How to play Tute: rules of the Spanish card game

Tute is Spain's trick-taking game, played in bars and at family tables from Galicia to Andalucía. Partners sit facing each other, the cards are worth points, and a king and knight of one suit held together are sung for twenty - or for forty in trumps, the famous las cuarenta.

• Players4 in two partnerships, or 2
• Cards40-card Spanish deck
• Hand10 cards each (8 with two, and a stock)
• GoalFirst side to 4 games, or to 101 points

The cards and the deal

The 40-card Spanish deck: oros (coins), copas (cups), espadas (swords) and bastos (clubs), each with 1 to 7, the Sota (jack), the Caballo (knight) and the Rey (king). Four players in two partnerships, partners opposite. The dealer gives everyone ten cards, one at a time, and shows the last one, which is the dealer's own: its suit is trumps. Play goes round to the right, and the player on the dealer's right leads.

Tricks, and what you must play

The ace is the highest card, then the three, the king, the knight, the jack, and the 7, 6, 5, 4, 2. The highest trump takes the trick, or with no trump the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads next. Tute is strict about what you play:

• Follow suit (asistir) if you can.
• Beat the trick (montar) if you can - even when it is your partner's card that is winning.
• With none of the suit led, trump (fallar); if someone has already trumped, go over their trump (pisar) if you can. If you cannot, play anything.

Some tables let you off beating your partner, asking only that you follow suit; at Manita that is a setting.

Singing: twenty and las cuarenta

A king and knight of the same suit in one hand is a cante. It can only be sung right after your side wins a trick: twenty, or forty if they are trumps, and the forty comes before any twenty. Each partner may sing one cante for each trick their side wins. You keep both cards and play them later as usual.

Tute is all four kings or all four knights in one hand, sung at your side's first trick won. It ends the hand on the spot and counts as two games.

Points and winning

The ace is worth 11, the three 10, the king 4, the knight 3 and the jack 2: 120 in the deck. The last trick is worth 10 more, las diez de últimas. Add the cantes, and the side with more points wins the hand - a game, or two games with over 100 points. Level on points, the side that took the last trick wins. The first side to four games (or two, or six) wins the match. The other way to play adds the points up from hand to hand: the first side to 101 wins.

Tute for two

Eight cards each, and the next card turned up for trumps, under the stock. After each trick both players draw, the winner first. While the stock lasts you may play anything, except that a trump led must be answered with a trump. Whoever wins a trick may swap the 7 of trumps for the turned-up card if that is an ace, three or court card (the 2, if it is a 4 to 7), and sing one cante. Once the stock is gone, you must follow suit, beat and trump. There is no Tute with two.

Questions

What does "cantar las cuarenta" mean?

In Tute, holding the king and knight of trumps and singing them after your side wins a trick, for 40 points. In Spain it is also what you say of someone giving someone a good telling-off.

Do you have to beat your partner's card in Tute?

In the rules most sources give, yes: if you can beat the winning card you must, even your partner's. Some tables only ask you to follow suit when your partner is winning; Manita has both, as a setting.

Can I play Tute online with friends?

Yes, free and with no account: open a table and send the code, and the first friend to join sits across from you as your partner, with the computer in any empty seat. Or play the computer at three levels.