2008 Woodie Awards
New card games gain popularity
Travels to Brazil bring new card games to campus
Lucas Beechinor, Staff Writer
Issue date: 10/24/06
Last Updated: 12/26/07
For students tired of playing card games like "War" or "Go Fish," residents in Arend have picked up variations of exotic games which offer a unique gaming experience not familiar to most people from this area.
Sophomore Christopher Dennis first learned the game "Truco" when he traveled to Brazil with the Whitworth jazz band last January. A Brazilian girl offered to teach them the game when she saw Dennis and his friends playing cards by the swimming pool. Once Dennis and his friends learned the rules, they quickly developed an addiction.
"We'd sit by the pool every night and play truco," said junior Katie Zerkel, who was with Dennis and other members of the jazz band. She quickly found the techniques of the game quite intriguing.
"We'd play for three or four hours," Zerkel said.
She admitted that she would play all the time if she was not so busy.
"There are a lot of little quirks," Dennis said.
Truco is popular in many parts of South America. It is derived from a simpler card game known as Truc, which is played in parts of Europe.
The game is played by four players in two player teams, competing to be the first team to score 12 points. The points are earned by winning "tricks," the term used for the dealt round of cards from both teams.
In Truco, jacks are the lowest cards and aces are the highest, except for two's and three's. Players are dealt three cards and can decide to increase the worth of the round at any time by calling "Truco." The other team can either accept or decline the upped bet. If declined, the round is over and the challenger team receives one point.
At this point, bluffing becomes an integral part of playing the game and teams can earn points off hands that could actually be worth nothing.
Dennis attested to the necessary strategy of deception.
"You can win on a bad hand just by bluffing," Dennis said.
Although "table-talk" is allowed in Truco, it is not necessarily encouraged between teammates who aren't allowed to see each other's hands through most of the game. That did not stop Dennis or his roommate, sophomore Alec Olschner, from trying to come up with some stealthy signals, but in the end they decided against it.
Sophomore Christopher Dennis first learned the game "Truco" when he traveled to Brazil with the Whitworth jazz band last January. A Brazilian girl offered to teach them the game when she saw Dennis and his friends playing cards by the swimming pool. Once Dennis and his friends learned the rules, they quickly developed an addiction.
"We'd sit by the pool every night and play truco," said junior Katie Zerkel, who was with Dennis and other members of the jazz band. She quickly found the techniques of the game quite intriguing.
"We'd play for three or four hours," Zerkel said.
She admitted that she would play all the time if she was not so busy.
"There are a lot of little quirks," Dennis said.
Truco is popular in many parts of South America. It is derived from a simpler card game known as Truc, which is played in parts of Europe.
The game is played by four players in two player teams, competing to be the first team to score 12 points. The points are earned by winning "tricks," the term used for the dealt round of cards from both teams.
In Truco, jacks are the lowest cards and aces are the highest, except for two's and three's. Players are dealt three cards and can decide to increase the worth of the round at any time by calling "Truco." The other team can either accept or decline the upped bet. If declined, the round is over and the challenger team receives one point.
At this point, bluffing becomes an integral part of playing the game and teams can earn points off hands that could actually be worth nothing.
Dennis attested to the necessary strategy of deception.
"You can win on a bad hand just by bluffing," Dennis said.
Although "table-talk" is allowed in Truco, it is not necessarily encouraged between teammates who aren't allowed to see each other's hands through most of the game. That did not stop Dennis or his roommate, sophomore Alec Olschner, from trying to come up with some stealthy signals, but in the end they decided against it.
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