Belote

classic French Belote – 4 players, two fixed partnerships – 32 cards

Jogar agora: Belote

How we play: classic Belote without declarations (only belote-rebelote counts), to 1000. With the “Rule variant” button you can play to 501 or with declarations (sequences and four of a kind).

Cards and deal

• Partners sit opposite; dealing and play go anticlockwise.
• The dealer gives each player 3 and then 2 cards and turns up the next card.
• After the bidding the taker gets the turned card and 2 more, the others 3 each – everybody has 8 cards.
• Trumps: jack 20, nine 14, ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, eight and seven 0. Plain suits: ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2, nine, eight, seven 0. With the last trick (dix de der, +10) a deal is worth 162.

Bidding

• Round 1: starting to the dealer’s right, each player may take the turned-up suit as trumps or pass.
• Round 2: if all passed, each player may name another suit as trumps or pass.
• If everybody passes twice, the next player deals again.

Play

• The player to the dealer’s right leads; then the winner of each trick.
• You must follow suit. When trumps are led you must head the trick if you can, even over your partner.
• If you cannot follow you must trump – overtrump an opponent if you can, otherwise undertrump. Exception: if your partner is winning the trick, you may play any card.
• Belote-rebelote: king and queen of trumps in one hand score 20, announced as they are played. The holding team keeps them even when it fails.

Scoring

• The taking team must score more points than the defenders (cards + belote + declarations). Then both teams score their points.
• Otherwise the takers are dedans: the defenders score 162 plus all declarations.
• Litige (a tie): the defenders score their points; the takers’ points are held and go to the winner of the next deal.
• Capot (all tricks): 252 instead of 162; the team that lost every trick loses its declarations (not the belote).
• Declarations option: three in sequence 20, four 50, five or more 100 (order 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace); four jacks 200, four nines 150, four aces, tens, kings or queens 100. Only the team with the best declaration scores; here declarations are made automatically.
• The first team to 1000 (option: 501) wins; if both pass the target, the higher score wins.