Touti Rules: How to Play the Moroccan Card Game

Touti is a Moroccan trick-taking and bidding game, a cousin of Ronda and close in team spirit to belote or rummy. It is played with Spanish cards: the goal is to win tricks containing high-value cards and reach the target score before the opposing team. On Atlas Tutti, you play Touti online, in real time, against real players.

Touti is played with a 40-card Spanish deck split into 4 suits: oros (coins), copas (cups), espadas (swords) and bastos (clubs). Each suit holds the Ace, the cards 2 to 7, then the Sota, the Cabal and the Rey. Cards are not worth the same: Ace = 11, 3 = 10, Rey = 4, Cabal = 3, Sota = 2. The others (2, 4, 5, 6, 7) are worth 0 points but help you win tricks. That is 30 points per suit, and 120 points total in the deck.

Strength order for winning a trick: Ace > 3 > Rey > Cabal > Sota > 7 > 6 > 5 > 4 > 2.

Four players play in two teams of 2: partners sit across from each other. Each player gets 10 cards, so 10 tricks per round. The goal is to accumulate points round after round until you reach 600 points and win the game.

Before play, teams bid to announce how many points they expect to make in the round. Bids range from 70 to 230 points, in steps of 10. The team that wins the bid picks the trump suit and must make at least its contract, or it loses the points it staked. Reading your hand well is the key to Touti.

In turn, each player plays a card. You must follow the led suit if you can. The trick is won by the highest card of the led suit, or by the highest trump if someone cuts. The winner of the trick leads the next one. The last trick of the round is worth a 10-point bonus.

At the end of the round, each team adds up the points of the cards won in its tricks (Ace, 3, Rey, Cabal, Sota), plus 10 points for the last trick. Bonuses (Ghna) reward certain combinations: 40 points in trump, 20 outside trump. If the team that took the bid makes its contract, it scores its points; otherwise it loses them. The first team to 600 points wins.

• ◆Count the high cards already played (the Aces and 3s) so you know when to drop your points.
• ◆Only bid when your hand and potential trump justify it — a failed bid is costly.
• ◆Communicate with your partner through the way you play: every card is a signal.
• ◆Keep your trumps to cut tricks rich in the opponents’ points.