It is recorded only from the early 18th century, though greater antiquity is suggested by its lack of trump.

[citation needed] According to Cäsar (1800), the name is derived from "Tre Sett" (three sevens) because, at that time, a player holding three sevens could declare them immediately and win the game (Partie).

In one-on-one play, the remaining twenty cards are placed face down in front of both players.

Basic strategy in tressette revolves around gathering as many Aces as possible because they are worth three times the value of any one face card.

Obviously, holding Ace, Three and Two of a suit (called a "Napolitana", "Napoletana" or a "Napoli") is a particularly powerful holding as it allows you to play the Ace with impunity, careful not to surrender it to an off-suit card.

As picking up the last hand garners a point, players try to organize their card play for this purpose near the end of a round.

When playing in partnerships, any verbal communication between partners regarding the game is considered cheating, unlike in briscola (oral tradition has it that "tressette was invented by four mutes, briscola was invented by four liars"[citation needed]).

In some regional variants the use of this sign is deprecated and considered as illegitimate as speaking openly.

Also called Tresette con l'accuso (meaning: Tressette with accuso), it is one variation scored up to 31, which uses bonuses during game play.

A group of four (four threes, twos, aces) scores four points[citation needed].

Ciapanò (meaning "don't collect", or more literally "take not", in several northern Italian dialects), also known as traversone in Central Italy and as ko manje or chi fa meno (literally "who makes the fewest [points]") in Croatia and Montenegro, is a variation where the goal is to score the fewest points.

The cards that score ⅓ point (Kings, Horses, Knights, Threes and Twos) are most commonly referred to as bele.