Rules of Truco

Truco is a very popular card game in South America. It stems from "truc" or Valencian "truque". This game consists of two different phases:

• In the first, players bet on the best card combination of the different hands (Flor and Envido)
• In the second, players bet on the tricks played with these hands (Truco)

Aim of the game

The goal is to reach 30 points, divided into 15 "bad points" and 15 "good points", necessary to win a Chico. The match is won when a player or team wins two Chicos. If a draw occurs with the first two Chicos, a third and final Chico is played and decisive.

Deck of cards

It is played with a 40 card Spanish deck.

Number of players

Two to four playerscan play the game, either individually or in teams.

Order and value of the cards

The card order is used for the Truco and determines the winner of the trick, while the card value is used for the Flor and Envido bets. The so called “cartas bravas” cards are the most powerful and are ordered as follows, from highest to lowest: ace of swords (espadilla), ace of clubs (bastillo), seven of swords and seven of coins (sevens bravos).

For the rest of the cards, the order from highest to lowest is: threes, deuces, false aces (ace of coins and cups), black cards (kings, knights and jacks), false sevens (seven of cups and seven of clubs), sixes, fives and fours.

The value of the cards, for Flor and Envido, is: black cards score 0 points each and the other cards according to their index values.

Dealing the cards

Before beginning a game, cards are normally drawn to determine who will be the first to deal. The turn to be dealer is in rotating order, going counterclockwise. The dealer shuffles the cards and the player to dealer’s left cuts the pack,  not leaving three or fewer in the deck or taking three or fewer in the cut. No other player is allowed to cut the deck, nor more than one cut is permitted, however cutting can be omitted. The dealer then distributes three cards to each player, one at a time, starting with the player to his right. If a card lands face up during the deal, the player who receives it can choose to keep it or demand a new card.

Gameplay

The player on the dealer’s right is the “hand”. This player is the first to play and has certain privileges. Each player evaluates their cards and, if they have Flor or good Envido, they inform about it by means of signals. The “hand” starts the game and can announce Flor, bet Envido or play one of their cards. During their turn, each player has these three options, until a card is played. Then the Truco phase of the game starts and it is no longer possible to bid Flor or Envido, although players can still respond to these. Once the bets have been settled, the cards are played to determine the winner of the Truco and the points are scored. A player is said to be "fishing" when they remain silent waiting for their opponents to be the first to bet or do their Truco, in order to respond.

Announcements

The Flor and the Envido have to be announced during the first trick, and the Truco at any time during the hand. These announcements follow the order: Flor, Envido and Truco. If the first player does not have Flor and does not want to bet on Envido, they can play a card to initiate the Truco phase earlier. Subsequent players can bet on Flor or Envido but before responding to the Truco bet. When one of the players bets on Envido, the others have the opportunity to respond to that bet, even if they have already played their first card. However, there are no more Envido bets allowed after everyone has played their first card.

Truco Hands

Flor

To bid and bet Flor, it is necessary to hold three cards of the same suit. This hand is worth the sum of the value of the cards plus 20 points. The Flor is a rare hand and the rules for betting on it are quite complicated. Moreover, because it depends mainly on the luck of the deal, most players prefer to play the game without it.

It is mandatory to announce the Flor if you have one, before playing the first trick or accepting an Envido, in order to avoid a penalty. Having announced Flor, it is necessary to wait until other players respond, since all announcements concerning Flor must be resolved before continuing the game.

If another player also has Flor, the winner will be the one with the highest value combination. In addition to the 3 points awarded for the own Flor, 3 more points are added for each announced Flor. The Flor is worth the sum of the value of the cards it includes plus 20 additional points.

The best Flor is the five, six and seven of a suit, which is worth 38 points. The worst is the one formed by black cards, scoring just 20 points. When a player announces Flor, opponents can make four possible responses:

• Flor: Meaning that there is another Flor. The combination with the highest Flor value wins and the winner receives 3 points for each Flor.
• Con flor me achico:  When a player has Flor but accepts the opponent's Flor as the winning one, and with this announcement Flor ends.
• Contraflor: Used to announce one's own Flor and challenge the opponents to declare their Flor.
• Contraflor al resto: To announce one's own Flor and raise the bet to the amount needed by the player with the highest score to reach 30 points, plus 3 points for each Flor announced.

After announcing Contraflor, the opponents can choose between three options:

• Accept the bet with "con flor quiero",
• Accept that the opponent's Flor as the winning one with "con flor me achico"
• Raise the bet with "contraflor al resto". The only two responses to "contraflor al resto" are "con flor me achico" or "con flor quiero".

