The deck
To play KABALAM you need 2 standard 52-card decks from which you must remove all the 10s, the face cards (J, Q, K) and the 4 jokers: the remaining cards are 72. In this game the suits are not considered.
The 9 is the card with higher value, followed by 8, 7, 6, etc. until the Ace that is worth one point.
The game can be played by 2, 3 or 4 players, ore even as a patience game.

Preparation
At the beginning the dealer places a row of three face down cards, spacing out them at least 1,5 inches, and over each card places a face up card, as it shown in the picture. The three so-made decks (packets) form the KABALA.

Then each player seats in the direction of one of the four cardinal points (North, East, South and West) and the dealer gives her 10 face down cards (endowment).
The remaining cards are placed face down where they can be reached, as a draw pile.

The compounded sum
This game is essentially based on the Compounded sum, a particular numeric operation used in Hebraic Cabala. It consists of summing up all the digits that compose a number until it reaches one digit among 1 and 9. Each time a number has more than one digit, its digits are summed up. If the result has two or more digits, the way of proceeding is the same until there is only one digit among 1 and 9.
Some examples:

14 = 1+4 = 5

10 = 1+0 = 1

28 = 2+8 = 10 = 1+0 = 1

5+6+2 = 13 = 1+3 = 4

The game
Choose the starting player: she seats at South, the second player at West, the third one at North and the fourth one at East.
The sequence of each hand is:

1) at his turn the player picks a card from the draw pile and adds it to her endowment

2) then she makes the compounded sum of the three face up cards of the Kabala

3a) she can play on one packet of her choice, one or more cards of her endowment that show the exact value of the compounded sum of the Kabala (e.g. if the sum of the Kabala is 4, the player can play one or more 4s from her endowment).
All the players must be able to see and memorize the cards played.
This move is called Bare Descent.

BARE DESCENT
In this example three 4s are played: they are placed all on the 2.

3b) Or: the player can play two cards on one packet of his choice, if their sum is equal to the compounded sum of Kabala. In this situation the card with the lower value must be placed OVER the other one (in previous example, the player can play one Ace and a 3 over one packet, so as to show the Ace).
This move is called Double.

DOUBLE
In this example one Ace and one 3 are played (with the Ace over the 3) over the 2.

4) the player turns upside-down the packet to show the card that was on its bottom, and to hide the cards she had played. In this manner the compounded sum of Kabala has changed!

5) the player continues the same way until she has cards to play. When she can not play more, she says “I yield!”: now it is the turn of the player to her left.
The ability of the player consists in playing her cards, so as that the compounded sum of the Kabala will be equal to the cards of her endowment. More cards you can memorize, more possibilities to discard them you have!

Skipping the turn
When a player cannot play even one single card, he declares “I pass!” and she turns upside-down one packet of the Kabala of her choice.

To be out with thirteen!
When a player skips a turn with an endowment of 13 cards, she is out of the game until the end of the hand and adds 100 points to her score!

End of the game
If a player succeeds in playing all the cards of her endowment, she shouts out “I close!” and the hand ends. The opponents receive points equal to the sum of the cards in their hand.
Several hands are played, and who reaches a score of more than 101 points is definitively out of the game. The last player in play is titled Great Kabalist.
Note: if there are no more cards in the draw pile, the hand ends only when all the players have passed their turn. If nobody closes, everybody scores the double of the sum of the cards in her hand!

Patience Kabalam
Kabalama can be well played even as a patience. You need a good deal of concentration. The goal is to play all of your endowment, before the draw pile finishes.

1) You play with the same rules of KABALAM but with only one deck of 36 cards: i.e. a standard deck from which have been taken away all the 10s, the face cards (J, Q, K) and the 2 jokers.

2) After shuffling the deck, take six cards to form the Kabala; then draw an endowment of 10 cards and place them face up in front of you. If more cards show the same value, stack them.
The remaining cards are placed face down as a draw pile.
(The picture shows an example of a starting disposition).

3) Then draw 2 cards from the draw pile and add them to your endowment.

4) Play the patience by playing Bare Descents or Doubles, depending on the value of the Kabala.

5) Each time you cannot play, you draw 2 cards from the draw pile.

6) If you are not able even to play one single card, turn upside-down one packet of your choice and draw 2 cards. Note:after the upsetting you cannot glance at the face down cards of the Cabala!

7) If you are “out with thirteen” (i.e. you are not able to play any card even if you have thirteen cards in your endowment), you immediately lose the game.

8) You win if you are able to play all of your endowment.

9) You lose if you are not able to play cards on the packets when the draw pile is finished.

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The author wishes to thank Monica for her precious suggestions.
The deck of cards in the photos is enclosed with the book “Carte in tavola” by Andrea Angiolino (Editoriale Scienza – 2004).