Obligada or lliure butifarra?
There are two ways to play butifarra and they are easy to mix up: obligada (compulsory), also called eastern, and lliure (free), or western. The good news is that almost everything is the same.
What they share
- The same cards and the same points: manilla, ace, king, knight and jack.
- The same calls: trumps, butifarra or delegate, with contro and recontro.
- In both you must follow suit and beat the trick if your partner is not winning it.
- The same scoring: the partnership that goes over 36 scores the excess, multiplied.
What changes: when you cannot beat the trick
The only difference comes when you hold cards of the suit led but none of them wins the trick.
Obligada Eastern
If you cannot beat the trick, you must play your lowest card of the suit.
Lliure Western
If you cannot beat the trick, you play any card you like.
An example
The knight of cups has been led and an opponent is winning. You hold the 2 and the 6 of cups: neither beats it.
- In obligada, you must play the 2, your lowest.
- In lliure, you can play the 2 or the 6.
In obligada the move is decided for you; in lliure, you choose which card to give up.
Which one to choose?
Whichever is played at your table. If you play with new people, agree on it before dealing, along with the target score.
In the game
In Butifarra you choose the variant in the settings, and it is shown on the table screen before the game starts. The computer plays by the one you chose.
