Truco (Paulista) – Mineiro

Player: 2, 4 or 6 (usually 4 in 2 teams) · Cards: French-suited deck, reduced (or Spanish deck), 40 (without 8, 9, 10 and jokers) · Type: Trick game with bluffing and raising the stakes

Play Truco (Paulista) against the computer

Objective

Be the first team to reach 12 points ('tentos').

Equipment & setup

Partners sit opposite each other. Everyone gets 3 cards. No Vira is turned up.

Card ranking & card values

Fixed Manilhas (stronger than everything): 4 of clubs (Zap) > 7 of hearts (Copas) > ace of spades (Espadilha) > 7 of diamonds (Pica-fumo). Then the normal ranking (high→low): 3, 2, A, K, J, Q, 7, 6, 5, 4.

Gameplay

1) Play is counterclockwise; the player right of the dealer leads. No obligation to follow suit – any card may be played.

2) The highest card wins the trick (among Manilhas the suit decides).

3) Whoever wins 2 tricks wins the hand.

4) Truco call: the hand is worth 3; the opponent accepts, folds (the caller gets the current value) or raises to 6 ('Seis'), then 9 ('Nove'), then 12 ('Doze').

Special rules & special cards

Mão de Onze: when a team has 11 points, it may look at its cards together with the partner and decide whether to play (hand = 3) or fold (opponents +1); Truco is then forbidden. Mão de Ferro: if both have 11, the hand is played blind.

Scoring & points

Normal hand 1 point; after Truco 3/6/9/12.

End of game & winning

The first team with 12 points wins the game ('queda'); often best of 3.

Origin & history

Descends from the Spanish Truc/Truque (Valencia, Middle Ages) and came to South America with colonisation. Several regional forms developed in Brazil; Truco Paulista is the most played in São Paulo and the southeast.