to play

Lose the stones.
Avoid the loss.

Encaje is an individual version of Mus for three or five people. This playable table uses three players, fifteen stones each, and the five-card deal.

The deal

Each player receives five cards and discards one face down. The remaining four cards are used for every contest. With this dealing method there is no Mus exchange.

The unusual objective

You want to get rid of all your stones. Players with no stones drop out. When only one player still owns stones and no pots remain, that player loses.

Card ranks

Suits do not matter. Kings and Threes are equal and highest; Aces and Twos are equal and lowest. Between them come Caballo (C), Sota (S), Seven, Six, Five and Four.

Four contests

Grande rewards the highest four-card sequence; Chica the lowest. Pares compares pairs, then three of a kind, then two pairs. Juego compares qualifying point totals; otherwise everyone plays Punto.

Juego and Punto

Faces, Kings and Threes count 10; Aces and Twos count 1; other cards use face value. Juego begins at 31: the order is 31, 32, 40, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33. Without Juego, the highest total up to 30 wins Punto.

Betting

Starting with the mano, pass or bet at least two stones. After a bet, each eligible player may fold, see or raise by at least two. This digital table uses two-stone opening bets and two-stone raises.

Unopposed bets

If everyone folds to the first bet, the bettor discards one stone. If everyone folds after a raise, the raiser gives the previous stake to the previous bettor. Pares and Juego/Punto also award their combination value.

Showdown and pots

Players who see put the stake into a pot. Among them, the worst hand takes the whole pot. For Pares and Juego/Punto, the best hand also gives its combination value to that pot’s taker.

02 History & variants

Mus ideas, every player alone.

A relative of Mus

Encaje is a Spanish vying game built from the comparisons used in Mus: grande, chica, pares and juego. Unlike partnership Mus, each player looks after an individual score and tries not to be the one who falls behind. It is also known as Mus Francés, a name that signals the family resemblance rather than a French origin.

Two established forms

One form deals four cards and allows repeated “mus” discards before the comparisons. Another deals five cards, requires a discard and begins play without the traditional Mus exchange. Groups may set the scoring track at different lengths and decide a session by eliminating a player after a fixed number of lost games.