How to Play Tute: The Spanish Point-Capture Trick Game
Tute is one of Spain's best-loved card games, a trick-taking battle played with the 40-card Spanish deck where one suit becomes trump and the goal is to capture cards worth points. What makes Tute special is its strict rules of play: you must follow suit, you must beat the winning card when you can, and you must trump when you run out of the led suit. Add the dramatic "cantes" (declarations) of 20 and 40, plus the instant-win Tute, and you have a game that rewards memory, timing, and a bit of nerve. This guide covers the full rules, card values, and the strategy you need to win.
Tute (pronounced TOO-teh) is a Spanish classic in the same family as Briscola and Italy's point-capture games. It is most popular as a four-player partnership game, but it also plays well with two or three. The version below is the standard four-player partnership game, the form most people mean when they say "Tute."
What You Need
Tute uses the 40-card Spanish deck: the four suits are coins (oros), cups (copas), swords (espadas) and clubs (bastos), each running from 1 to 7 plus three court cards. There are no 8s, 9s or 10s. If you only have a standard international deck, simply remove the 8s, 9s and 10s, and treat the Jack as the Sota (jack), the Queen as the Caballo (knight/horse) and the King as the Rey (king).
Card Ranking
The rank order from highest to lowest is unusual, so learn it first: Ace (1), Three, King, Knight, Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 2. Notice the Ace and Three sit at the top even though they are low numbers, just like in Scopa and Briscola.
Card Point Values
Only five card types carry points:
- Ace – 11 points
- Three – 10 points
- King – 4 points
- Knight (horse) – 3 points
- Jack (sota) – 2 points
The 7, 6, 5, 4 and 2 are worth nothing and are called blancas. The deck holds 120 card points in total. The team that wins the very last trick scores a bonus of 10, so 130 points are in play each hand.
The Deal and Choosing Trump
Seat the four players so partners sit opposite each other. The dealer shuffles, the player to the right cuts, and ten cards are dealt to each player, one at a time, going counter-clockwise (to the dealer's right, as is traditional in Spanish games). The deck is now empty. The final card dealt belongs to the dealer and is turned face up for everyone to see; its suit becomes the trump suit (la pinta) for the entire hand.
How Play Works
The player to the dealer's right leads the first trick by playing any card. Play continues counter-clockwise, each player adding one card. The trick is won by the highest trump played, or, if no trump was played, by the highest card of the suit that was led. The winner of a trick leads the next one.
The Strict Rules of Play
This is the heart of Tute. Unlike Hearts or Spades, you are not free to discard whatever you like. On your turn you must obey these obligations, in order:
- Follow suit. If you hold a card of the led suit, you must play it.
- Beat the trick. While following suit, if you can play a higher card than the best one already in the trick, you must do so (this is called "heading" the trick).
- Trump if void. If you have no card of the led suit, and no trump has yet been played to the trick, you must play a trump if you have one.
- Overtrump. If a trump has already been played, you must beat it with a higher trump if you can.
You may only play a different suit (a discard) when you cannot follow suit and cannot beat the cards already played. This forcing rule means strong cards get pulled out whether players like it or not, which is exactly what makes Tute tense.
Cantes: Declaring 20 and 40
The signature feature of Tute is the cante (declaration). If you hold the King and Knight of the same suit, you can declare them for bonus points, but only immediately after your side wins a trick:
- Las cuarenta (40) – King and Knight of the trump suit, worth 40 points.
- Las veinte (20) – King and Knight of any non-trump suit, worth 20 points.
You announce the cante out loud after winning a trick, then keep playing the cards normally. You can only make one declaration per trick your side wins, and if you can declare both, the 40 must be announced before any 20. Saving a King and Knight to cash a big cante is a core part of Tute strategy.
Winning the Hand and the Game
The hand ends when all ten tricks have been played. Each team adds up the points in the cards it captured, plus 10 for winning the last trick, plus any cantes it declared. The team with more points wins the hand; a tie goes to the side that took the last trick.
Most groups play to 101 points across several hands to win the game. Track running totals between deals.
The Instant Win: Tute
The game gets its name from a sudden-death bonus. A player who manages to collect all four Kings, or all four Knights, in their captured cards can declare "Tute!" This ends the hand instantly and wins the entire game outright, regardless of the score. It is rare, but hunting the fourth King or Knight can swing a desperate hand.
Quick Strategy Tips
- Count the points, not the tricks. Winning many empty tricks means little. Aim your trumps and high cards at tricks holding Aces and Threes.
- Protect your cantes. Hold a King and Knight pair until your side wins a trick so you can legally declare, but do not sit on them so long that they get forced out.
- Use the forcing rule against opponents. Lead a suit you know an opponent is short in to drag out their trumps, or lead high to pull their point cards into your partner's winning trick.
- Watch the trump count. Knowing how many trumps remain tells you when it is safe to cash your Aces. If you enjoy this kind of trump tracking, you will also like Truco and Tien Len.
- Signal with your partner. In partnership Tute, the order you play cards quietly tells your partner where your strength lies, much like the signals in Seep and Indian Rummy melding decisions.
Tute vs. Other Card Games
If you already know Briscola, Tute will feel familiar but stricter: Briscola lets you play any card, while Tute forces you to follow and beat. If you prefer matching and melding instead of trick-taking, try Chinchon. And when you want a solo break, the classic solitaires Spider and FreeCell are a calm change of pace, while Mahjong offers a tile-based twist on the same memory skills Tute rewards.
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