Troefcall — Rules and How It Differs from Court Piece

Troefcall, also written Troef Call or Troeff Call, is the Surinamese and Dutch member of the same family as Court Piece. The name is a mix of Dutch and English meaning "trumps call", and the game travelled with immigrants from the Indian subcontinent to Suriname and Guyana, and later to the Netherlands. If you already play Court Piece you will recognise almost all of it — but not quite all, and the differences are the ones that cause arguments.

The basics

Four players in two fixed partnerships, one standard 52-card pack, and thirteen tricks to a hand. Cards rank Ace high down to Two. The aim is to take the majority of the tricks — at least seven of the thirteen.

Choosing the first trump caller

Rather than a toss, the cards are dealt around the table one at a time until a Jack appears. Whoever receives that Jack is the trump caller, and the player to their right becomes the dealer.

Dealing

The dealer gives the top five cards to the trump caller, who looks at those five and names the trump suit. The deal is then completed in batches: five cards to each of the other three players, then four to every player, then four more, until everyone holds thirteen.

Playing the hand

The trump caller leads to the first trick, and play runs clockwise. Any card may be led. You must follow the led suit if you can; if you cannot, you may play any card, including a trump. The highest trump in the trick takes it, and if no trump was played the highest card of the led suit takes it.

Seven tricks — or all thirteen

The first goal is seven tricks. A team that takes the first seven then faces a decision that Court Piece does not offer: stop there and bank the hand, or carry on and try to win all thirteen. That choice — settle or push — is the most distinctive thing about Troefcall, and the point at which a comfortable hand becomes a gamble.

The redeal

If the trump caller finds, once all the cards are out, that they hold no picture cards at all — no King, Queen or Jack — they may show their thirteen cards and ask for a redeal. The pack is reshuffled and the same dealer deals again.

Winning the game

A match runs to an agreed total rather than a fixed number of hands. Fifteen, twenty and fifty points are all common; the table settles on a target before starting.

How Troefcall differs from Court Piece

The two games are close relatives, and most of the play is identical. What differs: Troefcall runs clockwise where Court Piece runs anti-clockwise. The first trump caller is found by dealing until a Jack turns up, rather than by a four-card toss. The trump caller leads the first trick, whereas in Court Piece the lead sits with the player to the hakem's right. A Troefcall redeal depends on holding no picture cards once all thirteen are dealt, while a Court Piece hakem decides from the opening five — and may instead let their thirteenth card set the trump, an option Troefcall does not have. And crucially, a Troefcall team that wins the first seven chooses whether to continue; in Court Piece the hand simply plays on toward a Court.

Where these rules come from

Unlike our Court Piece rules, which are recorded from first-hand play, this page is compiled from published descriptions of Troefcall — chiefly the Wikipedia entry and the pagat.com card-games archive. We have not verified these rules at Surinamese or Dutch tables ourselves, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. If you play Troefcall and something here does not match your table, please tell us and we will correct it.

Also known as Court Piece · Coat Pees · Hukum · حکم · Rung · رنگ · Troeff Call · Trump