Triomphe
| Type | trick-taking |
|---|---|
| Players | 4 |
| Cards | 52 |
| Deck | French |
| Play | Counterclockwise |
| Card rank (highest to lowest) | K Q J A 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 |
| Related games | |
| Ombre, Écarté, Ruff and Honours | |
Triomphe (French for triumph) is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared a similar name with the pre-existing game and deck known as trionfi (tarot). While trionfi has a fifth suit that acts as permanent trumps, triomphe randomly selects one of the existing four suits as trumps. Another common feature of this game is the robbing of the stock. Triomphe became so popular that during the 16th century the earlier game of trionfi was gradually renamed tarocchi, tarot, or tarock. This game is the origin of the English word "trump" and is the ancestor of many trick-taking games like Euchre (via Écarté) and Whist (via Ruff and Honours).
The earliest surviving description was written by Juan Luis Vives in his Exercitatio linguae latinae around 1538 in Basel. As he left Spain in 1509 never to return, the rules may date to his youth. However the game was already widespread and was played in England using the French deck by 1529. In 1541, Juan Maldonado (d. 1554) expanded on Vives's rules and later revised them in 1549. Both Vives and Maldonado described the rules in the form of dialogues between the players. It is an ancestor of Ombre.
The game is played by four players either individually or as partners. Maldonado uses a pack of 48 Spanish playing cards but Vives uses a French deck by discarding the 10s. In the suit of clubs and swords, the ranking from highest to lowest is King, Knight, Jack, 9 ... Ace while in the suit of cups and coins it is King, Knight, Jack, Ace ... 9. In the trump suit, the Ace is promoted above the King. Partners are chosen by drawing cards from the deck with the two highest and the two lowest going together. They sit opposite of one another. Each player is dealt nine cards with the top card of the remaining stock of 12 flipped to reveal the trump suit. If the exposed card is an Ace or a face card, the dealer has the right to exchange it for a card in his hand and get awarded three points. Players must follow suit, if devoid of that suit then they can play trumps or a card from another suit. Players with a weak hand can concede at any time and force a redeal but this is consider losing that particular hand. This game was used for gambling with players raising stakes before each trick. Each card is worth 1 point and points are counted after each trick, if a side neglects to add points then they are not counted. The side that wins a hand gets their points for that particular hand doubled. The first side to obtain 32 points wins.
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Wikipedia