OBJECTIVE OF BROUC: The objective of Brouc is to be the first team to reach 31 points.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4 Players
MATERIALS: One modified 52-card deck, a way to keep score, and a flat surface.
TYPE OF GAME: Point-Trick Card Game
AUDIENCE: Adult
OVERVIEW OF BROUC
Brouc is a point-trick game playable by 4 people. There are 2 fixed partnerships of 2 the game is played with. Partners sit opposite each other. The goal of the game is for your team to reach 31 points. Points are earned by winning certain cards in tricks, declaring combinations, or winning all the tricks in a hand. Several rounds will be played in a game to reach the goal.
SETUP
To set up a 52-card deck will need to be modified to be a 32-card deck. This is done by removing all cards 6 and lower. This leaves Aces, Kings, Queens, Jacks, 10s, 9s, 8s, and 7s.
For the first deal, a random player is made dealer, this passes to the right every round after.
The dealer will shuffle the deck and begin to deal anticlockwise. The first batch will be one card to each player, then 3 cards to each player, and finally a batch of 4 cards to each player. This is a total of 8 cards each. The last card dealt to the dealer will be dealt faceup. This card determines trump for the round.
Card Rankings, Combinations, and Values
In Brouc, cards have a ranking, values and some have combinations they can be a part of. These factors determine points that can be acquired and the ability a card has, to win a trick over another.
The card ranking for Brouc is Ace (high), 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, and 7 (low). The values associated with cards are respectably 11 points, 10 points, 4, 3, 2, 0, 0, and 0 points.
There are also combinations available to play for points. A player with these specific combinations in hand can score them, as well as a player who wins a trick containing the combination. The available combinations are Kings and Queens of the same suit, or Kings, Queens, and Jacks of the same suit. Trump suit combinations are worth additional points. For a non-trump suit combination of King and Queen, it’s worth 20 points. For the combination containing the King, Queen, and Jack, the value is 30 points. These values are increased to 40 and 60 respectively for combinations of the trump suit.
GAMEPLAY
Brouc is played like a typical trick-taking game. The player to the right of the dealer goes first, following anticlockwise from them. They may lead any card to start the trick and the following player must follow suit if able. If not, able they must either play a higher-ranked trump and if no higher trumps are available any card may be played.
If a trick has been led by a non-trump suit and a trump has been played, then players must always play a higher trump if not able to follow suit. The only exception is if they can play a card to make a King, Queen combination or a King, Queen, and Jack combination. In these circumstances, a player may play a lower trump.
The trick is won by the highest played trump or if not applicable the highest card of the suit led. The winner of the previous trick leads the next. The game continues this way until all 8 tricks are won.
SCORING
Brouc is scored after the round is over. Players will score any points made by winning trick or combinations. Any team that wins all eight tricks also wins 2 additional points.
Scores are totaled for the teams then rounded to the nearest 10. Then divided by 10. A running total is kept during the game.
END OF GAME
The game ends when a team reaches 31 points. This may happen during the middle of a round.
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