Truc, pronounced in France and in Spain, is a 15th-century bluff and counter-bluff
trick-taking
A trick-taking game is a card or tile-based game in which play of a ''hand'' centers on a series of finite rounds or units of play, called ''tricks'', which are each evaluated to determine a winner or ''taker'' of that trick. The object of such g ...
card game which has been likened to
poker
Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...
for two. It is played in
Occitania
Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language, Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This ...
,
Sarthe
Sarthe () is a department of the French region of Pays de la Loire, and the province of Maine, situated in the ''Grand-Ouest'' of the country. It is named after the river Sarthe, which flows from east of Le Mans to just north of Angers. It had ...
(where it is known as ''trut''),
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
(''tru'') and the
Basque Country (''truka''), and is still very popular in the
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...
region (''joc del truc''). More elaborate versions are widely played in Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Paraguay and Brazil under such names as
Truco
Truco, a variant of Truc, is a trick-taking card game originally from Valencia and the Balearic Islands, popular in South America and Italy. It is usually played using a Spanish deck. Two people may play, or two teams of two or three playe ...
, Truque and Truquiflor. The French version ''Le Truc'' has become more widely known in the English-speaking world and among hobbyist gamers after
Sid Sackson
Sid Sackson (February 4, 1920 in Chicago – November 6, 2002) was an American board game designer and collector, best known as the creator of the business game ''Acquire''.
Career
Sackson's most popular creation is probably the business game ''Ac ...
included it in his popular book ''
A Gamut of Games
''A Gamut of Games'' is an innovative book of games written by Sid Sackson and first published in 1969. It contains rules for a large number of paper and pencil, card, and board games. Many of the games in the book had never before been publish ...
'' (1969),
[Sackson (1969), pp. 14–17.] it being a translation of E. Lanes' 1912 book, ''Nouveau Manuel Complet des Jeux de Cartes''.
History
The game of Truc probably originates from the end of the Middle Ages in Spain, regarding the etymology of the word, which means "trick" (or to trick into false announcements) in Catalan, later migrating to France.
The ''Diccionari de Pompeu Fabra'' (1968) states that Truc is a game of cards usually played by four players, each receiving three cards and scoring points for winning two of the three tricks, and whose bluffing objective is to trick the opponent into conceding the number of points summed by the point value of two cards of the same suit under a vie, and in some variants of Truquiflor, by having Flor or a winning Flor (a group of three consecutive cards of the same suit) whose point value is higher than another.
Francesc de Borja i Moll
Francesc de Borja Moll Casanovas (10 October 1903 – 18 February 1991) was a catalan linguist, philologist and editor from Menorca. He wrote many books on the Catalan language and its varieties spoken on the Balearic Islands. He was also the ma ...
, in his ''Diccionari Català'' (1993), offers a similar definition, recalling the hierarchy of the cards as: 3 2 A K Q J 9 8 7 6, and a brief entry on the Matarrata variant, a similar game in which the 7 ranks higher than 7 , A and A .
Truc is closely related to the old English game of
Put, which was first described by Cotton in ''
The Compleat Gamester
''The Compleat Gamester'', first published in 1674, is one of the earliest known English-language games compendia. It was published anonymously, but later attributed to Charles Cotton (1630–1687). Further editions appeared in the period up to ...
'' (1674).
[Parlett (1992), p. 319.]
Cards
In France it is played with a
French-suited
French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are cards that use the French suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains three or four face/court cards. I ...
Piquet pack
Piquet (; ) is an early 16th-century plain-trick card game for two players that became France's national game. David Parlett calls it a "classic game of relatively great antiquity... still one of the most skill-rewarding card games for two" but ...
, the cards ranking 7 8 A R D V 10 9 in each suit, whereby R is the ''Roi'' (King), D the ''Dame'' (Queen) and V the ''Valet'' (Jack). The 8 is called the ''six''. Sackson says that in some areas the Ace replaces the 8, the order then being 7 A R D V 10 9 8. The hierarchy applies across all 4 suits e.g. any Queen beats a Jack of any suit.
[
In Catalonia in Spain, Truc is played with a ]Spanish-suited
Spanish-suited playing cards or Spanish-suited cards have four suits, and a deck is usually made up of 40 or 48 cards (or even 50 by including two jokers). It is categorized as a Latin-suited deck and has strong similarities with the Italian- ...
pack of 40 cards ranking 3 2 1 R C S 7 6 5 4, whereby R is the ''Rei'' (King), C is the ''Cavall'' (Cavalier) and S the ''Sota'' (Jack).[''Truc'']
at pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been described ...
. Retrieved 6 July 2022.
French Truc
The French game is played as follows:
Two players use a 32-card pack ranking A game is won when one player reaches 12 points, which may require several rounds. A rubber is the best of three games.
