Cambio Card Game Rules: How to Play This Fun (& Addicting) Game

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Rules, strategies, and fun variations for Cambio

Co-authored by Cheyenne Main Reviewed by Ashton Wu

Last Updated: September 22, 2025 Fact Checked

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Cambio Rules

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Strategies

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Variations

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Playing Cambio Online

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History & Origin

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Tips

Cambio (also called Cumbia, Cabo, Pablo, Cactus, or Dacz) is a variation of 4-card golf where players try to have the fewest number of points at the end of the game. To get started, all you need is 1 deck of standard playing cards. You can play alone and try to get the lowest score possible or compete against your friends and family members. Keep reading to learn all the rules, variations, and strategies to win this incredibly fun game.

Cambio Overview

Number of players: 1 or more
Objective: Trade cards with the deck until you think your 4 cards have the least total points. The player with the lowest score wins the game.
Card powers: 7 and 8 — look at one of your cards. 9 and 10 — look at one of your opponents’ cards. Jack — swap 2 random cards. Queen — look at and swap 2 cards.

Section 1 of 5:

How to Play Cambio

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1
Give 4 cards to each player face-down and put the deck in the middle. Shuffle 1 standard deck of playing cards (with Jokers). Every player gets 4 cards, which they will arrange in front of them face-down in a 2 by 2 grid. Place the rest of the cards face-down in the middle of the table—this is the draw pile.^{[1]
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- Optionally, look at all 4 cards before placing them down randomly on the table.
2
Grab a card from the draw pile and replace it with one of your own. On your turn, pick up and look at the top card from the draw pile. Decide whether to discard what you drew or use it to replace one of your cards.^{[2]
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Research source} As the game continues and you remember what cards you use to replace the cards in front of you, you can better decide which cards to replace.
- For example, if you remember that you had a 10 in front of you that you took the previous round, you might replace it with the 4 you drew from the pile.
- If you decide to replace a card, put the card that was originally yours in a discard pile.
- After you’ve discarded either the card you drew or one of your cards, play moves to the person to the left of you. The game moves in a clockwise direction around the table.
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Carry out the action associated with any power cards you draw. There are multiple cards in the game that have optional powers you can use to look at your cards, look at another player’s cards, or trade cards with another player. It’s not required to use these powers, but you can use them to see what cards are in play and strategize your next turns.^{[3]
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- 7 and 8: Look at 1 of your own cards.
- 9 and 10: Look at 1 of your opponents’ cards.
- Jack: Swap 1 of your cards with 1 of another player’s without looking at them.
- Queen: Flip over 2 cards belonging to any player and swap them. You have to swap them once you look.
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Say “Cambio” when you think you have fewer points than anyone else. If you reach a point in the game where you know you have the lowest 4 cards on the table, you get to call out, “Cambio!” Everyone else gets 1 more turn to improve their standing before the game ends and the scores are tallied up.^{[4]
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Research source} Whoever has the lowest total score at the table wins the game!
- Red Kings: -1 point
- Jokers: 0 points
- Aces: 1 point
- Numbers 2 to 10: Points based on face value^{[5]
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- Black Kings: 10 points
- Jacks and Queens: 10 points
- Feel free to make house rules as necessary to make the game more fun for everyone.

Section 2 of 5:

Strategies to Win Cambio

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1
Try to memorize the 4 cards you have in front of you. The best way to gain an advantage over the other players is to keep track of what cards you have face-down in front of you. That way, you can switch out the higher cards you have with the lower cards you draw from the deck, and you have a higher chance of winning the game.
- You can also keep track of the lowest cards you have that you want to keep (like Aces, Jokers, or red Kings).
2
Keep any cards lower than 5 that you draw from the pile. Lower-scoring cards can be harder to come by, especially since this game only uses 1 deck of playing cards. To increase your chances of winning, try to swap the higher cards in your hand with any Aces, 1s, 2s, 3s, and 4s that you draw from the pile.
- Similarly, try to discard any cards in front of you that have a value higher than 6.
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Say “Cambio” as fast as possible without sacrificing your score. Because players have the opportunity to improve the cards in their hand on each turn, the chance that you might win decreases the longer the game is.^{[6]
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Research source} Instead of continuing each round hoping for better cards, say “Cambio” as soon as you think you have the lowest cards possible.
- For example, if on round 3 you have a 2, a Joker, a 9, and an Ace, it’s better to say “Cambio” than to play another round hoping to get a lower card to replace the 9.

Section 3 of 5:

Cambio Variations

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1
Discard one of your cards if it’s the same value as the card on top. Play the game with the two cards at the bottom of the 2 by 2 grid flipped face-up. Any time a card is placed face-up on the discard pile and you know you have a card that matches, you can discard it before the end of the current player’s turn.^{[7]
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- If you put down a card that doesn’t match, you have to take your card plus the card on top of the discard pile, expanding your hand from 4 to 5 cards.
- You can decide whether players can use the card from the discard pile like a power card or not.
- Optionally, other players can burn their cards on top of the one you just burned. You can also make it so you can only burn 1 card a turn, so players compete to burn their card first.
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Turn Cambio into a drinking game by taking a shot if you lose. After you tally up everyone’s points at the end of a game, whichever player has the most points takes a shot. If you’re planning on playing several rounds, have the loser take a sip of their drink, instead.
- Alternatively, anyone who isn’t the winner can take a shot or a sip of their drink.
- Make sure to drink responsibly.
3
Stop playing when a player reaches 100 points across all games. If you’re playing multiple rounds of Cambio, make it so the entire game ends when one player gets 100 points or more. The player with the lowest points wins the whole game.^{[8]
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- If 2 or more players tie for the lowest score, play another round until there’s a decisive winner.

Section 4 of 5:

Playing Cambio Online

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Onmuga’s online Cambio game allows you to play alone to get the highest score possible or send a link to your friends to play with them.

Section 5 of 5:

History of the Card Game Cambio

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Cambio may have originated in Spain or Latin America. “Cambio,” means “exchange” in Spanish. However, there have been other versions of the same game that are played in Malaysia, Canada, and Poland.^{[9]
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- “Cambio” may also be another name for Kille, a Swedish card game.

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Tips

One published version of Cambio was called Cabo, created by Mandy Henning and Melissa Limes in collaboration with Bézier Games.^{[10]
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Research source} It is no longer available for purchase.

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Kombio is another published version of the game that has the scoring rules and powers listed on each card.^{[11]
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Most of the rules for this game are similar to the rules for the card game golf.

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