Deal and peek
Each player gets four face-down cards in a fixed two-by-two layout. Turn up one card to start the discard pile. Privately look at the two cards closest to you, then put them back in the same positions. Do not rearrange your cards.
Golf family · Memory · 3–6 players recommended
Gringo.
Keep your four cards hidden. Remember what you have seen, exchange what you have not, and call Gringo when you think your total is low enough.
NNorth
WWest
Stock
✦
Top discard
In your hand
EEast
YYou
Matching the top discard? Tap a face-down card before the next discard. A correct match removes it; a wrong guess adds two cards to your layout.
Round complete
Everyone reveals their cards.
Lowest total wins; equal totals share the same placing.
01 How to play
Remember the cards.
Lose the points.
Gringo is a face-down memory game. The version above has four players: you and three bots. At a real table it works especially well with three to six players and a standard 52-card deck.
Draw or take the discard
On your turn, take the top card of the stock or the discard pile. You may discard a stock card immediately, or exchange the card you took for one of your face-down cards. Put the displaced card on the discard pile. This digital table requires a taken discard to be exchanged rather than put straight back.
Use a discarded action card
When a 10, Jack, Queen or King reaches the discard pile through your play, its action is optional. A 10 lets you inspect one of your cards. A Jack lets you inspect another player's card. A Queen exchanges one of yours with another player's without looking. A King lets you inspect another player's card before deciding whether to exchange it for one of yours. Finish the action before the next turn begins.
Match or steal
If you believe a face-down card matches the rank on top of the discard pile, reveal it and discard it. It can be your card or another player's. A successful steal from someone else gives that player two new face-down penalty cards. If your guess is wrong, your target stays in place and you receive two penalty cards. A correctly discarded action card from your own layout can trigger its action; a stolen matching Jack or King gives the stealer that action too.
Call Gringo
At the start of your turn, before drawing, you may call “Gringo” and skip that turn. Every other player then gets one final turn. Matching, stealing and action cards can still change any layout during that final lap. Everyone reveals their remaining cards at the end.
Count the points
Aces count 1; cards 2–10 count their face value; Jacks, Queens and Kings count 10, except the Queen of Hearts, which counts −1. Add your face-down cards. Lowest total wins, and tied players share a place. You can also keep a running score over several rounds.
Playing on a screen
At a physical table, players can race to slap a matching card and resolve accidental peeks or simultaneous claims. Here, you can tap a card while its matching discard remains on top and before the next draw. Wrong guesses carry the two-card penalty. The table deals four players, rotates the starting dealer each round and reshuffles the discard pile into a new stock when needed.
02 Background & variants
A hidden-card
memory challenge.
A locally shared name
The name Gringo and this combination of actions appear in a player-shared rules account. Its precise place of origin is not established. That account describes a lively table game, with players remembering positions, racing to discard matching cards and accepting extra cards when a guess fails.
The name alone does not tell you which house rules a group used. If someone taught you Gringo with a different action card or scoring value, agree on those details before dealing.
Related memory games
Gringo belongs to the broader family of four-card, face-down memory games often compared with Cambio, Cabo and Golf variants. They share a low-score goal, but the powers, penalty sizes, eligible matches and end-of-round call vary. The version here follows the Gringo rules described above, including the Queen of Hearts worth −1 and a two-card penalty for a wrong match or successful steal from another player.
Some groups track several rounds; others simply play one. A physical table also allows simultaneous slaps and bluffing that a turn-based browser interface handles as separate taps.