Players deal in turn with the first dealer being chosen by any agreed upon means. Each round, players are dealt 3 cards one at a time. The non-dealer may propose a redeal if the dealer agrees. The hands are put aside and each receives 3 new cards. Only one redeal may be made, and only if both players agree. To win a round, a player must win two of the three tricks, or the first trick if both players win one and the third is tied by making the opponent fold to a raise.
Play
The non-dealer leads the first trick and the winner of each trick leads the next. As Truc is a no-trump game, any card may be played by either player and tricks are taken by the highest card led regardless of suit. If both cards played are of equal ranks, the trick is then considered "spoilt", belonging to none of the players (but during scoring is effectively awarded to the player who captured the first trick of that hand), and the same leader leads the next. A round finishes when one player concedes or when three tricks have been completed. Whoever took two tricks, or whoever took the first if each took one, scores 1 point or whatever the value of the round may have been increased to. If all three tricks were spoilt, neither player scores points.
Score
By default, the winner of a round scores one point. However, before playing a trick, either player may offer to increase the value of a round by asking: "Two more?". The first such increase raises the value of the round from 1 point to 2, and subsequent increases add 2 more each, raising the value of the round from 2 to 4 to 6, and so on. If the other says: "Yes", play continues, if not that other throws their hand in, play ceases and the challenger scores whatever the round was worth before the challenger offered to raise. It is possible for both players to raise in the same trick (the leader before leading a trick, and, if accepted, the follower before replying). It is also legal to concede at any time, whether the other player has offered to increase or not.
Mon reste
An even more drastic raise may be made if either player on their turn declares: "My remainder" (Mon reste), thus jump-raising the value of the round to whatever they need to make 12. The opponent may either concede, in which case the increase does not take effect and the player that offered it scores the number of points the round was set at, or may themself announce "My remainder", in which case the player that wins the round wins the game.
Variations
A common way of playing allows a player to propose any increase in the value of a round. In a variation suggested by Sid Sackson in his book ''A Gamut of Games
''A Gamut of Games'' is an innovative book of games written by Sid Sackson and first published in 1969. It contains rules for a large number of paper and pencil, card, and board games. Many of the games in the book had never before been publish ...
'', raises are increased by player proposing to double the current value of the round (i.e. from 1 to 2 to 4 to 8, and so on), and a full game goes to 16 rather than 12 points.[
]
Partnership Truc
Four players sit crosswise in partnerships. The turn to deal and play is counter-clockwise. The dealer acts as governor for their partnership and eldest hand
Card players are those participating in a card game. Various names are given to card players based on their role or position.
Position
Games of Anglo-American origin
In games of Anglo-American origin played in English-speaking countries, ...
as governor for the dealer's own. Only eldest may propose an exchange, and only dealer may accept or refuse it. Eldest leads to the first trick, and each subsequent trick is led by the winner of the last, or by the previous leader if the trick is spoilt. Similarly, only the governor may accept or concede when an increase is proposed.
Throughout play, the governor's partner may indicate what card or cards they hold by means of conventional code or gestural signals, and the governor for their part may tell their partner what to play. Players may not reverse these roles. The holding of a Seven is indicated by a grin, an Eight by a wink, an Ace by a shrug. Naturally, the signaller will attempt to signal when their governor is looking and their opponents are not. An instruction may take the form: "Play the Seven", "Play low", "Leave it to me", and so on. Signals must be truthfully made, and instructions obeyed.
A trick is spoilt if the highest card played by one side is matched in rank by the highest card played by one of the other. In case of a tie-winning trick played by two partners, whichever of them led to it first, leads two the next, and if neither of them two led, the trick is then spoilt just as if one of the tied cards were played by the other side.
See also
*Truco
Truco, a variant of Truc, is a trick-taking card game originally from Valencia and the Balearic Islands, popular in South America and Italy. It is usually played using a Spanish deck. Two people may play, or two teams of two or three playe ...
* Mus
* Put
*Calabresella
Calabresella, ''Calabragh'', sometimes spelt Calabrasella, "the little Calabrian game", also known as Terziglio, is an Italian trick-taking card game variation of Tressette for three players, but it can be played by four with the dealer receiving ...
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
* Lanes, E. (1912) ''Nouveau Manuel Complet des Jeux de Cartes''. Paris.
* Parlett, David
David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association.
His published works include many pop ...
(1992). ''Dictionary of Card Games''.
* Sackson, Sid (1969). ''A Gamut of Games''.
Further reading
*El Truco: Historia de una Tradicíón, Francisco José Fuentes Pereira
in Spanish
External links
at Pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been described ...
{{Trick-taking card games
15th-century card games
Put group
Spanish card games
French card games
Spanish deck card games
Card games involving signalling
Two-player card games