Choose partners. Partners need to sit across from each other!

The dealer (A) shuffles the 78 cards and deals 7 cards to each player starting with player B. Everyone looks at their cards and decides if they like them. Player B can either decide he wants to have the dealer re-deal (best not to do this on the first round - there are two more), he can veto a re-deal which means that no one else can then demand a re-deal, or he can give hints to his partner (player D) about what cards he has - you can NOT use specific card names, or suits, so it is best to discuss hints with your partner ahead of time! When he is finished player C has the same options, to call a re-deal, veto or give hints to his partner (player A) (you can only do one of them, though!). Player D can now call for a re-deal (if no one has vetoed it) or say continue.

The dealer again deals 7 cards to each player just like before, and play continues as it did last round. If everyone likes their cards then the dealer deals another round, only this time each player gets 5 cards, except for the dealer who gets 7 (everyone gets a turn at dealer and the extra cards, don't worry!). The round then goes exactly the same with only one exception, this time the dealer can decide to re-deal even if someone has vetoed it, but only if he has no trump cards or face cards. (trump cards are the ones that the numbers are NOT spelled out with the red borders, and face cards are King, Queen, Knight and Page).

The point of the game, of course, is to get the most points for your team. Points are gotten by the cards you "take", the point system will be at the end, but the highest cards are "Oinkers & Bubbles", "Spotty" and Booy. The next highest are Kings, followed by Queens, Knights and then Pages. All other cards are only worth one point, so you want to try to get the high point cards! At this time the dealer picks his two highest cards that are NOT "oinkers & Bubbles", "Spotty", "Booy" or a King and lays them face down off to the side. This is the cache, these are points for the dealer's team that can NOT be taken away or won. They can also not be played once they are cached!

Player B starts the first "trick" by laying down a trump card (again the cards 1- 21 that have the numbers written in numeral form and have the red borders). Throughout the whole game each player MUST play the same "suit" as the lead card (in other words they need to have the same colored border). If you don't have a card in the suit that was led then you have to play a trump card (red border). If you have no cards in the suit led and no trump cards then play whatever you want, but you won't be able to take any cards!

Player C plays his card, and so on, until everyone has laid down one card. The trump card with the highest number always wins, and if there are no trumps played then the highest card in the suit led (that are the same color as the first card put down) wins. Whoever had the highest card wins the "trick" and piles the cards in their team's "pile". The winner starts the next "trick".

The first time a suit is played, if the king is played a "knight if" can be called. Lets say player A won the last trick and lays down the king of flags (blue). When the trick is over no one has played the knight, then player A says "knight-if", which means that whoever has the knight of flags has to throw it in and take back the card they originally played. If player A had the knight he could throw it in when he played the king and then choose any card from the trick to replace it in his hand.

Booy's card has it's own rules. Lets say player C played "Booy" and player A has the highest card, since they are partners play continues as normal, with "Booy" going in their pile. But if player D plays the highest card he technically wins "Booy"- except that "Booy" cannot be taken! Instead player B takes a low card (one worth one point) from his pile to give to player D and he adds "Booy" to his own pile. In other words "Booy" cannot be taken no matter what and if you are dealt it, it is basically five guaranteed points for your team!

Play continues in this way until all the cards have been played! When the first hand is over someone from each team should take their pile and score their cards as following: the cards are divided back into their original "tricks", in other words in groups of four. Each "trick" or group is scored individually:

Booy 5
Spotty 5
Oinkers & Bubbles 5
All other trumps are 1
Kings 5
Queens 4
Knight 3
Page 2
All other suit cards are 1

Add up the number of points from your "group" and then subtract 3, that is the score from that trick. For example if Player A has "Spotty" (5 pts.), "Timothy" (1 pt), the five of flags (1 pt.) and the two of flags (1pt) his total would be 8. Subtract 3 from that and his final points for that trick would equal 5. Don't worry; it gets easy with a little practice! When all the 'tricks" have been scored the total number is then subtracted from 65 (65 being a perfect tie-score). Lets say team A has 72, then you subtract 65 from 72 and player A's team has 7 points. Player B's team will then have -7 points, as the points are always the same number for both teams, one will just be positive while the other will be negative. How does this work? There are a total of 130 available points in the game. a perfect game is considered 65, or exactly half of the 130 available points. If team A has seven extra points (making their score 7) then that means team B was 7 points short of their goal, in other words they have -7 points! Because of this, it is actually only necessary to count one teams pile, but until you get good at scoring I suggest you count both piles to be sure.

The next hand begins once all the scoring is done; only this time player B is the dealer! Play continues as above, only the options between dealing rounds have also rotated, meaning player C becomes player B etc.

It continues to rotate as each player becomes the dealer or player A. When all four players have dealt a hand each the game is over. The scores from each hand are added and whichever team has a positive score wins!

NOTE: If a trick is led with "Booy" then everyone must play a trump card, as "Booy" is a trump!

If you have any questions concerning Troccas, or a comment feel free to E-Mail Me!

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