Tranca rules: how to play

How do you play tranca?

Tranca is a Brazilian card game close to buraco and canasta, with two decks, 11 cards per player and two spare hands called mortos. Teams lay down same-suit runs and sets of equal cards to build seven-card canastras. Each red 3 is worth 100 points, and a discarded black 3 locks the discard pile for the next player.

Object of the game

In tranca, each team lays down melds to score points. A meld with seven cards or more is a canastra and earns a bonus.

A round ends when a player goes out, that is, runs out of cards after the team has taken its morto and made a canastra. Rounds are played until a team reaches the agreed total.

Setup and deal

• Put the two decks together without the jokers and shuffle well. That makes 104 cards.
• With four players, partners sit across from each other. With two players, each one plays alone.
• Deal 11 cards to each player and set aside two mortos of 11 cards, face down.
• The remaining cards form the stock, face down in the middle. The discard pile starts empty, next to the stock.
• The 2s are wild cards: they stand for any card in a meld.
• A player who was dealt a red 3 (hearts or diamonds) places it face up on the table on their first turn and draws another card from the stock to replace it.
• The player to the dealer's left goes first, and play moves clockwise.

How to play

1. Start your turn by drawing the top card of the stock. If it is a red 3, place it on the table and draw again.
2. Instead of drawing from the stock, you may take the whole discard pile. To do so, you must use its top card right away in a new meld, together with two cards from your hand. Then the rest of the pile goes into your hand.
3. If the top card of the discard pile is a black 3, the pile is locked. You cannot take it this turn: draw from the stock.
4. After drawing, lay down melds if you wish. There are two kinds. A run: three or more cards in a row of the same suit, such as the 8, 9 and 10 of spades. A set: three or more cards of the same rank, such as three kings.
5. The 3s are never part of a meld. So the lowest run starts at the 4, and the ace comes after the king (queen, king, ace).
6. Each meld takes only one wild card. The 2 stands for the missing card.
7. On your turn you may also add cards to melds your team has already laid down. You never touch the other team's melds.
8. A meld with seven cards or more is a canastra. With no wild card, it is a clean canastra. With a wild card, it is a dirty canastra.
9. End your turn by discarding one card. If you discard a black 3 (clubs or spades), the next player cannot take the discard pile.
10. The first time you run out of cards, you take a morto. If you laid down everything without discarding, keep playing with the morto in the same turn. If your last card was the discard, use the morto on your next turn. Each team takes only one morto.
11. To go out and end the round, your team must have taken its morto and must have at least one canastra. Then one player just needs to run out of cards.
12. If the stock runs out and a morto is still face down on the table, that morto becomes the new stock. If no morto is left, the round ends there, with no bonus for going out.
13. At the end of the round, each team counts its points. Then the cards are shuffled for the next round.

Card values and scoring

• Red 3: 100 points each. The points are added for a team that has a canastra and subtracted from a team that ended the round without one.
• Clean canastra (seven cards or more, no wild card): 200 points.
• Dirty canastra (seven cards or more, with a wild card): 100 points.
• Going out: 100 points for the team that did it.
• A team that did not take its morto loses 100 points.
• Cards laid down add points, and cards left in hand subtract their own value.
• Each card laid down is worth 10 points. Red 3s are counted separately. When the table plays with jokers, each joker is worth 20.
• Some tables use the buraco count: cards from 4 to 7 are worth 5 points, cards from 8 to king are worth 10, a 2 is worth 10 and an ace is worth 15. Agree on the count before the first round.

End of the game

Add up the points of each round on paper. The game ends when a team reaches the total agreed at the start, such as 3,000 points.

If both teams pass the target in the same round, the team with more points wins.

What changes compared with buraco

• Red 3: in buraco it is a plain card. In tranca, it goes straight to the table and is worth 100 points, for or against you.
• Black 3: in buraco it is a plain card. In tranca, it is never melded and is used to lock the discard pile.
• Discard pile: in open buraco, the pile is free. In tranca, you take it only by using the top card with two cards from your hand.
• Melds: open buraco only allows runs. Tranca also allows sets of equal cards.
• The 2: in buraco, a 2 can sit in its own spot in a run and keep the meld clean. In tranca, the 2 is always a wild card.

Common variations

• With jokers: many tables add the four jokers of the two decks, for a total of 108 cards. They are wild, along with the 2s.
• Runs only: at some tables and tournaments, sets of equal cards are not allowed. Agree on this first.
• Pile with a meld on the table: some tables let you take the pile when its top card fits a meld your team has already laid down.
• Clean canastra to go out: some rule sets only allow going out with a clean canastra. Agree on this first.
• Black 3s when going out: some tables let you lay down a set of black 3s as you go out. At the others, a black 3 leaves your hand only as a discard.
• Minimum points for the first meld and the game target are also agreed at the table.

Tips to play better

• Save the black 3 for the right moment. Discard it when the pile is big and the next player could use it.
• Before discarding, think about what the next player has laid down. A card that completes one of their melds hands over the whole pile.
• Make a canastra early. Without one, your team cannot go out and the red 3s count against you.
• Keeping pairs in hand helps you take the pile, because the top card needs two of your cards to make a meld.
• Do not spend all your wild cards early. A 2 kept in hand can finish the canastra you need to go out.
• Near the end of the round, lay down what you can. A card in hand becomes lost points when somebody goes out.

Frequently asked questions