Truco Paulista

Truco Paulista Overview

Truco Paulista is a digital version of the popular Brazilian trick-taking card game from TaDa Gaming, released on 23 February 2024. It is not a slot: there are no reels, no RTP figure and no maximum win multiplier. Instead you sit at a table against an opponent, and the result depends on the cards you are dealt, the order in which you play them and how boldly you raise the stakes.

Choosing a Table

The lobby lists tables by level, each with a fixed entry stake called the boot. Our screenshot shows five of them: Lv4 with a boot of 5, Lv5 with 10, Lv6 with 20, Lv7 with 50 and Lv8 with 100, the last marked as “Hot”. You simply press Join under the level that suits your balance, and the game seats you at a table.

The Table

Once seated, the scoreboard at the top shows the two sides, Us and They, with the current score of each. Between them a Round panel with three dots tracks the hands of the current deal, and a Points value shows what the deal is worth – 1 at the start. Each player is dealt three cards; in our screenshot we held the King of spades, the Ace of hearts and the Jack of diamonds. A “PE” badge marks the player sitting in the pé (foot) position.

Winning a Deal

Each deal is a best-of-three contest. Both players lay one card per hand, the higher card takes the hand, and whoever wins two of the three hands scores the points the deal is worth. With only three cards in your hand, the key decision is when to use your strongest card: early to secure the first hand, or late to answer your opponent’s best card.

The Vira and the Manilhas

As in the traditional game, one card is turned face up – the vira – and the rank directly above it becomes the manilha, the strongest cards of the deal. The game shows this in an info strip labelled “Limpo”, which lists the card order from weakest to strongest:

• With a Queen as the vira, the strip read Q, K, A, 2, 3 and then four Jacks as the manilhas.
• With an Ace as the vira, it read Q, J, K, A, 3 and then four 2s.

The strip contains only queens, jacks, kings, aces, twos and threes, so the “Limpo” (clean) deck here appears to leave out the low 4 to 7 cards. The four manilhas are ordered by suit – diamonds, spades, hearts and clubs, from weakest to strongest – which is the classic Paulista ranking.

Raising the Stakes

The name of the game comes from the truco call, which raises the value of the deal. In the traditional rules a deal starts at 1 point and a call can push it to 3, then 6, 9 and 12, and the opponent may accept, raise again or fold. In one of our deals the scoreboard already showed Points 6, so the stakes had been raised twice. A match is played to 12 points.

Our Demo Game

We played at the Lv8 table with a boot of 100 and a starting balance of 2,000. The match ended 12 : 8 in our favour, and the winner screen showed +90.00, bringing the balance to 2,090. The payout was therefore 10 less than the boot. A button on the winner screen takes you back to the lobby, while Continue starts the next match.

Controls

The interface is simple. Your balance sits in the lower left corner of the table, and a gear icon in the upper left opens the settings. In the lobby, buttons for music, sound and help run along the bottom edge next to your player name and balance.

Our Take

Truco Paulista brings a real Brazilian favourite to the casino lobby, with clear tables, visible card rankings and the bluffing that makes truco fun. The free demo on the left runs without registration.

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