Touti Game Rules

The Deck

Touti is played with a 40-card Spanish deck consisting of four suits:

Each suit contains 10 cards: 1 (L'As), 2, 3 (Tres), 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 (Sota), 11 (Caballo), and 12 (Rey).

Teams and Players

Touti is a four-player partnership game where players form two teams:

• Team 1: Players 1 and 3 (sitting opposite each other)
• Team 2: Players 2 and 4 (sitting opposite each other)

Partners work together to win tricks and achieve the highest score.

Game Setup

At the start of each round:

1. The deck is shuffled
2. Each player is dealt 10 cards
3. The bidding phase begins

Bidding and Engagement

The bidding phase (called "engagement") determines who will choose the Fire (trump suit) and sets the minimum points that team must score.

How Bidding Works:

• Bidding starts from the player to the right of the dealer and proceeds counterclockwise
• Valid bids are ascending values: 80, 90, 100, 110, 120, etc.
• Each player can either bid higher than the current bid or pass
• Once you pass, you cannot bid again in that round
• The last player to make a valid bid wins the engagement

Choosing Fire (Trump):

The player who wins the bidding gets to choose the Fire (trump suit) — also known as fayyo, triumpho, or l'atout. The Fire suit beats all other suits during trick play.

Trick Play

After the Fire is chosen, the trick-taking phase begins. The first player leads the first trick.

Playing Cards:

When playing a card, you must choose from the options below in order. You may only move to the next option if the previous one is not possible.

1. Follow suit — play higher: If you have a card of the led suit that ranks higher than any card of that suit already played in the trick, you must play it. If you have no higher card of the led suit, you may play any card of the led suit.
2. Play Fire: If you do not have any card of the led suit but have Fire cards, you must play a Fire. If another player has already played a Fire in the trick, you must play a higher Fire if you can; otherwise, you may play any Fire card.
3. Play any card: Only if you have neither the led suit nor Fire may you play any card from your hand.

Winning Tricks:

• The highest Fire card wins the trick
• If no Fire is played, the highest card of the led suit wins
• The winner of each trick leads the next trick

Scoring

Points are awarded based on the cards won in tricks and special declarations.

Card Values:

The total card points in the deck equal 120 points.

Last Trick Bonus:

The team that wins the last trick of the round receives an additional 10 points.

Singing (Declarations):

The engaging team can declare "singing" when they hold both the Caballo (11) and Rey (12) of the same suit, provided they still hold these cards after winning a trick.

Singing Rules:

• A player can declare singing after their team wins a trick
• They must hold both Caballo and Rey of the same suit
• If the suit is the Fire, singing is worth 40 points
• If the suit is not the Fire, singing is worth 20 points
• Singing can be done once per trick
• The same suit cannot be sung twice in a round

Singing Restrictions by Bid Level:

• 80 engagement: No singing allowed
• 90 engagement: Maximum 20 points (non-Fire suit only)
• 100 engagement: Maximum 40 points (Fire suit allowed)
• 110+ engagement: Unlimited singing

Winning the Round

After all tricks are played, points are tallied:

• If the bidding team scores at least their bid amount, they earn their actual score
• If they fail to meet their bid, they lose points equal to their bid
• The opposing team always scores the points they collected

Winning the Game

The game continues for multiple rounds. The first team to reach 600 points wins the game.