Triplet

The Tresillo . Spanish card game, considered an evolution of the game El Hombre. This is, if not the most difficult, yes the most original and even the most complex of the combination games that originated in Spain .

Summary

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• 1 Story
• 2 Game
  • 1 Purpose of the game
  • 2 Number of players
  • 3 Deck of cards
    • 3.1 Order and value
      • 3.1.1 Suit of triumph
      • 3.1.2 Non-trump suit
    • 4

Distribution of cards

• 5 The sets
• 6 The ball
• 7 The offers
• 8 The cases
• 9 Firm Letters
• 10 Starting and running the game
• 11 Plays won and lost
• 12 Plays rendered and defended

• 3 Source

History

Its beginnings go back to the 1600s when it was known as Triunfos Hispanicos. It later changed its name to the Game of Man or Mediator in the 1700s . Around 1800 it underwent another change of name to Tresillo that distinguished it from Quadrillo or Quintillo. In addition at that time it was also known as Rocambor in the colonies of America .

The game appears very frequently in the picaresque novels of the early seventeenth century and is mentioned as one of the most used games “in good society”. In all these areas the traditional Spanish deck was used, but in central and northern Europe as far as it went, this deck was replaced by the Poker deck , with some original terms remaining in Spanish and others changed to French.

At present those who have many clubs and play a version of the Tresillo under the name of L’Hombre are the Danes. At the same time in England where I gave him the name Tridge we have formed a club to revive him, after his almost complete disappearance at the beginning of the century, when the members of the Roxeburghe Club in Aldenham were still playing it under the name “Ombre”.

Game

The Tresillo is a tactical game, which in part represents the battlefield of those remote times, when the only weapons that existed were swords and clubs, mallets or staves.

The participants are three sides, which are divided into two opposite factions. The first contains only the “Man” who plans his strategy to defeat two opposing sides, which unite in an alliance to have greater strength or effectiveness.

Objective of the game

Get to win, in partial games, at least five tricks, if you are the Player, or prevent him from achieving it, if you are the Contra, to win so many at stake.

Number of players

A triplet game is usually played between four players, although in each partial game, only three receive cards and play. The fourth player only deals the cards, but collects and pays like the others. This fourth player is called the mayor or drone .

Deck of cards

The Spanish deck of 40 cards is used. It is customary to use two decks with different backs, starting to play with one of them and changing it when any player requests it before the deal.

Order and value

The order of the cards depends on whether or not it is a trump suit.

Trump stick

• In golds and cups : sword, bad, coarse, point, king, horse, jack, two, three, four, five and six.
• In swords and clubs: sword, bad, coarse, king, horse, jack, seven, six, five, four and three.

Stick of no triumph

• In gold and glasses: king, horse, jack, ace, two, three, four, five, six and seven.
• In swords and clubs: king, horse, jack, seven, six, five, four, three and two.

Distribution of letters

In each partial game, the turn to deal corresponds to one of the players, giving nine cards to each player, three by three. If the players were only three, in each game the player before the “hand” would give, also giving cards to himself. The rest of the game unfolds like four. Next to the player who has the turn to give in each game, a plate is placed that will serve to deposit the players’ chips.

The sets

The Tresillo sets, from lowest to highest, are:

• Simple entry. A stick that is not in favor. In this cast, the player points to the trump suit, discards the cards they are not interested in, and replaces them with an equal number of cards from the top of the deck.
• Entry to favor stick. It is like the simple entry but the triumph here is the favor stick.
• The player turns over the first card in the deck to signal victory and stays with it. Then he discards those that do not suit him and takes one less than the one that was discarded to complete the nine of the hand. The turn can be Solera, if the player discards only one card. In this case, the set is considered a single for

the score. It must be agreed in advance if this set is admitted.

• Just simple. To stick that is not of favor. In this cast, the player declares the trump suit and plays with the cards in the hand, that is, without discarding.
• Only to favor stick. It is like the single solo but declaring the favor stick as the trump suit.

The ball

A player is said to ball when he wins all nine tricks of the game. The ball can come from any of the sets. After a player has won the first five tricks, he decides whether or not to attempt a ball. If you quit, the game ends then, but if you try, the sixth trick begins and nine are played or until one of the Contra’s makes a trick. In the latter case, the player loses the ball.

The offers

After receiving and viewing the cards, the players, starting with the hand, make offers to determine who the Player will be, that is, which of the three agrees to win five tricks or more, and which suit will be the trump suit. Players have only three voices:

• He passed. The player gives up playing because they do not have good cards for the auction or because they cannot overcome the voice of another player. If everyone passes on the first round, the game is canceled, the cards are collected and the hand runs.
• The player considers his cards to be good enough to play a single entry. This voice can only be given in the first round and, once given, the following ones can only say “step” or “more”.
• The player can play a set higher than the one offered by the previous player, except if he is the hand player, who then simply matches the previous offer made by the middle player or the dessert. Players can continue to offer more until they reach the major set, which is the Solo in favor.

The cases

The three major trump cards are called cases: the sword, the bad and the rough. These cards have special properties:

The Tresillo

• The sword. It is not mandatory to ever play it, even when an opponent drags and has no other win.
• The bad. Whoever has it is only obliged to play it if it is the only triumph they have and the hand drags on the sword.
• The rough. The player who has it is only obliged to play it if it is his only triumph and the hand starts the sword drag or the bad hand.

Firm Letters

A firm card is a card of a suit that is not a trump and can only be won by a trump card. Firm letters are classified into different categories:

• First class: they are the kings and all the correlative cards of their suit that are in hand.
• Second category: they are the cards that remain firm after the king has been played, that is, the Ace, horse and jack of the same, as well as all the correlative cards of the same suit that are with them.
• Third category: three correlative cards starting with the jack give a firm third category.

Starting and running the game

One of the players will be responsible for keeping the accounting entries on paper throughout the game. This player corresponds to number 4 and, from his right, the other players correspond to numbers 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Plays won and lost

The Player is said to win the move when he makes more tricks than each of the opponents, making first if he wins the first five tricks, and loses it when he makes the same or fewer tricks than any opponent. If he makes the same number of tricks it is said that they make him put and if he does less, they give him knuckle.

Plays rendered and defended

The Player can always play the nine tricks and stick to the results of carried (won), put or knuckle that are given. In the case of the solo, it is mandatory to play all nine tricks. But, in the entrance and in the return, before playing the fourth trick, the Player, if he sees that he does not have the possibility of taking the rally and does receive the knuckle, he can surrender simply saying “step”.

If a turn has been played, the play ends in this way and the Player makes a lay. If an inning has been played, the opponents can settle and say “good”. The play ends and is set. But if any of them believe that, by continuing the game, they can make more tricks than each of the other two, they will announce it saying “I follow it” or “I defend it”.