Le Truc

About this game

Le Truc is a 15th century card game from France and Spain. Sid Sackson included it in A Gamut of Games. Le Truc is a betting/bluffing/trick-taking game for two players or two teams of two players. It is played in rounds of 12 points and the first side to take two rounds wins. For each hand, players are dealt three cards from a French 32-card deck. A hand is initially worth one point, but the active player may propose a raise in stakes before answering each trick. A hand is won by taking the majority of tricks or by making the opponent(s) fold to a raise. Only ranks of cards are important in Le Truc, not suits. If two cards of the same rank are played in a trick it is "spoiled" and not counted for either side. The first trick of a hand is particularly important, because it acts as a tiebreaker when both sides win an equal number of tricks. There is a Brazilian variant know as Truco that also includes a card value to have higher in-game value than others. This value changes at each trick by drawing a card.

Does it fit your group?

• Group size. Works with 2 to 4.
• Rules load. At 1.8/5 this is a light game — explain it in a few minutes, good for a table that has not played much.
• Age. The publisher suggests 12 and up. That rates the rules rather than the artwork, so judge the box yourself for younger players.