Troefcall card game rules

General rules

1. Four players play in two fixed partnerships. Partners sit opposite each other.
2. Use a standard 52-card deck without jokers. Each player receives 13 cards.
3. Cards rank from highest to lowest: ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.
4. The aim is to be the first partnership to win seven tricks.
5. The caller sits to the dealer’s left, chooses trumps and leads to the first trick.
6. Play proceeds clockwise. You must follow suit whenever possible.
7. If you cannot follow suit, you may play any card. You do not have to play a trump.
8. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump is played. In that case, the highest trump wins.
9. The winner of each trick leads to the next one.

Dealing the cards

• The dealer shuffles. The caller may cut the deck.
• The caller first receives five cards and chooses the trump suit from those cards.
• The other players then receive five cards each.
• Everyone receives two further batches of four cards. The dealing pattern is 5–4–4.
• Once the caller picks up the next batch of cards, the trump suit can no longer be changed.

Choosing the trump suit

Trumps outrank cards from the other suits. The caller chooses hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades. Cards in the trump suit keep their normal ranking.

Example: hearts are trumps and someone leads a spade. If you have no spades, the two of hearts can beat even the ace of spades. If you have a spade, you must follow suit.

Troefcall results at a glance

Playing for baunie is a gamble: you can earn more points, but you can also lose the deal.

Scoring in troefcall

Keep scores for each partnership. Individual cards have no point value; the result of the deal determines the score.

Kap and baunie: stop or play on?

If your partnership wins the first seven tricks, the score in tricks is 7–0. You can end the deal for kap or play on for baunie, attempting to win all thirteen tricks. You may not discuss this choice with your partner. Tapping the table is the signal to stop.

Who taps the table matters:

• The winner of the seventh trick taps: the deal ends and your partnership scores 5 points for kap.
• The winner’s partner taps: the deal also ends, but the kap scores only 2 points.
• A player taps for kap before the seventh trick is complete: that player’s partnership loses the deal and the opponents score 2 points. Wait until all four cards in the seventh trick have been played.

The winner of the seventh trick may independently choose to play on for baunie. Once your partnership has won eight tricks and the opponents have won none, you must continue in an attempt to win all thirteen. Success earns 15 points. If the opponents win even one trick, the baunie fails: they score 2 points and your partnership scores nothing, including no points for the earlier kap.

Special rules and variations

Agree beforehand which additional rules you will use:

• No picture, no game: the caller may ask for a redeal if their complete hand contains no king, queen or jack. An ace does not count as a picture card.
• Trumps from an exposed card: in one variation, the suit of the caller’s ninth or thirteenth card determines trumps.
• Stinkende kap or baunie: some variations award extra points when the caller’s partnership loses in this way. Agree on the scoring in advance.

A brief history of troefcall

Troefcall is closely associated with Suriname, but its roots lie in the card-playing traditions of South Asia. It strongly resembles court piece, also called rang or rung in India and Pakistan. As in troefcall, two partnerships compete and trumps are chosen from the first five cards. The precise origins are not fully documented, so it is difficult to identify a single birthplace or date of invention.

In Suriname, troefcall developed its own character and playing culture. Families, friends and neighbourhood communities gathered to play. Organised play grew from the 1970s onwards, with clubs and tournaments. The Surinamese Troefcall Federation was founded in 1986.

Surinamese communities brought the game to the Netherlands, especially during migration in the 1970s. It became a familiar activity at kitchen tables, in community centres and later in clubs. An initiative to start a troefcall club emerged in Amsterdam in 1986. A regional federation began organising a league in 1996. It became a national federation in 2000, making it easier for clubs outside Amsterdam to join.

Today, organised competition and informal games coexist. Players pass their knowledge on to children, relatives and new club members. This blend of card play, social contact and cultural transmission makes troefcall a living tradition. Since May 2026, troefcall has been included in the Inventory of Intangible Heritage in the Netherlands, recognising the playing culture and the communities that keep it alive.

Related card games

Troefcall is closely related to court piece, known as rang or rung in India and Pakistan. The similarities are substantial: four players, two fixed partnerships, 52 cards and trumps chosen from the first five cards. Winning at least seven tricks is also the goal, although scoring and some additional rules differ. The Iranian game hokm belongs to the same family.

Whist and the Dutch game rikken also offer useful comparisons. Whist uses fixed partnerships and centres on winning tricks. In rikken, a bidding round determines the contract and the target. A player’s partner can be identified by a called ace.

Wiezen and kleurenwiezen are popular in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking region of Belgium. Both use four players and 52 cards, with following suit, trumps and trick-taking at the heart of play.

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