Troggu is a member of the

tarot The tarot (, first known as '' trionfi'' and later as ''tarocchi'' or ''tarocks'') is a pack of playing cards, used from at least the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play card games such as Tarocchini. From their Italian roots, ...

family of card games. Synonyms for the game's name are: Trogga, Tappu and Tappä. It is played in the area of Visp,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, in Upper Wallis, especially in

St. Niklaus :''See Saint Nicholas (disambiguation) for disambiguation.'' St. Niklaus (french: Saint-Nicolas) is a village and a municipality in the Mattertal, part of the district of Visp in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. History St. Niklaus is first ...

and Grächen. After

Troccas Troccas is a member of the Tarot family of card games. It is a four player game played in the Romansh speaking part of the canton Grisons of Switzerland. It is not known exactly how this game entered Switzerland but it is generally thought to ...

, it is the second most played

tarot card game Tarot games are card games played with tarot decks, that is, decks with numbered permanent trumps parallel to the suit cards. The games and decks which English-speakers call by the French name Tarot are called Tarocchi in the original Italian, ...

in Switzerland.

History

According to card game researcher, John McLeod, Troggu was probably invented in the 18th century. The reasons for this assumption concerns the rules for the Fool. In earlier Tarot card games and in modern French tarot, the fool is played as an "Excuse", a card which exempts the player from following suit. In modern Tarock games in such regions as

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, the fool is played as Tarock XXII, the highest ranking trump. The rules of Troggu contain a mixture of both variations and may be a transitional game from the traditional rules of the Fool to the more modern one.McLeod, John
Troggu
at

pagat.com Pagat.com is a website containing rules to hundreds of card games from all over the world. Maintained by John McLeod, it contains information for traditional, commercial, and newly invented card games from all over the world. It has been described ...

. Retrieved 8 December 2017. Troggu or a related game may have spread to Belgium in the 18th century as that would explain tarot decks sold as "Cartes de Suisse" where the Fool was numbered XXII. The closest known relative of Troggu is the game of ''Tape'' which was played in Fribourg until the late 20th century.

Rules

The game traditionally uses the Italian suited Swiss 1JJ Tarot deck but removes the 1 through 4 of the swords and batons and the 7 through 10 of the cups and coins for a total of 62 cards. Troggu players prefer the German translated version as opposed to Troccas players who use the French version. The French suited Tarot Nouveau can be a substitute if the red 7 through 10 and black 1 through 4 are removed. Like in most tarot games, the red or round suit pip cards are in reverse order. In Troggu, there are 114 points and the cards are counted individually. The value of the cards are as follows: The game can be played by three to eight players with five to seven being ideal. Like most tarot games, dealing and play is counter-clockwise. The number of cards dealt and the size of the ''tapp'' (stock) depends on the number of players involved. The player to the dealer's right makes the first bid. Players can either pass, bid for the normal game, or bid Solo which is the highest bid. In a normal game, the declarer is called the Tappist who can exchange cards with the ''tapp'' but must not discard cards worth 5 points. In games with seven or eight players, the Tappist can call a trump that is not worth 5 points. The player who holds this card will be the Tappist's secret partner. In a Solo game, the declarer is known as the Soloist who plays alone against the others without exchanging cards with the ''tapp''. If all players pass, everyone will play for themselves in a

misère Misère ( French for "destitution"), misere, bettel, betl, or (German for "beggar"; equivalent terms in other languages include , , ) is a bid in various card games, and the player who bids misère undertakes to win no tricks or as few as possi ...

game. The declarer (or the dealer's right in a misère game) leads the first trick, others must follow suit if they can. If a player is void of the suit, they must play a trump. Only when void of the suit led and trumps can any card be sloughed. The winner of the trick leads the next one. The Fool is the highest trump but if it is the last trump in the player's possession, the player can elect to play another card instead of following suit. Once this occurs, the Fool is no longer a trump but an excuse that must be reserved for the last trick.

References

{{Tarot, tarock and tarocchi games 18th-century card games Tarot card games Multi-player card games