Truc

The Spanish pack has 40 or 48 cards distributed in four suits: oros (golden coins), copas (glasses), espadas (swords) and bastos (sticks); the picture cards are sota (jack,10), caballo (horse,11), and rey (king,12). Most games are played with the 40 cards pack (pictures and cards from ace to seven), but some of them need also eights and nines.

Two, four, six or eight players may take part in the game, always divided in two teams. The more usual is to play between four players, divided in two pairs who are placed alternatively. The following explanations are made in the supposition that 4 players are taking part.

Ludoteka offers the option to play individually (2 players) and by pairs (4 players).

Objective

The general goal of the truc es to win two camas (beds).

Every cama consist of 24 points, that must be added during several hands.

Each cama is divided in two parts: the first 12 are called the bad points, and the reaminig 12 are the good.

How the game goes on

Start of the game and each of the hands

Three cards are dealed in every hand.

Truco and envido (truc y envit) are two different lances (bet headings) played during every hand.

Truco

The truco entails in winning tricks. Three tricks are played, and the winner in each of them is the player who throws the highest card, according to the folowing hierarchy:

Ace of Espadas (Swords)
Ace of Bastos (Sticks)
Seven of Espadas
Seven of Oros (Golds)
False Sevens (Copas and Bastos)
Sixes
Fives
Fours

The truco is won by the pair who gets two of the three tricks.

If nobody wins the trick because two opponents throw the same highest card according to the hierarchy, the trick is called parda (draw).

If both pairs win one trick and the other is a draw, the winner is the pair who has got the trick before the opponent. If the three tricks are even, the winner is the leader in the dealing.

In many cases there is no need to play the third trick because it is already decided (when one of the pairs gets the two first tricks, or just one trick and one draw).

The player who gets the trick starts the next one.

The pair who wins the truco scores one point.

Any player may chant truco during his turn, before throwing the card. This is a bet to score two points instead of one. If the opponents don´t agree, it worths one point and the dealing is ended.

The pair who received the truco may chant retruco at the moment, or later during the turn. If the opponents agree, three points wil be scored by the winner. If don´t, the dealing is closed with two points.

The pair who chanted truco could chant quatre val (it´s worth 4 points). If the opponents don´t agree, they score 3 points.

Finally, the quatre val may be replied with a joc fora; it is worth the whole cama.

The two players version of the game gives the chance to say me voy al mazo instead of playing a card; it means that the player assumes that the opponent will be the winner of the truco, and it is not worth to continue playing the hand.

Envido

Optionally any player may chant envido (envide) in his first turn during the dealing, before playing any card or talking about the truco. Once the betting on envido is open, the truco remains interrupted until the envido es completely decided.

The winner of the envido is the player who has the highest score according to the following rules:

If two of the three cards are of the same suit, the score is twenty and the sum of the indexes of both cards; If the three cards are of the same suit, the lowest of them is not taken into account.
If the three cards are of different suits, the score is only the highest index of the three cards.

The winner of the envido scores two points.

The envido (envide) may be replied with a torne (two more points).

There is an special kind of bet, called la falta; it may be used directly or replying an envido or torne. If accepted, the winner of the envido wins the whole cama if the opponent is still in bad points, or the amount of points needed to win the cama by the pair who is leading if the opponent is already in good points.

If there is a draw, the winner is the leader.

Some variants of the truc allow to bet any amount of points in the envido, but surely it is more frequent to play using only the fixed bets of two points.

If the bet is not accepted, the pair receives one point, or the previously agreed amount if it was a reply.

If the bet on envido es accepted, players follow playing the truco before checking who is the winner of the envido. When both pairs are ending the cama, it is important to take into account that the points corresponding to the envido must be summed before the points corresponding to the truco.

Differences with the argentinian truco

If you already have played the argentinian truco, these are the main differences between both games:

Cards: 22 cards are used, instead of the 40 cards of the deck (figures, towes and false aces are removed).
There is not flor.
Bettings are played in the same order, but the winner of the envido is checked after playing the truco.
There is not real envido.
The chico is named cama, and it is played until 24 points.
Joc Fora: after the vale 4, the bet in the truco may be increased until the whole cama.

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