Truco

Truco is played by four players in two partnerships, partners sitting opposite: here you and North play against West and East. Play goes anticlockwise. It uses a 40-card Spanish pack: coins, cups, swords and batons, numbered 1 to 7 and 10 to 12. Everyone gets three cards, and the player to the dealer's right (the mano) leads.

You don't have to follow suit: the highest card wins the trick, and suits matter only for the four top cards. From high to low, the cards rank 1 of swords, 1 of batons, 7 of swords, 7 of coins, then all the 3s, 2s, the other 1s, 12s, 11s, 10s, the other 7s, 6s, 5s and 4s. If the highest cards in a trick come from both sides, the trick is tied (parda).

The side that wins two tricks wins the hand. With a tied trick, the first side to win a trick wins the hand, and if all three are tied the mano's side wins. The hand is worth 1 point unless someone has bet on it. The first side to 30 points wins the game. The first 15 are called malas and the next 15 buenas.

• Envido is a bet on your two best cards of one suit, worth their sum plus 20 (the 10, 11 and 12 count nothing), or your best single card if all three are of different suits. It can only be bet during the first trick, before you've played your card and before a truco has been accepted. You can say Envido (2 points), Real envido (3) or Falta envido (what the leading side needs to win). The other side answers Quiero, No quiero, or raises. If it's refused, the bettors score 1, or the bets already accepted. If it's accepted, the best envido wins, and a tie goes to the player who comes earlier in the turn order from the mano (the mano wins every tie, the dealer loses every tie).
• Truco is a bet on the hand. Truco makes it worth 2, Retruco 3 and Vale cuatro 4. Only the side that accepted the last bet may raise again. If a bet is refused, the hand ends and the bettors score its previous value. A truco called in the first trick waits if the other side answers with an envido: the envido comes first.
• Flor (optional, off by default): a player whose three cards are all of one suit has a Flor. The side with the best Flor (sum plus 20) scores 3 for each Flor held, and there is no envido that hand. The Flor button turns it on. It plays the simple Flor announcement, without contraflor betting.
• Envido and Flor are scored before the tricks. If they win the game, the tricks don't count.

The Rules button switches to Truco Mineiro, the version played in Minas Gerais, with French cards (no 8, 9 or 10). The top four cards are the 4 of clubs (zap), 7 of hearts, Ace of spades and 7 of diamonds. They're followed by the 3s, 2s, Aces, Kings, Jacks, Queens, 7s, 6s, 5s and 4s. There is no envido, and a game is to 12 tentos.

• Before keeping three cards, the mão may pass one set of three to partner, or burn sets face up and take three more, seeing at most four sets.
• Truco! is a bet of 3 tentos on the current trick, raised to 6, 9 and 12. Whoever runs away (corro) gives the bettors the previous stake. If the bet is accepted, the winners of that trick win the hand. If that trick is tied, it matters who played the tying cards. If one of them was played before the call, the side that bet or raised last loses. Otherwise the next trick decides, and a tie in the last trick scores nothing. You may not raise when just accepting would already win the game.
• From the second trick a card may be played face down. It can't win the trick.
• Mão de onze: a side on 11 sees partner's cards and either plays for 3 (with no truco) or runs, giving the others 1. Mão de ferro: when both sides are on 11, everyone plays their cards face down, without looking, and a tied hand is replayed.

• On your turn, tap a card to play it, or tap one of the calls under the table first (Envido, Truco and so on).
• When the other side bets, answer with Quiero or No quiero (Aceito or Corro in Brazil), or raise.
• The Rules and Flor buttons change the rules and start a new game. Your choice is remembered on this device.

• Daily: everyone gets the same deals each day.
• New Game: a fresh game with new deals.

• Count your envido before anything else: 28 or more is usually worth betting, and 33 is the best there is.
• Truco is a game of nerve. A bet with a weak hand can win if the other side folds, but a refused retruco still gives them points.
• Win the first trick if you can: it often decides the hand, because a later tie goes to the side that won it.
• Keep your best card for when it matters. A 3 played too early can be beaten by one of the four top cards.

Truco descends from Truc, a bluffing game that goes back to the 15th century and probably began in Spain; its name means trick in Valencian. According to Wikipedia, Truc spread to France and is still very popular in Valencia, and is closely related to the old English game of Put. Its more elaborate South American descendant, Truco, is widely played in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Venezuela and Brazil, and also in Italy.

Each country plays it its own way. Argentina and southern Brazil add the envido and flor bets on the cards in hand, while in Minas Gerais and São Paulo the game is just the tricks and the truco. Pagat.com describes it as a loud and lively game, full of bluffing, talking and joking. The rules here follow pagat.com's descriptions of Argentine Truco and Truco Mineiro, written in our own words.

Truco is a free browser version of the classic South American card game, played with a computer partner against two computer opponents, with a daily game and online leaderboards. There's nothing to download and no sign-up.

A free, original browser game on PlayPendium. No download, no install.