Trijumf
Introduction
Trijumf, also known as Croatian Triumph, is a card game popular on the Croatian coast and islands. Although the name is similar to Italian trionfo, the Croatian version of triumph is more similar to the Venetian game madrasso, with some elements of marianna.
This page is based on a contribution from Roman Radeka.
Players and Cards
Trijumf can be played by two players or by four players in teams of two, each player sitting opposite their partner.
It is most often played with a 40-card Trieste pattern deck (Italian: Carte Triestine). There are four suits: cups (coppe, kupe), clubs (bastoni, baštoni), swords (spade, špade) and coins (danari, dinari). The ranking and point values of cards is same as in Briscola / Briškula. The table below shows the counting cards.
| card: | ace | three | king | horse | jack |
| value: | 11 points | 10 points | 4 points | 3 points | 2 points |
| danari (coins) |
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| spade (swords) |
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 |
 |
 |
 |
| bastoni (batons) |
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 |
 |
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| coppe (cups) |
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The ranking of the cards in tricks corresponds to their scoring value. As in Briscola, the highest-ranking card is the Ace (Asso, Aš) (worth 11 points), followed by the Three (10 points), King (Re, Kralj) (4 points), Horse (Cavallo, Kaval) (3 points), Jack (Fante, Fanat) (2 points), and continuing with the 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2 (all worth 0 points). There is a total of 30 points in each suit and 120 points in the pack.
Older players and Croatian Italians frequently use the Italian names of the cards, other Dalmatians use the Croatian names, and some players of the younger generation call the King, Horse and Jack 13 (trinaestica), 12 (dvanaestica) and 11 (jedanaestica) respectively, corresponding to the numbers printed on the cards.
Unlike in Italy, the direction of deal and play is clockwise.
Cutting and Dealing
The first dealer can be chosen by any convenient random method. The turn to deal passes to the left hand opponent after each hand.
The dealer shuffles and offers the deck of cards face down to the right-hand opponent (the previous dealer) to cut. This player has three options:
- Normal cut (Predizanje) - the player splits the deck into 2 or 3 smaller portions and reassembles them in reversed order.
- Knock (Tući mac) - the player puts his fist on the deck or knocks on them, leaving their order unchanged.
- Flip - the player turns the top card of the deck face up and puts it on the table. The suit of the flipped card becomes the trump suit for the current deal; the remainder of the deck remains as it was.
The method of dealing and determining trumps depends on the option chosen as follows.
- Normal cut
- The cards are dealt in packets of 5 and a card is turned up to determine the trump suit after the first round of the deal as follows.
- If there are two players, the dealer deals 5 cards to the non-dealer, 5 cards to the dealer, places the 11th card face up on the table, then dealer another 5 cards to the dealer, 5 to the dealer and stacks the last 9 cards face down crosswise on top of the trump indicator card.
- If there are four players the dealer deals a packet of 5 cards each in clockwise order beginning with the player to the left, turns the next (21st) card face up for all to see (this is the trump suit indicator) and gives it to the player to the left, then gives this player 4 more cards and then another packet of 5 to each of the other players in clockwise order.
- Knock
- The cards are dealt in packets of 10, as follows.
- If there are two players the dealer gives a packet of 10 cards to the non-dealer, then 10 cards to the dealer, then places the 21st card face up on the table to indicate the trump suit and stacks the last 9 cards face down crosswise on top of it.
- If there are four players the dealer deals a packet of 10 cards to each player in clockwise order beginning with the player to the left. In this case there is no trump indicator card and no trump suit unless there is a declaration (see below).
- Flip
- The cards are dealt in packets of 5 as follows.
- If there are two players, the dealer deals 5 cards to the non-dealer, 5 cards to the dealer, then another packet of 5 each, then stacks the last 9 cards face down crosswise on top of the flipped trump indicator card.
- If there are four players the flipped trump indicator card belongs to the player to dealer's left. The dealer gives a packet of 4 cards to this player and then deals the remaining cards in packets of 5.
After the deal, each player should have 10 cards in their hand.
- If there are two players there will be a face up trump indicator in the middle of the table with the undealt cards stacked on top of it in such a way that the trump suit is visible.
- If there are four player and the cards were not knocked, the trump indicator card is held by the player to dealer's left and is known to all the players.
Play
The player to the left of the dealer leads to the first trick, and the other players in turn must each play a card. Each trick is won by the highest trump in it, or if it contains no trumps by the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of each trick leads to the next.
Any card may be led to a trick. Suit must be followed - in each trick the other players must play cards of the same suit as the card led to the trick if they can. There is no compulsion to beat the previous cards played to the trick. A player who has no card of the suit led is required to play a trump card. A player who has neither a card of the suit that was led nor a trump card can play any card (but since this card is neither a trump nor a card of the suit led it cannot win the trick).
The winners of the last trick (known as ultima) score an extra 10 card points.
In contrast to Briscola and Tressette, no physical signals or conversation of any kind are permitted.
In the two-player game, after each trick, each player draws a card from the pile of undealt cards and shows the card to the opposing player. The winner of the trick draws first, followed by the loser. The player who won the trick then leads to the next one. Eventually the undealt cards will be used up, and at this point the loser of the trick just played will draw the face up trump card. The game then continues without drawing cards until all the cards have been played.
Declarations
Extra card points can be scored by a player who holds the King and Horse of the same suit together in their hand and declares them (showing them face up) at their turn immediately before playing a card to the first trick. Declaring a King-Horse combination is known in Croatian as akužanje or zvanje, and scores card 40 points if the cards are in the trump suit, or 20 card points in any other suit.
In the two-player game a player can only declare one King-Horse combination. Even if the player holds a King-Horse pair in more than one suit, only one of them can be declared and scored. It is however possible that both players to declare a King-Horse combination in which case both score. Since a declaration is only possible before playing to the first trick, it is not possible to score for a King-Horse pair that uses a card drawn from the deck during the play.
In the four-player game a player is allowed to declare and score for more than one King-Horse pair before playing to the first trick, so for example a player who was dealt all four Horses and all four Kings could claim as many as 100 card points (40+20+20+20) by declaring all of them.
In the four-player game when the cards are knocked (not cut or flipped) the first trick is played without trumps (the highest card of the suit led wins the trick). If any King-Horse pairs are declared, the first pair declared scores 40 and its suit becomes trumps from the second trick onwards. Any other King-Horse pairs that are declared score 20 points and do not affect the trump suit.
Scoring and Winning
When all tricks have been played each side counts the value of cards it has won in tricks. The side that won the last trick adds 10 card points for ultima, and 40 or 20 points are scored for for each King-Horse pair that was declared in the first trick. In the four-player game the players of a partnership combine the value of the cards in their tricks and their other scores into a single total.
The object of the game is for the player (if there are two players) or team (if there are 4 players) to score a total of at least 401 card points over as many deals as it takes. A player can stop the play at any time and claim that their side has reached a total of 401 or more points counting only the cards in tricks they have already won up to that point and the value of any declarations they have made. The card points are then counted and if the claim is correct that side wins the game (irrespective of the other side's total). If the claim is incorrect their opposing side wins the game (irrespective of their points total).
If player breaks the rules of play, for example by failing to follow suit when holding a card of the suit led, or by failing to play a trump when able to, the play of that hand ends immediately and the opponents of the side that broke the rules score 130 points, as though they had won every trick.