Truco, a variant of Truc, is a trick-taking card game originally from Valencia and the Balearic Islands, popular in South America and Italy. It is usually played using a Spanish deck. Two people may play, or two teams of two or three players each.
Card ranking Ace of Swords ("Espada" in Southeast of Brazil, "Espadão" in Southern Brazil, "Ancho de espada" in Argentina, "Macho" (male) in Paraguay, "Espadilla" in Uruguay) Ace of Clubs ("Hembra" (female) in Paraguay, "Ancho de basto" in Argentina, "Bastillo" in Uruguay, "Bastião" in Southern Brazil) 7 of Swords ("Siete de espadas", "Siete bravo" in Uruguay, "Manilha de espada" in South of Brazil) 7 of Coins (Siete de oros in Spanish or Sete ouro, Sete belo or Maneca de ouro in Portuguese, "Siete bello" in Uruguay) 3s 2s (known as "Perruchos" in Paraguay) Ace of cups and ace of coins (Anchos falsos in Spanish, Ás falso in Southeast of Brazil, Gueime in South of Brazil, "Buempes" in Paraguay, "Copon" and "Huevo frito" respectively in Uruguay) Kings (Reyes in Spanish and Reis in Portuguese) (12s) Knights (Caballos in Spanish) (11s) Jacks (Valetes in Brazil, Sotas in Argentina) (10s)(the face cards of King, Knight and Jack are called Cartas negras) 7 of clubs and 7 of cups (Sietes falsos in Spanish or Sete copa (seven of cups) in Portuguese, all cards from here down are considered "Cartas blancas") 6s 5s 4s (the 4 of clubs may be called Zap in the southeast of Brazil)
In southern and southeastern Brazil, the most popular variant, called Truco Paulista, uses dynamic card ranking. The ranks from the 3s and downwards remain the same, but the four trump cards, called manilhas, are decided by flipping one extra card up after dealing, called vira. The four cards conventionally ranked immediately above the flipped one (or, in the case of a flipped 3, the 4s) become the strongest cards. Their rank is as follows: clubs > cups > swords > coins. This variant is popular because it makes it harder to cheat and can potentially turn a bad hand into a great one once the card flips.
The Uruguayan version uses a "Muestra" each hand. The following cards of the same suit as the "Muestra" are ranked higher than the Ace of swords and are called "Piezas": 2, 4, 5, Knight, which in some regions is called Perico, worth 30 points, and the Jack, which in some regions is called Perica, worth 29 points. Finally, if any player has the King of the same suit as the "Muestra" and the "Muestra" is a "Pieza", the King becomes that card.
The Venezuelan version is similar to the Uruguayan version, exception that the "Piezas" 2, 4, and 5 are not used. The "Muestra", or "vira" as it is known in Venezuela is designated by turning over the top card of the deck after shuffle or optionally, the top card following the deal. "La Vira" is then placed beneath the deck at right angles to it so that it is visible during the hand. The suit of La Vira designates the suit of El Perico (the Knight) and La Perica (the Jack) which become the highest two cards in the game. The remaining three Knights and Jacks are ranked as initially specified.
Mano (Mão) and Pie (Pé) In Truco with four or six players, two concepts govern which player begins the round and who ends it. The mano in Spanish or mão in Portuguese ("hand") is the one that plays first and the pie in Spanish or pé in Portuguese ("foot"), the dealer, is the last to play. The hand is always the player on the right of the foot. The turn to deal is then passed counterclockwise, so the hand of the first round is the foot of the second and so on. If playing in teams, partners sit opposite each other.
They can also refer, when playing in teams of two, which player of the partnership plays before and which after. This has no significance in the game, as the playing is always done counterclockwise. But it has strategic significance since the foot of a team is traditionally considered the "captain" of the partnership that round.
If the game is tied (for example, if two opponents have the same points for envido), the hand wins. That advantage is offset by the fact that, as the last one to play, the foot plays with all their opponent's cards in sight. Also, the foot and the one sitting to the foot's left call envido in a game of four or more. Then, the hand is the first one to call his points for envido.
Scoring Players can earn points in three ways: Truco - winning in the playing of the cards (the "tricks"). Envido - having the best combination of two cards of the same suit or a single card. Flor - having all three cards of the same suit.
The points won by a player are added to their team's score (when playing in teams). Any bet, win, loss, or surrender by a player also affects their partners. For this reason, partnerships are usually formed by mutual arrangement. As in bridge, it is not rare for partners to share information using already established signs and gestures. Communication is usually performed through these standard gestures. Arranging a secret set of gestures is frowned upon.
Play Each player is dealt three cards from a subset of the deck consisting of the numbers 1 to 7 and figures sota in Spanish or valete in Portuguese (jack, worth 10), caballo in Spanish or dama in Portuguese (equivalent to a queen, worth 11) and rey in Spanish or rei in Portuguese (king, worth 12).
The game may be played by two players. Two teams of two players may play; less commonly three teams of two can play. The players sit so that play alternates from one team to the other.
