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Troggen A Baroque Game of from Solothurn

Troggen is a tarot game played with an Italian suited tarot deck of 78 cards, commonly known as «Tarot de Marseille». If no such deck is available, any Tarot deck of 78 cards may be used. The tarot and its characteristic cards originated around 1430 in northern Italy. The oldest surviving cards were made in Milan. They were hand-painted in 1441 on the occasion of Francesco Sforza's marriage to Bianca Maria Visconti. In the early 16th century, French and Swiss mercenaries got to know the game in northern Italy and brought it back to their home countries. The Solothurn region was a centre of production in in the 18th century. The oldest surviving tarot cards in Switzerland were designed in the city of Solothurn in 1718. We know from historical sources that Troggen, as Tarock was called in Solothurn at that time, was very popular. In the course of the 19th century, other card games with French suits such as , Bridge and finally the originally Dutch replaced Troggen in Solothurn. In Switzerland, tarot has survived as a card game in Visperterminen and in the Surselva. Since the rules of Troggen originally applied in Solothurn are not documented, the Historical Museum Blumenstein in Solothurn redefined the rules of the game in 2015. In doing so, we relied on the very original rules of Troggu still played in Visperterminen and supplemented them with some elements of the modern . Our Troggen rules are designed to make it as easy as possible for new players to get into the game, while maximising the fun.

The Cards Troggen was developped for a tarot deck of the type «Tarot de Marseille». It consists of 21 trumps, the Excuse (Le Mat) and the four suits (Bâ- tons), (Épées), (Coupes) and (Deniers) of 14 cards each. We use the cards, designed in Solothurn by Francis Joseph Heri in 1718. These cards are once again available as a facsimile well suited to play.

Blumensteinweg 12 · CH-4500 Solothurn · +41 32 626 93 93 · www.museumblumenstein.ch · www.troggen.ch 2

The Order of the Cards Troggen is a trick-taking game for four, five or six players with 56 suit cards, 21 fixed trumps and a special card, the Excuse. The highest card played in a suit or the highest played wins the trick. Each suit has the four court figures (Roi, R), (Reine/Dame, D), (Chevalier, C) and (Valet, V) and ten numeral cards.

In the «dark» suits Batons and Swords, the cards rank in descending order: King (R), Queen (D), Knight (C), Jack (V), 10, 9 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 (). In the «dark» suits the King is thus the highest, the 1 the lowest card.

R D C V 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In the «fair/golden» suits Cups and Coins however, the cards rank in ascending order: King (K), Queen (D), Knight (C), Jack (V), 1 (Ace), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The King stays the highest card in the »fair/golden« suits but the lowest card now is the 10.

R D C V 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8 10

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The 21 trumps are numbered with Roman numerals (XXI to I) to indicate their ranking from the highest trump 21 to the lowest trump 1. The trumps in Troggen are permanent trumps. This means, that, unlike in most other trick-taking games, none of the four suits may be declaired trump.

21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The only card which never wins a trick is the Excurse (Le Mat). It is neither suit nor trump and follows its own rules and is comparable to a Jocker.

Excuse

Of particular importance for the game are the seven cards with the highest point value of 4 points each: The trump 21 (XXI - Le Monde), the trump 1 (I - Le Bateleur) called Pagat, the Excuse (Le Mat) and the four Kings. These seven cards are called or Troggen.

Trump 21 Trump 1/Pagat Excuse King of Batons King of Swords King of Cups King of Coins

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The Point Values of the Cards Trick: Each trick won counts 1 point.

King: Kings count 4 points.

Queen: Queens count 3 points.

Knight: Knights count 2 points.

Jack: Jacks count 1 point.

Excuse: The Excuse (Le Mat) counts 4 points for the player who plays it out unless it is played in the last trick. In this case, the 4 points count for the player who wins the last trick.

Trump 21: The trump 21 (Le Monde) counts 4 points.

Trump 1: The Pagat (Le Bateleur) counts 4 points. If the single player wins the last trick with the Pagat, the defenders have to pay him directly 2 tokens each. But if the single player looses the Pagat in the last trick, he has to pay every defender 2 tokens direc- tly. If the Pagat is played out in the last trick by a defender or in a Misère, no such direct payments are allowed.