Once all the announcements regarding Flor have finished, the bets are settled. Starting with the player who has the hand and following the order of turn, each player must declare the value of their Flor. If the value declared by a player does not exceed that of a previous player, they may choose to acknowledge the superiority of the opponent's cards by saying “they are good” and accept the loss of the bet, unless a subsequent player improves the announced value.

The player with the winning Flor has to show their cards before scoring the points.

At the end of the game, any player who suspects that another had Flor but did not announce it, can challenge them by demanding to see their Flor. To do this they say “pido flor”. If the challenged player actually had Flor, the one who challenged them receives an additional 3 points plus all the points from the opponent’s hand. However, if the challenged player shows cards of a different suit and has no Flor, the one who challenged them loses 3 or 4 points.

Envido

The winner of the Envido bet  is the player who manages to match two cards of the same suit with the highest sum. In this case, sevens are the highest-valued cards, while aces are the lowest-valued. This bet can only be placed during the first hand, always before Truco.

If a player has two cards of the same suit, the hand is worth the sum of these two cards, plus 20 points. The highest score of Envido is 33, which is obtained with a 7 and a 6 of the same suit (7 + 6 + 20 = 33).

The figures (jack, knight and king) and the black cards are worth 0 points in Envido. So if a player has two figures of the same suit, their Envido score will be 20. If no one has two cards of the same suit, the value of the highest card is decisive. In case of a draw, the winner is the current "hand" player.

To bet on Envido, you can use the following announcements:

• Envido: Worth 2 points.
• Real Envido: Worth 3 points.
• Falta Envido: Worth the number of points that the leading player needs to win the game.

After one player has announced Envido or Real Envido, the other player can choose from the following possible responses:

• Quiero (okay): Accepting the last bet and closing the Envido betting.
• Envido: Raising the bet by 2 points.
• Real Envido: Raising the bet by 3 points.
• Falta Envido: Raising the bet by the number of points that the leading player needs to win the game.
• No quiero (not okay): Rejecting the last bet and closing the Envido betting. If the rejected bet was the first one, the player who made it wins 1 point. If it is a subsequent bet, the player whose bet has been rejected wins the points that had been accepted up until then.

If the response to one of these two bets is Envido or Real Envido, the response options available are the same as before, and the value of the bets increases successively. The Envido betting closes when one of the players says "quiero" or "no quiero". Then, the players announce the value of their Envido. If a player has a lower hand than announced by another player, they can say regarding the opponent's cards “They are good” instead of revealing their own hand. The winner of the Envido must show their cards before any points are scored. If the winner is mistaken when showing their cards, the opposing player wins, even if they have worse Envido.

Truco

Truco is the phase of the game that is played after Flor and Envido. Each partial game consists of three tricks and to win Truco it is necessary to win at least two of them. Each player plays one of their cards, and the highest card takes the trick.

When several players play the highest card, if they belong to the same team, they win the trick; if not, they draw (parda). If there is no Truco bet, whoever wins the most tricks gets 1 point. If there is a draw, the Truco is won by whoever takes the next trick.If the first two tricks end in a draw, it is not necessary to play the third one. It is also not necessary to do it if a player or team wins the first two tricks, since that already wins Truco.

A player can bid Truco at any time, but does so usually during the second trick, increasing thus its value to 2 points. Any member of the opposing team can respond and their response is made on behalf of the whole team. The possible responses are "quiero", to accept the raise, or "no quiero", which implies accepting defeat and losing 1 point.

• Retruco: If Truco has been accepted with "quiero", it is possible at any time to say "Retruco" raising the bet to 3 points. The responses to Retruco are the same as those of of Truco: "quiero", to accept, or "no quiero" to reject, losing 2 points.
• Vale cuatro (It's worth four): If Retruco has been accepted, it is possible to increase the bet to 4 points by saying "vale cuatro". The responses to "vale cuatro" are also "quiero", to accept, or "no quiero" to admit defeat, in which case the other player or team scores 3 points. "Vale cuatro" is the highest bet in Truco, and it can't be raised anymore. The cards just have to be played now to determine the winner.
• Played card: This means folding by placing the cards face down alongside the deck and withdrawing from the game. If only one player in the team folds, the other one has to play against the opponents, defending the team's luck only with their cards. If both players fold and Truco has not been bid, the opposing team wins 1 point automatically.

Scoring

Truco is usually played to 30 points. The first 15 points are called "malos" (bad ones) and the next 15 "buenos" (good ones).

Join the fun and challenge your friends in the exciting game of Truco!