Tressette Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Basic Rules
• Buongioco (or Accuso)
• Classic Declarations
• Chiamata Fuori (Calling Out)
• Notes on the Source

Basic Rules

For players who have never played tressette.

Classic tressette is played by four players in two partnerships sitting opposite each other, with the traditional 40-card Italian deck.

Each player is dealt 10 cards.

The player to the right of the dealer (or "cartaro") starts. The dealer rotates after each deal, always moving counter-clockwise. The player who starts the trick (the PRIMO DI MANO, "leader") places one card on the table. The player to the leader's right must answer with a card of the same suit, if they have one. The leader's partner plays next, and the dealer closes the trick. The trick is won by the player who played the card of that suit with the highest value, in this order of rank:

• the THREE (TRE)

• the TWO (DUE)

• the ACE (ASSO)

  (also called Honours, or Pezzi)

• the KING (RE)

• the KNIGHT (CAVALLO)

• the JACK (FANTE)

  (also called Figures, or Figure)

• the other cards from 7 down to 4 (called scartine or cartine, "low cards")

The player who wins a trick may choose the suit (PALO) to lead the next trick, and so on until the tenth trick.

The aim is to take as many cards as possible, preferably those of higher point value, and it is also very important to win the last trick.

The ace is worth 1 point. All the other cards (3, 2, King, Knight and Jack) are worth one third of a point each. The partnership that wins the last trick of each deal gets 1 extra point. The points total 11, so two thirds of a point necessarily remain unused.

The winner is the partnership that first reaches the agreed target score. In tressette the game may be played to 21, 31 or 41 points.

Buongioco (or Accuso)

This feature of tressette concerns the declaration of Honours (Onori), which must be made on the player's own turn during the first trick of the game.

The most common way to play tressette is "to 41 with accuso". The Honours combinations for the accuso are:

• 3 Honours = 3 points;
• 3, 2 and 1 of the same suit (a "napoletana") = 3 points;
• 4 Honours = 4 points.

Double or triple combinations may also be declared: for example, a napoletana in cups together with the 2 of swords and the 2 of clubs is worth 6 points.

If a partnership suffers a cappotto (scores no points), it does not gain any buongioco points either.

Classic Declarations

(For detailed instructions on all admitted declarations, see the table at the end of the source manual, which is not included here.)

From the second trick onward, only the player who leads the trick (the player who plays the first card) may make a "declaration", using one of the following expressions:

• "busso" (knock): invites the partner to play the card with the best capacity to win a trick that they hold in that suit, so that, if they win the trick, the lead returns to that suit.
• "volo" (fly): indicates that the card being played is the last card that the player holds in that suit.
• "liscio" (smooth): indicates that the player holds another card of that suit, of lower value.

Chiamata Fuori (Calling Out)

Any player who believes they have reached or passed the agreed target score may ask to call out ("chiamarsi fuori") when they are the leader.

Notes on the Source

• The source manual states that it assumes the reader already knows the basic rules and terminology, and that the rules preamble above is intended only as a summary for beginners.
• The source's closing section and its declarations table give the full list of admitted declarations and the card to play for each. That material is not transcribed here.