Argentinian Truco ›

Rules of Argentinian Truco

Introduction

Truco is a card game of Arab origin and very popular in Brazil (truco paulista / truco mineiro), Eastern Spain (truc)and a good part of South America (argentinian truco).

Aim of the game

Argentinian Truco is played by 2 players or by pairs and the 40 card Spanish deck is used.

The objective of the game is to win a determined number of  chicos (1, 2 or 3 chicos). Each chico can be played at 15 or 30 points. The first half of the points are popularly called “bad”, the second half “good”.

The points won via the Trucos and the envites which are bets that are made during the various hands of each round.

Value of the cards (from the highest to the lowest)

• Ace of spades (also called “the biggest”)
• Ace of sticks
• Seven of spades (manilla of spades)
• Seven of coins (manilla of coins)
• 3s
• 2s
• Ace of gold and ace of cups (called “false aces”)
• Twelves
• Elevens
• Tens
• Seven of cups and seven of sticks (called “false” or “bad” 7s)
• 6s
• 5s
• 4s

How to play Argentinian Truco

At the beginning of the game, the player that is the hand is chosen by automatic drawing lots, that is, the player that starts to play. In the following round (if there is one), the player that starts is the one on the right of the current player.

In each round, 3 cards are dealt to each player and all put down one card in turns. The player with the highest card wins the hand and throws first in the next (in the case of a draw, the first player will be the first to throw). The first pair or player that wins 2 hands, wins the round.

For example, if a pair wins the first hand and ties the second one, it will win the round.

Special cases:

• If a draw, the first hand beats that the player of pair that wins any of the remaining hands.
• If a hand is won, another is lost, and a thrird is
• If there is a tie in 3 consecutive hands, the hand-player will win the round.

Truco

Truco is a bet that can be made at any time of the game and it is made by the winner of the round.

The pair or rival player must answer with one fo the following options:

• Reject. Rejects the truco and the opponent pair wins the round.
• Accept. Accepts the bet that will be decided at the end of the round.
• Retruco, Worth four. Raises the bet and passes the turn to the opponent pair to decide.

The “envido”

The winner of this bet is the player that can link 2 cards of the same suit that has the highest sum. In this case, the 7s are the highest valued cards and the aces the lowest valued. Besides, it can only be made in the first hand and always before the “truco”.

• If a player has 2 cards of the same suit, their value is added up to 20 (this is the importance of linking two cards of the same suit). The highest point of the “envido” is 33 (7+6+20=33).
• The figures or black cards (club, horse or king) are worth 0 points for the envido. If they have 2 figures of the same suit, the envido score is 20.
• If no one has 2 cards of the same suit, the the highest card is considered.
• If there is a tie, the winner is the hand-player.

Example: the 7 of cups is inferior to a 3 and the 1 of swords (3+1+20=24 of envido)

In the envido it is important to know if it is in the “goods” o “bads”. In the “goods” at least one player or pair already has half the points. In the “bads” no one yet has reached half.

The pair or rival player must answer with one fo the following options:

• Reject. Reject the bet and the pair that has the Envido add the points bet up to that moment.
• Accept. Accepts the bet that will be decided at the end of the round.
• Bet, Royal envido, “Falta”. Raise the bet and pass your turn to the rival pair that decides. See the following table.

The fault is the maximum bet of the Envido and the gets a score depending on the state of the game:

• If in the “bads”, the winning player or pair of the envite beats the chico.
• If in the “goods”, the winning player or pair takes the points that the player or pair with more points lack to get the chico.

Example: in a game at 30 points, a pair has 10 points and the other 20; lacking, they would bet 10 points to be in the “goods” (30-20=10).

The envido is played before the Truco, so that if a pair reaches the points of un chico, adding the points of the envido, the chico wins and the truco is not counted.

Example: in a game at 30 points, a pair has 28 points and the other 26; the first wins an evido of 2 points and the second a truco of 4 points; the first wins with the envido.

Throw the cards faced down

Putting a card face down can be useful to deceive your opponents and hide your play.

Attention! if you throw down a face down card, that card loses its value (all the cards beat it and they can only draw with another face down card).

The Flor

You have flor when you manage to join 3 cards of the same suit. The score of a flor is the same as the envido: the value of the cards are added plus 20 points (taking into account that the figures are worth 0). For example, a flor of all figures would be 20 points.

• If anyone has the Flor, the Envite is annulled.
• The flor must be called
• If one player has the flor and the other don’t, they get 3 points.
• If both players in a pair have Flor, add 3 points in total.

If both sides have flor, an envite of flors is made, in which they can answer with the following options:

Contra flor

It’s used to call your own flor and challenge the opposing side to speak again. If the bet is accepted, the winner instantly gets 6 points. If it is rejected, the side that called Contra flor get 4 points.

Contra flor al resto

If the bet is accepted, the winner takes the left over points of the player/ pair that was winning to get the chico.

Con flor quiero

If the opponents bet is accepted. One envite of flor accepted gives 4 points to the winner.

Con flor me achico

It’s used to declar that you have the flor, but it’s considered as a winner over the opponents. An unaccepted evite of flor adds 3 points to the side that called the flor (Contra flor unaccepted adds 4 points and Contra flor to the rest unaccepted, 6 points).

As happens with the Envido, the Flor is played before the Truco. Therefore, a pair can win the Chico with the points from the Flors and will not be counted the Truco.

Game controls

Click on a card to put it into play.

Why do robots play? What for?

In some games, when a player loses connection during the game, a robot substitutes until the player can return. The player has a time allowed of some minutes to return to the game and continue playing.

End the game amicably (cancel game)

Some games have the option of ending the game amicably. If this happens, the game is cancelled. That is, the players don’t receive or lose points and the game doesn’t count in the leaderboards or statistics. What’s more, the chips bet are returned to each player (except in the case of penalisation for abandoning the game).

To cancel a game, one of the players must click the following button . All the players must agree to end the game, otherwise the game will continue.

The robot doesn’t count in the votes to end a game amicably.

Table options

The table options are chosen by the master (the first player to sit at the table and that has a star beside his/her avatar).

To see or change the table options, press the following button . The table options can be changed before starting a game or in the middle of the games. If the icon is changed to red, that means the master changed some of the options.

Time per turn

Used to indicate the time a player has to play on his/her turn. If the time ends, the game plays for him/her. See also: Game in automatic mode

Compete for points and chips.

Permits playing competitive games. Deactivate this option to practise (you will not score points or win chips, nor will you get badges or level up).

Bet per game:

Indicate the amount of game chips you will bet in the game. The winner takes the pot. See also: What are the game chips? How can I get them?

Private table.

If this option is active, only invited players or friends can sit in. See also: How to invite other players to play at your table.

Spectators allowed.

Other people can enter the table to watch the game and chat. See also: Watchers during the games

Number of boys (1-3)

Deterine the number of chicos needed to win a game.

Point per chico (15 or30)

Points necessary to win each chico.

Play with flor

Decide if the game allows Flor (coming soon).

Ranking for points

To take part in the leaderboard of this game, it is necessary to be registered and have chips enough to meet the bets.

To score points, the games have to be competitive (indicated by a boxing glove or swords). There is no scoring if 2 players at the table share the same IP.

If at one table game chips are being bet, you will need to have sufficient chips available to cover the bet. The winner of the game will get the XP points and the chips bet (the bank will receive 25% of the pot).

The scoring is distributed the following way:

• The player that wins the game (individual or in pairs): +20 points.
• The players that lose a game, add 5 points.
• If the game is ended amicably, each player gets back their chips bet.

Play Argentinian Truco