Card games
Ligretto
Schmidt SpieleMichael Michaels1988
- players
- 2–12
- minutes
- 15
- years
- 8+
In the box
160 cards in 4 decks of 40, one per player, told apart by their backs
Official rules (PDF, publisher's site)
Box details
- Designer
- Michael Michaels
- Publisher
- Schmidt Spiele
- Mechanics
- Real-TimeDiscardingSpeed
Where to buy it
Near you and online
In a shop
Within 50 km.
Online
Affiliate link: Marquoir may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you.
The basics
Everyone at once, with no turns, plays cards to the middle to be the first to empty their ten-card Ligretto pile. A 1 starts a pile in the middle, which everyone builds up in the same colour to 10, using cards from their row, their Ligretto pile or their discard pile; you cycle through your hand three cards at a time. When someone calls Ligretto stop!, the round ends: each card played scores 1 point, each card left in your Ligretto pile costs 2.
Checked against the official rules · October 2026
The rules, step by step
Setup
Row of 3 cards, Ligretto pile of 10, The rest in hand
- One box holds four decks of 40 cards: by combining several boxes of different colours, 2 to 12 people can play.
- Each player takes a deck, shuffles it, and lays out a row of 3 face-up cards in front of them (5 with two players, 4 with three).
- Next to it goes a face-up pile of 10 cards: the Ligretto pile.
- The rest of the deck is held in hand, face down.
How to play
Everyone at once, Piles by colour, From 1 to 10
- Everyone plays at the same time, in no particular order.
- A 1 is played to the middle and starts a pile; it is built up with cards of the same colour, in order, up to 10. Several piles of the same colour can exist at once.
- You may play a card from your row, the top card of your Ligretto pile or the top card of your discard pile.
- A gap in the row is filled at once from the Ligretto pile.
- To cycle through your hand, turn over 3 cards at a time onto your discard pile; when your hand runs out, pick up the discard pile, shuffle it and start again.
Scoring
Card in the middle: +1, Left in Ligretto: −2
- Each card played to the middle scores 1 point for its owner (sort them again by the colour of their backs).
- Each card left in your Ligretto pile costs 2 points.
- Cards in your row and in your hand do not count.
End of the game
“Ligretto stop!”, Highest score
- As soon as a player has played the last card of their Ligretto pile, they call out "Ligretto stop!" and the round stops dead.
- If nobody can play anything more, the round also ends and scores are counted.
- In a single round, the highest score wins; over several rounds agreed in advance, the total counts.
House rules and pitfalls
Expert variant: you may store cards from your hand or your Ligretto pile in your row…
- Expert variant: you may store cards from your hand or your Ligretto pile in your row, in descending order and alternating colours.
Going further
Frequently asked questions · In the same family
Frequently asked questions
Do you have to wait for your turn?
Never. It is a race: the first card played on a pile takes the spot.
Can a round end with cards left in your Ligretto pile?
Yes, in fact that is the case for everyone but one player; each remaining card costs two points at scoring.