Learn the game

Color Match rules

Learn the Color Match rules used in DeNiro Card: the deal, legal moves, scoring and how to win. House rules vary; these are the rules at DeNiro Card tables.

How to play Color Match

1. Play a card of the ACTIVE color, or one with the same symbol (same number or same action) as the top card. After a Shift or Toll 4, the active color is the one that was named, not the top card's printed color.
2. Shift and Toll 4 have no color of their own, so that matching rule does not apply to them: either one may be played on any turn you like, whatever the active color is and whatever else is in your hand.
3. The small shape also identifies the color: Rose ●, Amber ◆, Teal ▲, Violet ■.
4. Everyone starts with 7 cards. The first face-up card is always a number card.
5. You may draw one card instead of playing, even if you have a play. If the drawn card can't be played, your turn ends. If it can, that card is the only one you may play, or you may pass.
6. Bypass: the next player loses their turn. Flip: play direction reverses; with two players it works like Bypass. Toll 2: the next player draws 2 and loses their turn. Tolls never stack.
7. Shift: you name the new active color, then play passes on.
8. Toll 4: you name the color, then the next player chooses Accept (draw 4 and lose the turn) or Challenge. If you held the active color when you played it, you draw 4 and the challenger keeps the turn. Otherwise the challenger draws 6 and loses their turn.
9. When the draw pile runs out, the discards are reshuffled into it. If nobody can draw or play, the round ends and the lowest points in hand wins: numbers face value, Bypass, Flip and Toll 2 count 20, Shift and Toll 4 count 50. Ties go to fewer cards; still-tied players share.
10. One round only: the first player to empty their hand wins the pot. A shared win splits the pot equally.
11. Your clock: at a coin table against the computer you get up to 90 seconds for each move, and the table header counts down the exact time left. If it runs out, the table plays that move for you on the merits. You are not forfeited, nothing extra is charged, and your stake and payout are unchanged. Each of your first three missed moves keeps the full clock; miss a third in a row and the rest of the hand runs at computer speed, about two thirds of a second a turn, which in practice finishes it for you. Making one move yourself puts the full clock back. An Online table against real people runs its own, separate clock; watch the same countdown there.

Common questions

Playing in DeNiro Card

Practice lets you play any game with no account and no coins. Coin tables use virtual play coins and need a DeNiro account; choose a coin stake before joining one. Leaving an active coin game forfeits the stake and adds a 10% leaving fee. Play coins have no cash value and cannot be cashed out.

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