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The General Rules There are no fixed partnerships in the game. If the game is played with four players, the bidder plays against three defenders. If the game is played with five or six players, the bidder chooses a partner for each hand. At the beginning of each dealt hand, determines who will play the game as the bidder alone (or together with a partner in the case of five or six players). If a bidder's bid stands, the remaining players form a team as defenders against the bidder for the duration of the hand (in the case of five or six players against the bidder and his partner). If none of the players wants to play the hand alone, a Misère is played. The first card played in the trick determines the suit of the trick. The other players must serve this suit (compulsion to follow suit) as long as they have cards of this suit in their hand. If a player cannot follow suit, he must play a trump (compulsion to trick). If a player can neit- her follow suit nor play a trump, he may discard any card. If a trick is led by a trump, the other players must follow with trumps. If a player has to serve trumps, he must play a trump card that has a higher trick strength than the highest trump card already played in this trick (compulsion to trick trumps). If this is not possible, he may play any lower trump card. If this, too, is not possible, he may discard any suit card. To win a hand, the bidder has to achieve 35 points out of the 70 points possible.

The Excuse The only exception to the necessity to follow suit or trump offers the Excuse, the card showing a roamer, labeled «Le Mat». The Excuse is neither a trump nor a suit, but can be played anytime instead of a trump or a suit. However, the Excuse does not win a trick. The trick goes to the player who played the highest suit card or the the highest trump. Yet with the exception of the last trick, the Excuse is not lost: If the trick goes to the other party, the player who played the Excuse may take the valuable card back and add it to his pile of tricks. As compensation, the other party receives any card without a point value from the player's trick pile. If the player of the Excuse

has not yet taken any trick, he surrenders a card as soon as he is able to. Excuse If the Excuse is played in the last trick however, it is taken by the team who wins the trick and thus may be lost. The Excuse may also lead to a trick. In this case the next player can play any card, and this se- cond card defines what suit must be followed.

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The Deal The first dealer is chosen at random. Thereafter the turn to deal passes to the player to right of the dealer. After the cards were shuffled thoroughly by the dealer, the player to dealer’s left cuts. The dealer then deals the cards anticlockwise to the players in deckets of three, starting to the dealer’s right. With four players, in each of six rounds one card is placed face down in the center of the table: 3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-1. Each player thus receives 18 cards and the 6 face down cards in the middle of the table form the . If there are five players, every second round one card is placed face down in the center of the table: 3-3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-3, 3-3-3-3-3-1, 3-3-3-3-3, 3-3-3-3-3-1. Each player thus receives 15 cards and the 3 face down cards in the middle of the table form the talon. With six players, in each of the first three rounds two cards are placed face down in the cen- ter of the table and none in the last: 3-3-3-3-3-3-2, 3-3-3-3-3-3-2, 3-3-3-3-3-3-2, 3-3-3-3-3-3. Each player thus receives 12 cards and the 6 face down cards in the middle of the table form the talon.

The Stakes The game is played with a stake, alternatively in money or tokens. The nature and the value of the stake is a matter of negotiation among the players. Yet it must be defined before the first trick is played and mustn’t change during the game. The stake can only be won by a bidder playing alone against the three defenders or with a partner against three or four defenders. If the bidder wins the hand, he wins the actual stake lying on the table. If the bidder loses the hand however, the stake remains on the table. If there is no winner for several hands, the stake on the table grows rapidly. This usually guarantees for quite some suspense.

The Bidding The player to the right of the dealer may bid first or pass. The round then continues coun- terclockwise until the dealer is the last to bid. Only one bid may be made per player. Once a player has made a bid, the following players have the choice of making a higher bid or passing. The player with the highest bid is the bidder. If there are four players, she plays alone against the other three players. They act as defenders for the duration of the current hand and together try to prevent the bidder from scoring the required 35 points. In games with five or six players, the bidder chooses a partner before playing the first trick.

