Truco

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Playing the tricks
5. Envido
6. Truco
7. Scoring and winning the game
8. Signals
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Truco is the national card game of Argentina and Uruguay. Each hand, you get only three cards and play three tricks. Along the way you can challenge your opponents with two kinds of bets: the envido (who has the best two cards of one suit?) and the truco (who will win the tricks?). Bluffing, loud calls and secret signals to your partner are all part of the fun. The first side to reach 30 points wins.

• Players: 2, 4 or 6 – one against one, two teams of two (partners opposite) or two teams of three (see Variants).
• You need: a standard 52-card deck, and pen and paper or 30 matches for scoring.

The cards

Take out all 8s, 9s and 10s and the jokers. You play with 40 cards: A, K, Q, J, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 in each suit.

The ranking is unusual and must be learned. Four special cards, the matas (cartas bravas), are the highest; after them suits don't matter:

So a 3 beats a King, and the lowest card of all is a 4. Cards of the same rank are equal (e.g. 3♥ and 3♣).

Setup

1. Direction: dealing and play go to the right (anticlockwise).
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, the player on the left cuts, and the dealer deals 3 cards to each player, one at a time. The rest of the deck is not used in this hand.
3. The player to the dealer's right is the mano ("hand"): they play first and win ties in the envido. The deal passes to the right after each hand.

Playing the tricks

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card face up.

1. The mano plays any card. The others follow in turn, one card each. You may play any card – there is no need to follow suit.
2. The highest card wins the trick. Leave your cards face up in front of you, so everyone can see who won which trick.
3. The winner of a trick plays first to the next one.
4. The side that wins two tricks wins the hand and scores 1 point (more if a truco was accepted).

Ties (parda): if the two highest cards come from opposing sides (e.g. 3♦ against 3♠), the trick is tied. Partners' cards never tie – the team simply wins it. After a tied trick, the player who started it starts the next one. The hand then goes to:

• if the first trick is tied: whoever wins the second (if that is tied too, the third decides);
• if a later trick is tied: whoever won the first trick;
• if all three are tied: the mano's side.

Envido

The envido is a bet on your best combination of two cards of the same suit. Count your envido points:

• Two cards of the same suit: add their values plus 20.
• No two cards of the same suit: the value of your best single card.
• Values: A = 1, 2 to 7 = face value, J Q K = 0.

The best possible envido is 7 and 6 of one suit: 7 + 6 + 20 = 33.

Example: 7♥ 5♥ K♠ counts 7 + 5 + 20 = 32. K♦ Q♦ 3♣ counts 0 + 0 + 20 = 20. A♠ 6♣ 4♦ counts 6.

When: envido may only be called in the first trick, by a player before playing their first card (an opponent may answer even after playing).

Calls:

• "Envido" – worth 2 points.
• "Real envido" – worth 3 points.
• "Falta envido" – worth as many points as the leading side still needs to reach 30.

The other side answers "Quiero" (I accept), "No quiero" (I refuse), or raises. Raises follow the ladder envido → envido → real envido → falta envido; you may skip steps, but never go back down, and nothing can follow falta envido.

• Refused: the calling side scores 1 point for a single call, or after raises, the points of everything accepted so far.
• Accepted: the calls are added up. Now, starting with the mano, each player says their envido points out loud; a player who can't beat the best number so far just says "son buenas" ("they're good"). The side with the highest number scores the bet. Ties go to the tied player who comes first in turn order from the mano – the mano themselves, or whoever sits nearest after them.

The winner must show their cards at the end of the hand to prove their points.

Truco

The truco is the bet on the tricks. Normally a hand is worth 1 point, but any player may, on their turn, call:

• "Truco!" – the hand is now worth 2 points. Refused: the caller scores 1.
• "Retruco!" – 3 points. Refused: 2.
• "Vale cuatro!" – 4 points. Refused: 3. This is the highest bet.

The other side answers "Quiero" or "No quiero". If they refuse, the hand ends at once. Only the side that accepted the last bet may raise to the next level – right away ("Quiero retruco!") or later in the hand.

The envido comes first: if someone calls truco in the first trick before the envido has been played, the other side may reply "El envido está primero" ("envido comes first"), settle the envido, and then answer the truco.

Going to the deck (irse al mazo): instead of playing on, you may give up and put your cards face down on the deck. If your whole team gives up, the opponents score what the hand is worth at that moment (1 point, or the accepted truco).

Scoring and winning the game

Envido points are scored before the tricks' points. The first side to reach 30 points wins. The first 15 points are called the malas ("bad ones"), the next 15 the buenas ("good ones"). Traditionally, points are scored with matches drawn as little squares of five.

Example: Anna and Carla are at 12, Ben and Dan at 20. Anna calls envido, Dan raises to falta envido. The leading side (20) needs 10 more, so the falta is worth 10. Anna accepts; Dan has 31, Anna only 28 – Ben and Dan go to 30 and win.

Signals

With four or six players, you may tell your partner which cards you hold with facial signals (señas). Opponents may watch for them too! Common ones:

Tips for beginners

• Learn the matas first. A♠, A♣, 7♠, 7♦ – whoever holds them usually wins the truco.
• Envido and truco are separate. Two low cards of one suit (7♥ 6♥ = 33) make a great envido but win few tricks.
• Bluff with your voice. Calling truco with bad cards often works – but calling it with the A♠ in your hand works better.
• Watch the score. Near 30, a falta envido can decide the whole game.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• With flor: three cards of one suit are a flor ("flower") and must be announced in the first trick. This cancels the envido; the side with the flor scores 3 points (if both sides have one, the higher value – the three cards plus 20 – wins, and they may raise with "contraflor"). Without flor, as above, count the best two cards of the suit for the envido.
• Falta envido in the malas: according to Spanish Wikipedia, while both sides are still in the malas (under 15), whoever wins an accepted falta envido wins the whole game. In the Argentine Litoral region it is worth instead only what the leading side needs to reach 15.
• Going to the deck early: at some tables, a team that goes to the deck in the first trick before the envido has been played gives the opponents 2 points instead of 1.
• Game to 15: a shorter game, or play best of three games to 15.
• Six players: two teams of three, sitting alternately. Hands for all six (redonda) alternate with pica-pica, where each player plays one against one with the opponent opposite.