Jackaroo (also written Jakaroo or Jackaro, in Arabic جاكارو) is a fast team board game played with a standard deck of playing cards and coloured marbles. It's a favourite in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and across the Gulf. These are the full rules as played on Jackaroo Online — you can try them right away in a free game.
The goal
Move your 4 stones out of your home, all the way around the board, and into your safe zone. With a partner, your team wins when all 8 of your stones are safe. Playing solo, the first player with all 4 stones safe wins.
Dealing and turns
- Everyone gets 4 cards. Play starts with the player after the dealer and goes clockwise.
- On your turn, play one card and do what it says. You can't skip a turn.
- If none of your cards can move anything, your whole hand is burned at once and the turn moves on.
- When everyone's cards are used up, a new round of 4 cards is dealt and the next player deals. Burned and played cards are shuffled back in when the pile runs out.
- Each turn has 40 seconds. Run out of time and a random card from your hand is burned.
The cards
- ABring a stone out of your home onto your base, or move 1 or 11.
- KBring a stone out, or move 13. Moving 13, the King sends home every stone it passes or lands on.
- QMove 12.
- JSwap one of your stones with an opponent's stone. Neither can be in a home, on its base or in a safe zone.
- 10Move 10, or make the next opponent burn a random card from their hand.
- 7Move 7, or split the 7 steps between two of your stones.
- 5Move any stone on the path 5 — yours or another player's.
- 4Move one of your stones 4 steps backwards.
- 9 8 6 3 2Move one of your stones forward by the card's value.
Special rules
- A stone that stops on another stone sends that stone back to its home.
- A stone sitting on its own base can't be passed, captured, swapped or moved by others.
- When two stones of the same player stand in a row, the front one counts as a base: it can't be passed, captured or swapped — only a King can break through.
- If another player's stone sits on your base, bringing a new stone out onto it sends that stone home.
- To go into the safe zone, the card must take your stone exactly into it. A stone never goes round the board twice.
- Once all your stones are safe, you keep playing your cards for your partner's stones.
Coins
Play online with an account to earn coins: 50 for a win against other players, 15 for a win against bots only, and 5 for every game you finish. Spend them on table themes in the shop. Leaving a game counts as a loss.