Biriba Offline: Card Game

Biriba is the card game Greece and Cyprus play: runs and sets, two face-down biribaki waiting beside the stock, a kozi suit that pays double, and a close that has to be earned. This one comes with cards big enough to read without holding the phone to your face.

Two decks, 108 cards, four jokers. Eleven cards each and two biribaki of eleven, face down. Play in pairs — you and your AI partner against two opponents — or one against one. The turn goes counter-clockwise, to the player on your right.

THE GREEK RULES, THE REAL ONES

You meld two ways. A run: three or more cards in a row, same suit. A set: three or more of the same rank, suits may repeat — and if your family plays without sets, you switch them off in settings. One wild per meld, a joker or a 2. A 2 of the right suit sitting in its own place inside a run counts as a natural card, so the run stays clean.

Seven cards make a biriba. A run biriba is 200 when it is kathari, clean, with no wild in it at all, and 100 vromiki when a wild is holding it together. A set biriba is worth more: 300 kathari, 150 vromiki.

THE KOZI

One card is turned up at the deal to start the discard pile, and its suit is the kozi of that round. A run biriba in the kozi suit counts double — 400 clean, 200 with a wild. The kozi stays written in the top bar all round, so you never have to remember it. Sets have no suit, so they take no kozi bonus.

IT ALL TURNS ON THE BIRIBAKI

Your team cannot touch its biribaki until it has put at least one biriba on the table. After that, the first time your hand empties, those eleven cards are yours. Empty it by melding and you keep the same turn going. Empty it with your discard and your turn ends there.

Going out is worth 100 and cannot be improvised: biribaki already taken, at least one biriba on the table, and a last card to throw — the close always ends with a discard.

The bill at the end of a round is honest. No biriba at all costs 100. A biribaki you never took costs another 100. They stack, so one careless round can cost you 200.

Card values: joker 20, ace 15, a 2 is 10, K down to 8 ten each, 7 down to 3 five each. First team to 3000 wins; settings offer 2000, 2500, 3500 and 5000.

BIG CARDS, BIG TEXT

Ranks and suits drawn large and high contrast. In settings you can push cards and text to Large or Extra large, slow the pace down, and pick one of four card backs. Nothing on screen is smaller than it needs to be.

IT PLAYS OFFLINE

No connection, no account, no sign-up, no email. On a plane, in a waiting room, anywhere. The game saves after every single move, so a phone call never costs you the hand.

IF YOU ARE LEARNING

Tap a card and only the moves that card really allows show up — an illegal move simply is not offered. If a card cannot be melded, the game says why. Stuck? Tap Hint and your AI partner picks for you. Watch and learn follows four AI players through a hand while you just watch, and How to play explains the table, the turn, the special cards, and biriba, biribaki and the close in four short pages.

THERE IS ALSO

Three difficulty levels. Weekly and all-time leaderboards for each level (online): the only thing you give is a nickname, no account and no email. A scorecard that keeps wins, streaks, kathari and vromiki biribas, biribaki taken and closes. Eleven languages: Greek, English, Italian, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Russian.

NOTHING RIGGED

Cards are shuffled 100% at random. The AI never sees your hand: it knows how many cards you hold, never which ones. Every deal comes from a numeric seed you can read yourself on the Fair play screen, along with every move of the round. No chips, no credits to buy, no betting, no timer rushing you.

If you know canasta or rummy you are already most of the way here: the melds are familiar, and the biribaki and the kozi are what make it biriba.