Complete rulebook: Rulebook
Trappola Game Rules
Rules based on the Trappola Piatnik Edition (1988) by Robert S. Kissel and Michael Dummett
General Rules
The Four Suits
Spade
Coppe
Denari
Bastoni
Card Ranks (Example: Spade)
How to Score Points
The "Pay" figures below apply to 3-4 player games only. A two-player partie has no Bulka and no payments at all - there, only the points count.
When you win a stich with valuable cards, you score points based on the cards in that stich:
Stich bonuses provide bonus points. Payments go into Bulka. A stich "won with a 2" means you won it with a 2 of your own - not that a 2 was merely played in it.
Only one of the three last-stich bonuses applies - whichever covers the most of the last stichs you won with a 2. A stich counted there does not additionally earn the bonus for stichs 2-8.
Marc is independent and stacks with the other stich bonuses.
Special card combinations can be announced for bonus points. Payments are direct (opponent pays you). Announcing is voluntary - without an announcement there are neither points nor payments.
How to announce: call the cards and their points - "Re for 6", "Cavalli for 12", "Deuces for 10", "Aces for 30", and so on. Blans and Bianka are called by name.
Note: For 3-card sets (Courts and Deuces), the opponent may ask "Manko?" when playing their second card - the announcer must then name the missing suit. No Manko for 4-card sets or Aces.
The Ace announcement may be held back until you play your first Ace. If you play that Ace without announcing, the announcement is no longer possible for that number of Aces in this partie.
Several Figura may be combined in the same partie as long as each one qualifies on its own - an Ace announcement, a Deuce Figura and Blans can be announced side by side.
Bulka (2 Players)
Basics
Card deck: 36 cards (without 3, 4, 5, 6)
Players: 2 players (1 vs 1 partie)
Hand cards: 9 cards per player (18 cards in total in play)
Remaining deck: The remaining 18 cards form a deck. The bottom card of the deck is face-up (openly visible)
Dealing the Cards
Roles: One player deals the cards, the other one is the challenger
Shuffle and cut: Both players may shuffle, the dealer shuffles last, then the challenger cuts
Dealing: 9 cards per player in three packets of three cards. The challenger receives the first packet
Gameplay
Important Rules
Playing a different suit although you could have followed suit loses the partie unconditionally, regardless of the score so far. The same applies to comparable violations that cannot be settled by an immediate correction.
Alifer
A tie does not trigger Alifer in a two-player partie. Both players may still agree on Alifer at the start of a partie.
Game Objective
Win stichs with valuable cards and collect the most points. In Bulka (2 players), only 18 of the 36 cards are used - 9 cards per player.
Bulka (3-4 Players)
Overview
In 3-player and 4-player Bulka, only 2 players compete at a time. The other player(s) sit out and watch until it is their turn to play.
Each partie is a standard 1-on-1 match with 9 cards per player. The basic gameplay rules remain the same as 2-player Bulka.
Starting Order
Every player draws a card. The player with the lowest card becomes the first dealer, the player with the highest card the first challenger. The remaining players line up in the queue in descending order of their drawn cards. Players with cards of equal rank draw again.
3-Player Rotation
4-Player Rotation
The Bulka Pot
In 3-4 player games, there is a Bulka that players compete for. It is never won by an ordinary partie - only by winning a partie you announced "Pro" for.
Before each partie both active players pay the base stake of 10 tokens into the Bulka. A multiple of it may be agreed before the game - all payments and stich bonuses then scale accordingly.
Once you have won 2 parties in a row you may announce "Pro" before the next partie begins. You are not obliged to - you may play on and announce later, but without an announcement you never win the Bulka. Win the announced partie and the entire Bulka is yours.
On top of the base stake, the Pro announcer pays a second stake into the Bulka. During the Pro partie the players who are sitting out may advise the defender - misleading remarks included. Only cheating is forbidden, above all looking at a player's cards, and every card and announcement remains the defender's own decision.
In any other partie the players who are sitting out must stay silent - no remarks, no hints, no influence on the play.
Tie: Alifer
If both players finish the partie on the same score, Alifer is triggered automatically. Both players may also agree on Alifer at any time.
The partie is replayed with the same dealer and the stake multiplier doubles - every payment from announcements and stich bonuses scales with it. The point values themselves stay unchanged.
When the Bulka Pot is Won
3-Player Mode:
4-Player Mode:
Leaving and Joining
You may leave the game at any time as long as you are not part of a running partie - a partie that has begun must be played to the end. The game continues with the remaining players. Whoever leaves has no claim on the Bulka; the stake already paid stays in it.
A further player may only join a running game if all players agree and the Bulka is empty, or so few parties have been played since it was last emptied that the newcomer - placed at the back of the queue - would not yet have had their turn as challenger.
End of the Game
Winning the Bulka does not necessarily end the game - unless agreed otherwise, play continues with a new Bulka and the rotation reset. The game ends at the agreed time, and the Bulka is then split equally among all players. If a valid Pro announcement is still outstanding, that partie is played out first.