Tressette is Italy's partnership trick-taking classic: ten cards each, no trumps, and points counted in thirds until one side reaches 21.
Goal
Score more points than the other side. A hand is worth eleven points and a match is won at twenty-one (or at the target the table sets).
How to play
The player after the dealer leads and everyone must follow the led suit when they hold it. A seat that cannot follow may play any card, but only the led suit can take the trick. The highest card of that suit wins and leads next.
Players and deck
Four players form fixed partnerships and use all forty Napoletane cards. Two players duel instead: ten cards each, twenty face down, and after every trick the winner draws first, then the opponent, showing each drawn card.
Rank and points
Inside a suit: three, two, ace, king, knight, knave, then seven down to four. An ace scores one point; threes, twos, king, knight and knave a third each. Fractions are dropped and the side that takes the last trick gets one more, so a hand is exactly eleven points.
Tip
Strip a suit of its two and three before leading the ace, and let your partner keep a trick rather than overtaking it.
Variations
Tressette · Tressette con accuso — Accuso. · Tressette a perdere — Fewest points wins.
Play Tressette