Truc ›

Rules of Truc

• Introduction
• Aim of the game
• Value of the cards (from the highest to the lowest)
• How to play Truc
  • Truco
  • The “envido”
  • Throw the cards faced down
• Table options
• Ranking per points

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).

Truc is a method of playing Truco from eastern Spain (Valencia and Balears Islands).

Aim of the game

In this version of Truco, one plays traditionally in pairs, although it is possible to play with only 2 players. 22 cards from a Spanish deck are used (aces of gold and cups, the figures and the twos are removed).

The aim of the game is to win a certain number of camas (1, 2 or 3 camas). Each cama can be played for 18 or 24 points; the first half of the points are popularly called “bad ones“ and the second one is called “good ones”.

The points are gotten through the trucos and the envites, that are bets made throughout the different hands of each round.

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

1. Ace of spades (also called “the biggest”)
2. Ace of sticks
3. Seven of spades (manilla of spades)
4. Seven of coins (manilla of coins)
5. 3s
6. Seven of cups and seven of sticks (called “false” or “bad” 7s)
7. 6s
8. 5s
9. 4s

How to play Truc

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 of them throw a card by turns. The player that has the highest valued card will win that hand and will throw first on the following (if there is a tie, the previous player will be the first to throw). The first pair that wins 2 hands, will win the round.

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

Special cases:

• If there is a tie on the first hand, each player must throw 2 cards at a time, one of them faced up and the other faced down under it. If there is a new tie, the hidden cards will be shown. The uncovered card must be higher than the hidden one, otherwise it will lose value.
• If a pair wins a hand, loses another and ties the 3rd one, the pair that won the first hand will win the round.
• 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 opponent pair must respond with one of 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, Bet all. 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).
• 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)

For the “envido” it is important to know if you are in “good” or “bad” play . Being in “good” play, at least one of the pairs already has half of the points. Being in “bad” play, no one has the half of points yet.

The opponent pair must respond with one of the following options:

• Reject. Rejects the bet and the pair that made the bet scores one point immediately.
• Accept. Accepts the bet that will be decided at the end of the round.
• Raise. Doubles the bet and passes the turn to the opponent pair to decide.
• “Falta”. It is the maximum bet of the “envido” and depends on the game conditions:
  • If a pair is in “bad” play, the winning pair of the “envite” gets all the “cama”.
  • If a pair is in “good” play, the winning pair gets all the points missing for the pair with more points to get the “cama”.

Example (game for 24 points): a pair has 10 points and the other has 15; 9 points would be bet in the “falta” for being in “good” play (24-15=9).

The “envido” is bet before the truco, so if a pair reaches the points of a “cama” adding up to the points of the “envido”, it will win the “cama” and the truco is disregarded.

Example (game for 24 points): a pair has 22 points and the other one has 21; the first one wins an “envido” of 2 points and the second one wins a truco of 4 points; the first pair wins with the “envido”.

Throw the cards faced down

Throwing a card faced down can be useful to deceive the opponents and hide your play. However, if you do it in the first hand, you must throw the other cards faced down.

Attention! If you throw a card faced down, that card is cancelled and it is disregarded for the “envido”.

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 camas: (1-3)

Determine the number of camas needed to win a game.

Points per “cama”: (18 o 24)

Points needed to win each cama.

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 Truc