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She does this by calling a king of one of the four colours. The player who is in possession of this king becomes the bidder's partner. However, the partner may not reveal himself. It is therefore unclear at the beginning of the hand who the bidder's partner is. The partner may only reveal himself by playing the king called by the bidder. It is possible for a bidder to call a king that she holds in her hand. This is especially mandatory if she has all four kings in her hand. Again, the bidder may not indicate this to the other players. If she wins the game, she does not have to share the bet with a partner. If all players pass, a Misère is played.

The Bids and Stakes • Single (la prise): The bidder may take the talon and use it to improve her hand. The bid- der places 1 chip per fellow player on the table as a bet, the fellow players 1 chip each: 3-1-1-1, 4-1-1-1-1, 5-1-1-1-1-1. • Double (la garde): The bidder may take the talon and use it to improve her hand. The bidder places 2 chips per fellow player on the table as a bet, the fellow players 2 chips each: 6-2-2-2, 8-2-2-2-2, 10-2-2-2-2-2. • Without talon (fourfold, la garde sans): The talon may not be taken up by the bidder, but the points of the cards in the talon go to her at the end of the game. The bidder places 4 chips per fellow player on the table as a bet, the fellow players 4 chips each: 12-4-4-4, 16-4-4-4-4, 20-4-4-4-4-4. • Against the talon (sixfold, la garde contre): The talon may not be taken up by the bidder. The points of the cards in the talon go to the defenders. The bidder places 6 chips per fellow player on the table as a bet, the fellow players 6 chips each: 18-6-6-6, 24-6-6-6-6, 30-6-6-6-6-6.

Improving the Hand with the Talon After successfully placing a single or double bid, the bidder picks up the 6 cards of the talon without showing them to the other players. He or she then discards an equal number of cards face down in their place. The cards discarded may include the cards picked up from the Talon. Trumps, the Excuse and Kings however cannot be discarded. The point values of the discarded cards count for the bidder at the end of the actual hand. To facilitate counting of the score, the discarded Talon is kept apart from the tricks won by the bidder.

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If a bid without the talon is placed, the talon will not be uncovered until the hand is played out completely. The point values of talons’ cards count for the bidder. If a bid against the talon was placed, the talon will not be uncovered at all.

Getting Started The game is played anticlockwise. The player to the dealer’s right always leads to the first trick, no matter who made the highest bid or if a Misère is played. The player who wins a trick, plays out to the next.

The Misère If in the process of bidding everyone passes, a Misère (misery) is played. The talon is put aside unseen and the point values of its cards do not count. Everyone plays for themselves with the objective to avoid winning any points. • The player with the lowest score wins the Misère and doesn’t have to pay any chip. But she musten't collect a stake lying on the table from earlier hands. • The player who collected the most points is punished: she has to pay 4 chips to the stake on the table. • The two players with scores between the winner and the looser have to pay 2 chips each to the stake. If two players reach the same lowest amount of points in a Misère, they both do not have to pay any chips. If, however, two players reach both the highest score, they both have to pay 4 chips to the stake. The stake on the table will only be collected by the next bidder who wins a hand.

The Pagat in the Last Trick If the bidder wins the last trick with the Pagat (trump 1/Le Bateleur), the de- fenders have to pay her 2 tokens each directly, no matter, if the bidder won the actual hand or not. In the case of five or six players, the bidder's partner is also obliged to make this payment. If, on the other hand, the bidder looses the Pagat in the last trick, it is her turn to pay 2 tokens each directly of the defenders. If,

however, the Pagat is played to the last trick by a defender or in a Misère, the Pagat rule of the Pagat in the last trick doesn’t apply and no direct payments are allo- wed.

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A King in the Last Trick If a bidder wins the last trick with a king, the other players must pay her 2 chips each directly. If there are five or six players, the bidder's partner is also obliged to do so. However, if the bidder loses a king in the last trick, she must pay the other players 2 chips each directly. If a king is played in a Misère or by a defender in the last trick, no direct payments are allowed.

Scoring A hand is won by the bidder if she reaches 35 points or more with her tricks. In the case of five and six players, the tricks of the bidder›s partner also count. He hands over his cards to her before the count. Tricks and points are thus counted solely by the bidder. The defenders do not have to count their tricks and points. After a Misère, all players count their tricks and points. The winner is the player with the lo- west number of points. She pays nothing. The player with the highest score has to put 4 chips on the table, the two players with scores in between 2 chips each. The talon is not counted.

