Welcome to Truf

Truf is an exciting trick-taking game that you can play with a group of four players. The objective of the game is to take as few or as many tricks as you want, depending on the version you’re playing. It’s a game that requires skill, strategy, and a bit of luck!

Truf is played with a standard deck of 52 cards, including the Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, and numbered cards. Each card has a specific rank, with the Aces being the highest and the numbered cards being the lowest.

If you’re new to trick-taking games, don’t worry! Truf is a great game for beginners and families. It’s easy to learn, but offers plenty of opportunities for strategy and decision-making.

How to Play Truf

In Truf, bidding plays a crucial role in determining the trump suit for each round. This bidding system is quite unique and might be different from what you’re used to in Western card games. Here’s how it works:

• Each player makes a bid by placing a card face-down. This card represents both the number of tricks the player plans to take and the trump suit for that round.
• Once all players have made their bids, the cards are revealed, and the highest bid wins.
• The player who made the winning bid becomes the bidder and has the advantage of determining the trump suit for that round.
• The bidder’s goal is to take the exact number of tricks they bid or more. If they succeed, they earn points. However, if they fail to meet their bid, they lose points.
• The other players, known as the defenders, aim to prevent the bidder from reaching their goal by taking as many tricks as possible.

Truf is a game of strategy and planning. It requires careful consideration of your hand, your bid, and the bids of your opponents. Good communication with your partner can also be helpful in maximizing your chances of success.

Final Thoughts

Truf is an amazing trick-taking game that offers a unique twist to the genre. Its bidding system adds an extra layer of excitement and challenges players to think strategically. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced card player, Truf is a game that you’ll surely enjoy!

If I play a trump card in a trick, I have to keep it hidden and reveal it only after everyone has played a card.

The game’s name, Truf, seems to come from the Dutch word “troef,” which means trump.

Now let’s talk about the deal and the bidding.

To decide who deals first, we can use any method we like. Usually, the player with the lowest total score or cumulative score gets to be the dealer. The cards are dealt one by one and face-down until each player has 13 cards. If someone gets a hand with only numerical or face cards, we throw all the cards back in, shuffle, and deal again.

The deal moves clockwise and counterclockwise between players. The first deal is usually counterclockwise or to the right. In a full game, there are 13 deals.

Now let’s move on to the bidding.

So, here’s how it goes after the deal. We all put down a card from our hand, face-down, to make a bid. But get this: the rank of the card shows how many tricks we think we can win. Let me break it down for you:

• Face Cards: no tricks
• Ace: 1 trick
• 2-10: the number of tricks matches the number on the card

Once we’re done with our bids, we flip over the cards. Now here’s the twist – the suit of the highest-ranking card becomes the trump suit, meaning it’s the one that can beat all the other suits. But if two cards are tied in rank, we follow this order: spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. The highest-ranking suit in that order becomes the trump suit.

If all the bids (the number of tricks players think they can take) add up to more than 13, we play a game called “main atas.” The goal in this version is to try and take as many tricks as possible.

On the other hand, if the total number of tricks bid is less than 13, we play a game called “main bawah.” In this version, players try to avoid taking any tricks at all.

Now, if the bids add up to exactly 13, things get interesting. The player who made the highest bid has a tough decision to make. They can either increase their bid by 1 trick or decrease their bid by the amount they originally bid. For example, if they bid 5, 4, 3, and 1, and they were the one who bid 5, they could choose to play main atas or main bawah by adjusting their bid. All the other bids adjust accordingly. So, the bids 5, 4, 3, 1 would change to 4, 3, 2, 0 in main bawah, for instance.

This unique rule can even cause bids of 0 to go into negative territory. This means that players can actually score negatively, even if they don’t take any tricks. It adds an extra level of challenge and strategy to the game.

-1 [bid] – 0 [# of tricks taken] = -1

So, here’s how it works: if you change your bids by more than 1 trick, it’s not allowed. Just keep that in mind!

Once we’ve figured out the trump suit and the game mode, we’re ready to start playing!

THE PLAY

Okay, I’m ready to lead the very first trick because I made the highest bid. Now, a trick is won by playing the highest ranking card from the suit that was led with. But, if someone plays a trump card, then the highest ranking trump wins instead. The person who wins a trick gets to lead in the next one.

Now, it’s best if we can follow suit, meaning we play a card from the suit that was led with. But, if we can’t do that, it’s okay to play any card we have in our hand, even a trump card.

Just a little rule: we can’t start a trick with a trump card, unless that’s all we have in our hand. After someone plays a trump card, then any card can be led with.

Hey there! Just a friendly reminder, when playing the game of trumps, you always play your cards face-down. The cards from the non-trump suits are played face-up, like you would normally do in other trick-taking games. After each trick is completed, or when all players have played a card, the trump cards are revealed and the winner is determined.

Let’s Talk about Scoring

Once the game is over, it’s time to count the number of tricks you have taken and compare it to the number you bid. There are different ways to score, and they are all valid.

Method One

If you are playing with a “main bawah” rule (less than 13), here’s how scoring works:

• If you took fewer tricks than you bid, you score the difference between the number of tricks you took and the number you bid.
• If you took more tricks than you bid, you score the negative difference between the number of tricks you took and the number you bid.

If you play a card game called “Main Atas,” there are different ways to score points based on the number of tricks you take. Here are three methods to determine your score:

Method One:

– If you take the exact number of tricks you bid, your score is 0.

– If you take more tricks than you bid, you score the difference between the number of tricks you took and the amount you bid.

– If you take less tricks than you bid, your score is negative, and it represents the difference between the number of tricks you took and the amount you bid.

Method Two:

– This method is almost the same as Method One, with one exception. If you bid 0 and end up taking no tricks in the “Main Bawah,” you score +5 points instead of 0 points. This rule applies even if you initially bid 1 and then changed it to 0. However, it doesn’t apply if you reduce your bid to a negative number.

Method Three:

– The third method is not mentioned in the original text, so it remains unknown.

Just like Method one, method three is a bit different. In this method, your positive score increases by a multiplier. For instance, the multiplier might be 2. So, let’s say you’re playing a game and you bid 4. But guess what? You took 0 tricks. That means you scored 8 points!

Here’s the really cool part – you can also combine this method with method two!

Oh, and did I mention? You can also combine this method with method two!