Triomphe (French for triumph), once known as French ruff, is a card game dating from the late 15th century. It most likely originated in France or Spain (as triunfo) and later spread to the rest of Europe. When the game arrived in Italy, it shared a similar name with the pre-existing game and deck known as trionfi; probably resulting in the latter becoming renamed as Tarocchi (tarot). While trionfi has a fifth suit that acts as permanent trumps, triomphe randomly selects one of the existing four suits as trumps. Another common feature of this game is the robbing of the stock. Triomphe became so popular that during the 16th century the earlier game of trionfi was gradually renamed tarocchi, tarot, or tarock. This game is the origin of the English word "trump" and is the ancestor of many trick-taking games like Euchre (via Écarté) and Whist (via Ruff and Honours). The earliest known description of Triomphe was of a point-trick game, perhaps one of the earliest of its type; later, the name was applied to a plain-trick game.

The earliest surviving description was written by Juan Luis Vives in his Exercitatio linguae latinae around 1538 in Basel. As he left Spain in 1509 never to return, the rules may date to his youth. However the game was already widespread by then. In 1541, Juan Maldonado (d. 1554) expanded on Vives's rules and later revised them in 1549. Both Vives and Maldonado described the rules in the form of dialogues between the players. It is an ancestor of Ombre.

The game is played by four players either individually or as partners. Maldonado uses a pack of 48 Spanish playing cards but Vives uses a French deck by discarding the 10s. In the suit of clubs and swords, the ranking from highest to lowest is King, Knight, Jack, 9 ... Ace while in the suit of cups and coins it is King, Knight, Jack, Ace ... 9. In the trump suit, the Ace is promoted above the King. Partners are chosen by drawing cards from the deck with the two highest and the two lowest going together. They sit opposite of one another. Each player is dealt nine cards with the top card of the remaining stock of 12 flipped to reveal the trump suit. If the exposed card is an Ace or a face card, the dealer has the right to exchange it for a card in his hand and get awarded three points. Players must follow suit, if devoid of that suit then they can play trumps or a card from another suit. Players with a weak hand can concede at any time and force a redeal but this is considered losing that particular hand. This game was used for gambling with players raising stakes before each trick. Each card is worth 1 point and points are counted after each trick, if a side neglects to add points then they are not counted. The side that wins a hand gets their points for that particular hand doubled. The first side to obtain 32 points wins.

Hugh Latimer referred to the game of "Triumph" in 1529. The game is played in Gammer Gurton's Needle, a comedy written around 1553 and William Shakespeare also mentioned the game in Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1607). An incomplete description of "Trumpe" was provided by Jacques Bellot, a Huguenot from Caen residing in London, in his Familiar Dialogues (1586). Like Vives and Maldonado, the game is described in a dialogue. He describes a four-player partnership game where the one who cuts the highest card becomes the dealer. Twelve cards are commonly dealt counterclockwise to each player but his characters opt for a shorter game of nine cards. The dealer cuts the stock to reveal the trump suit. The player who holds the ace of trumps gets to rob the stock. Only trumps have value. Kings are high and worth 6, queens 4, jacks 2, and all other trumps 1. Players declare their trumps before trick-taking takes place. The game is abruptly interrupted, leaving the rest of the rules a mystery.

According to David Parlett, the French game of Triomphe was known in England as Trump or French Ruff, the latter name to distinguish it from the ancestor of Whist and Bridge, English Ruff.

The rules are only known from The Compleat Gamester, first published in 1674, and reprinted more or less verbatim until 1754. A French-suited pack is used. They describe a game for two players or two teams of two or three players-a-side. Players cut for the deal and the player cutting the highest or lowest card, as pre-agreed, deals 5 cards each in packets of 2 and 3, before turning the next as trumps. Cards rank in Écarté order: K Q Kn A 10 9 7 6 5 4 3 2. If the dealer turns up the Ace as trumps, the dealer may 'ruff' (exchange) it with another card and, if agreed, may also exchange with the next card of the stock if it is a trump, continuing to exchange as long as trumps appear and laying out the cards discarded. This 'robbery' was known as 'ruffing' hence the name of the game.

Players must follow suit or trump and overtrump if unable to follow; only discarding if unable to follow suit or trump. Winning three or four tricks scores 1 point, winning five tricks scores 5. If players agree, there are penalty points for incorrect dealing (1) or revoking (1 or 2). A player playing out of turn incurs 1 penalty point unless it is the last trick.

Gambiter assumes that winning 5 tricks is only worth 2 points and that game is 5. Play is anti-clockwise and eldest hand (right of the dealer) leads to the first trick. However, it is not clear from what source these clarifications or changes are drawn from.