Counting the Points The easiest way to count in both cases is to first determine the number of tricks. The pile of tricks won is taken in the hand face down and placed card by card on the table. For every 4 cards discarded, 1 point is counted for a won trick (5 cards for five players and 6 cards for six players). Then the pile is placed face up, card by card, to add up the point values of the cards. Then the bidder also adds up the points in the talon, unless she has played against the talon. In the case of a Misère, all players count their tricks and point values. The talon is not counted.

The Sharing of the Stakes If a bidder wins the hand, she may collect the entire stake on the table. In games with five and six players, the bidder splits the bet with her partner according to the following rules: The partner gets back his bet of the last hand. Any bets from earlier hands go two-thirds to the bidder and one-third to her partner. If this is not mathematically possible, it will be appro- ximated to this divisor, whereby any goodwill is at the discretion of the bidder.

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Some Strategical Hints To judge the strength of one’s hand, the number of Tarots (card with value of 4 points) is of importance. If a player has four or five Tarots in their hand, the chance to win is very high. With three Tarots the chance to win is doubtful, with just two or even one Tarots, the chance to win is very low, unless the small number of Tarots is compensated by a large number of trumps. If a simple or double game is played, the bidder often has the possibility to discard one or even several suits completely into the Talon. By doing so, he may play trump as soon as one of the discarded suits is played out by the defenders. Thus the bidder may conquer the Kings and Queens of these suits. Since a single suit cannot be played out too many times before someone is obliged to play out a trump, it may be advantageous for a bidder to discard the lower court cards like Jack, Knights and even Queens to the talon in order to secure their points. If a large number of trumps is combined with a large number of cards of a single suit in one’s hand, it might be advantageous to extract with the trumps all the trumps of the defen- ders in order to play the strong suit unchallenged. It is also possible to extract the opponents' trumps by playing out a suit that the opponents do not have any more in their hand. The bidder should play the Kings in his hand the first time their suit is played out in order to prevent losing the Kings to the defenders. As defender it is clever to check if the bidder has a certain suit in his hand before playing out its King. If this is not the case, the court cards should be held back until a partner plays a high trump which allows playing the King out safely. If a bidders hand combine the Pagat (trump I) with a large number of trumps, it might be advantageous to keep the Pagat back in order to win the last trick with it. But the bidder has to make sure, that all the defenders’ trumps are played out before the last trick. If the Pagat howe- ver, is combined with a low number of trumps, it should be played out as soon as possible. In a Misère it is reasonalbe to play out the Pagat to a trick as early as possible, as the other players have to play a higher trump. If the Excuse is held in the hand, it should be saved until the last trick, since it will be won by an opponent.

We hope you have fun playing Troggen!

Try the game online for free: www.troggen.ch

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Troggen - An Overview Trumps: Excuse: Trick: 21 20 19 18 17 16 15

4 4 1 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 Scoring • 35 points or more for the bidder • lowest score in a Misère Bids (4/5/6 players) bidder: defenders: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 • Single 3/4/5 1 each • Double 6/8/10 2 each • Without talon (vierfach) 12/16/20 4 each • Against the talon (sechsfach) 18/24/30 6 each If the bidder looses, the stake 4 remains on the table. It will be won «dark» suits Batons (Bâtons) and Swords (Épées) by the next successful bidder. K D C V 10 ... 1 Misère winner: looser: others: 0 4 2 each The stake remains on the table and will be won by the next suc- cessful bidder. In the Last Trick • Excuse: It is taken by the winner of the trick. • Pagat: If the bidders wins the last trick with the Pagat, the defenders pay him 4 3 2 1 2 tokens each. If the «fair/golden» suits Cups (Coupes) and Coins (Deniers) bidder looses the Pagat, K D C V 1 ... 10 he pays the defenders 2 tokens each. • King: If the bidders wins the last trick with a King, the defenders pay him 2 tokens each. If the bidder looses the King, he pays the defenders 2 tokens each.

card values are marked in red

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