The game is played until a team finishes a game with 30 points or more. The 30 points are commonly split into two halves, the lower half called malas in Spanish or ruins in Portuguese (bad) and the higher half called buenas in Spanish or boas in Portuguese (good). Therefore, a team with 8 points would be ocho malas or oito ruins (8 bad ones), and a team with 21 points would be seis buenas or seis boas (6 good ones). However, because both teams can score points in one round, it is possible (but rare) for both teams to go over 30 points in one round. Usually as soon as one team goes over 30 points, the game is ended, to prevent a tie. However, sometimes the winner is the one with more points, otherwise another hand is played, until the tie is broken.
Each type of scoring can be bid on to score more points. Bids can be accepted, rejected or upped. Bluffing and deception are fundamental strategies.
Each round has three tricks. The mano leads to the first trick by playing one card. Then, counterclockwise, each other player plays one card. The player with the highest card wins the trick. The cards remain face-up on the table during the round. Sometimes the highest cards tie. If these tied cards were played by the same team, that team wins the trick. Otherwise, the trick is called a draw, parda. The same mano then leads the next trick.
Winning two of three tricks wins a round, equivalent to one point. If one team wins the first two tricks, the third is not played. But if one of the games ends in a parda, the team that won the earlier of the other two tricks wins the round (e.g. If trick 1 was won by A, trick 2 was won by B, and trick 3 was a draw, A wins the round for having won the earlier trick). That concept is often referred to as "primera vale doble" (first is worth double) If trick 1 is drawn and trick 2 is won by B, the winner of the round is B and a third trick is not played). In the case of two pardas (ties), the winner of the remaining trick wins the round. In case of three pardas, the mano wins the round. The winner of each round is the first to play the next card. If a round is tied, or "parda", the hand plays first.
During play, the teams have multiple opportunities to raise the stakes. Truco - Any player can call truco at any stage to increase the value of the round to 2 points for the winner team. The challenged team says quiero to accept or no quiero to refuse; if refused, the round ends with the calling team winning one point. Retruco - The team that answered quiero to the truco can call retruco to increase the value of the round to 3 points. It may be said immediately after truco or after accepting the bid. The other team must answer quiero or no quiero; if refused, the round ends with the calling team winning two points. Vale cuatro - The team that answered the retruco can say this immediately after the retruco or after accepting it. This makes the round worth the maximum possible four points; if refused, the round ends with the calling team winning three points.
Truco must be accepted explicitly if playing strictly by the rules: if truco is said, the only way to accept it is by saying quiero, but in a friendly game the players may accept an informal answer such as veo, dale. To call retruco immediately, it is necessary first to say quiero (and the same is true when calling vale cuatro). Instead of saying explicitly quiero, a player can play a card and it is implied that they accepted. So, for example, the dialogue must be truco/quiero retruco/quiero vale cuatro, with none of these words omitted.
A player can play his card face up or face down, in which case it does not count towards the score. A card can be played face down in order to prevent opponents from deducing the value of a remaining card, possible if envido or flor/contraflor has been played. If a player does not want his opponents to know his cards, which can be done in order to trick them into raising their bets, they can play their card face down. This is not the same as irse al mazo (going to the deck), accepting defeat without finishing the hand.
Envido In games of two people, envido must be said before the player plays a card. In team games, the foot and the player to the left of the foot are the ones who say envido (when they do, there are already cards played).
Envido bids have precedence before Truco bids. If one team calls Truco and the other calls Envido, the Envido dialogue must be completed (accepting, increasing or declining it) before the Truco.
When Envido is said, the challenged team/player can answer in any of these ways: Quiero - accepts to take the bet. Envido - accepts the 2 points of the first Envido and proposes to raise the bet by 2 points. Real envido - accepts the 2 points of the first Envido and proposes to raise the bet by 3 points. Falta envido - if the loser of the bet scores less than 15 points (or is in the "malas" half), the winner will get as many points as the loser needs to get to 15 points, and if the loser of the bet scores more than 15 points, the winner gets as many points as the loser needs to get to 30 points. No quiero - refuses to take the last bet. Thus, the challenger team/player earns 1 point if no one raises, and the number of points that were accepted, plus the refuse point (e.g. Envido-Real Envido-No quiero is 3 worth points, and Envido-Envido-Real Envido-No quiero is worth 5 points).
For Real envido, the answers are the same, excepting Envido (because it would "lower" the bet). For Falta Envido, the answers are also the same as in Envido, excepting Envido and Real Envido (that leaves only Quiero and No quiero).
Unlike truco, Quiero and No quiero close the bidding, and Envido cannot be bid again. In the cases where the bidding is ended with Quiero, a comparison of the pairs (puntos de envido = "score of envido") is performed to see which team/player has the highest and wins the envido. To calculate the puntos de envido: The score of a pair of the same suit is the sum of the values of the cards + 20, with the face cards, Kings (12s), Knights (11s) and Sotas (10s), worth 0. If the player has no suit pair, then his puntos de envido is the value of his highest card, with Kings, Knights and Sotas worth 0. If playing without Flor, in case of having three cards of the same suit, the puntos de envido are those of the highest pair of the hand.