Truco

Truco, retruco and vale cuatro: the Argentine classic.

The most bluff-filled card game of the Río de la Plata, played with the 40-card Spanish deck: win tricks, call envido with your points and bluff with the truco. 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2.

How to play

• Play 1 vs. 1 or 2 vs. 2 (partners sit across from each other). Each hand you get 3 cards and up to 3 tricks are played: whoever wins 2 wins the hand. If a trick is tied (“parda”), the next one decides; if all are tied, the mano (the player who leads first) wins.
• Card ranking: ace (ancho) of swords, ace of clubs, 7 of swords, 7 of coins, threes, twos, 1 of cups and of coins, kings, knights, jacks, 7 of cups and of clubs, sixes, fives and fours.
• Truco (2 points), Retruco (3) and Vale cuatro (4): if they decline, you get what it was worth before. Only the team that accepted the last call can raise. Folding (irse al mazo) gives away the hand.
• Envido (2), Real envido (3) and Falta envido (whatever the leader needs to win), only in the first trick before playing your card. Two cards of the same suit are worth 20 plus their numbers (face cards are worth 0). If they decline, you get what was called before (minimum 1).
• With flor (optional): three cards of the same suit are worth 3 points and cancel the envido. Games go to 15 or 30 points (the first 15 are “malas”, the rest “buenas”).

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