Games · Truco

Truco: free online card game, Paulista and Argentine

The card game of bluffing: call truco with a weak hand and see if they fold. Paulista Truco with the turned card and manilhas, or Argentine Truco with envido and the Spanish deck. One against one or in pairs, with a partner who signals to you in secret. Free, no account needed.

How to play

• Each player gets 3 cards. A hand is the best of 3 tricks: in each trick everyone plays one card and the strongest wins. Whoever takes two tricks wins the hand. If a trick is tied, the first trick decides, or the next one.
• Paulista Truco: the deck has no 8, 9 or 10. One card is turned up (the vira) and the next rank becomes the manilha, the strongest of all. Among manilhas, clubs (the zap) beats hearts, hearts beats spades and spades beats diamonds. The rest run from 3 (strongest) down to 4: 3, 2, Ace, King, Jack, Queen, 7, 6, 5, 4.
• A hand is worth 1 point. Calling Truco makes it worth 3; the other side accepts, folds (and the caller gets what it was worth before) or raises to Six, then Nine and Twelve. First to 12 wins. On 11 points, a side looks at its cards and decides whether to play the hand of eleven (worth 3) or run (the others get 1). At 11 all, the iron hand is played blind.
• Argentine Truco: Spanish 40-card deck with a fixed order: Ace of swords, Ace of clubs (bastos), 7 of swords, 7 of coins, the 3s, the 2s, the other aces, Kings (12), Knights (11), Jacks (10, the sota), the other 7s, 6s, 5s and 4s. Truco is worth 2, Retruco 3 and Vale cuatro 4. Before playing your first card you can call Envido (2), Real envido (3) or Falta envido (what the leader still needs): the best two cards of one suit win (20 plus their values; face cards count 0). Flor (three of one suit) is optional. Play to 15 or 30.
• In pairs, your partner signals with their face to tell you what cards they hold, and you can answer with the signals panel. Careful: the opponents sometimes see a signal and play around it. And do not forget to bluff: calling truco with a weak hand is part of the game.

Signals in Truco

Signals vary from table to table; these are among the most common. Only your partner sees them, but sometimes the opponents catch one.

Truco Paulista

• Wink: the zap, clubs manilha
• Raise eyebrows: hearts manilha
• Show the tongue: spades manilha
• Puff the cheeks: diamonds manilha
• Bite the lip: holds a 3
• Pout: holds a 2
• Touch the nose: good hand, call truco
• Close the eyes: nothing good

Truco Argentine

• Raise eyebrows: Ace of swords
• Wink: Ace of clubs
• Mouth to the right: 7 of swords
• Mouth to the left: 7 of coins
• Bite the lip: holds a 3
• Pout: holds a 2
• Puff the cheeks: has flor
• Tilt the head: high envido, 27 or more
• Touch the nose: good hand
• Close the eyes: nothing good

Where this game comes from

Truco comes from trick-taking games with bets and bluffing from the Iberian Peninsula. Its closest relative is truc, still played today in the Valencian Community, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands, with the Spanish deck and the same idea of daring the other side to raise the stakes.

It was in South America that the game became famous. It is one of the most popular card games in Argentina and Uruguay, where it is played with envido, flor and signals, and in Brazil, which has several versions: Paulista, with a turned card and manilhas that change every hand, Mineiro, with fixed manilhas, and Gaúcho, closer to the Argentine game. In Portugal it is rarely played.

Free game, no betting and no prizes: points are just beans. Your match is saved on this device.