Julepe

Julepe, also spelled Julep in Catalan and known by the variant names Xulepe and Gilen, is a gambling trick-taking card game of Spanish origin, closely related to the English five-card game Loo and belonging to the wider Tute family of Spanish card games. It is played with a forty card Spanish suited deck with the eights and nines removed, and it is considered best suited to six players, though it can be adapted for other table sizes. Players wager on their ability to win tricks during a hand, with the core objective built around taking at least two tricks in order to avoid losing the stake committed to that round, while the presence of a trump suit shapes the tactical choices around when to commit strong cards and when to hold back. The game spread from Spain to its former American territories during the nineteenth century, becoming an established gambling pastime in parts of Latin America alongside other card games descended from the same Spanish trick-taking tradition.