Playcard games

Tute: questions and answers

Short answers to the questions people ask most about Tute. Everything else is in the full rules.

How many cards and players does Tute need?
Forty cards: a Spanish pack, or a standard 52-card deck with the eights, nines and tens taken out. The game is played by two to four, and the classic version is for two, with eight cards each — which is what this table deals. On French cards the queen stands in for the horse (caballo).
What order do the cards rank in, and what are they worth?
Ace, three, king, horse, jack, then seven down to two. The ace is worth 11, the three 10, the king 4, the horse 3 and the jack 2; nothing else counts. With ten for the last trick, a deal holds 130 points before any cantes.
What is a cante in Tute?
The king and horse of the same suit, declared after you win a trick and before you lead the next. It is worth 20, or 40 in trumps — las cuarenta. The two cards are not played; they stay in your hand, so declaring one tells the table two cards you are holding.
What is a tute?
All four kings, or all four horses, in one hand. Declare it on your lead and you win the deal outright, whatever the score. It is where the game gets its name, and why a king that can take nothing is still worth keeping.
Do you have to follow suit in Tute?
Not while there is a stock to draw from: you may play any card, and both players draw after every trick, the winner first. Once the stock is gone the play turns strict. You must follow suit, you must beat the card if you can, and if you cannot follow you must trump.
What does the seven of trumps do?
After the deal one card is turned face up under the stock, and its suit is trump. While the stock lasts, the player holding the seven of trumps may swap it for that card on their lead. The turned card is the last one drawn, so it always ends up in somebody's hand.
Who wins a deal, and how long is a match?
Whoever has more points when the cards run out — tricks, the ten for the last trick and cantes together — or whoever declares a tute first. A deal is one point in the match, and the host chooses whether a match is first to three, five or seven deals.
Can Tute be played with three or four?
Yes: three play alone, and four play in pairs, which is the version many Spanish cafés play. The cards then divide differently and the stock is shorter or gone. This table deals the two-handed game, where all forty cards come out evenly and every deal is worth the same 130 points.