CoolhandThe games · Coolhand Cards
Belote
A French partnership game. A turned card offers the trump, the jack and nine of trumps outrank the ace, and the takers must not be outscored.
- Players
- 4
- Family
- Bidding Games
- App
- Coolhand Cards · iOS and Android, soon
How it goes
Your partner sits opposite. The deck runs seven to ace. Five cards each, dealt three then two, and the next card is turned up. Each player in turn either takes it, making its suit trump, which beats the rest, or passes. If all pass, each may name another suit. If all pass again, the cards are thrown in. The taker adds the turned card to their hand, the others get three more cards each and the taker two, so everyone has eight. A trick is one card each, won by the highest trump, else the highest card of the suit led. Follow suit if you can. Otherwise, you must trump when an opponent is winning, and may play anything when your partner is. When you play a trump, you must beat any higher trump already played if you can. Trumps run jack, nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, seven, worth twenty, fourteen, eleven, ten, four and three, and nothing for the last two. Other suits run ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven, worth eleven, ten, four, three and two, and nothing for the rest. The last trick adds ten, a hundred and sixty-two in all. The takers must not be outscored: if they have at least as many points as the other side, both sides keep their points. If they fall short, the other side scores the whole hundred and sixty-two, plus any Belote-Rebelote, and the takers score nothing. Take every trick for two hundred and fifty-two. First side to a thousand wins.
A good hand
The jack and nine of trumps. They are the two highest trumps and worth thirty-four points between them, and only the jack beats the nine. Hold the king and queen of trumps, Belote and Rebelote, and your side scores twenty. There's nothing to announce: the table counts it whenever one player holds both.
The usual mistake
Taking on a hand that can't carry it: if your side falls short, the other side scores everything and you score nothing. Leading a plain ten while that suit's ace is still out. And putting a trump on a trick your partner is already winning, when you couldn't follow and were free to keep it for a trick that matters.
Played differently where you are?
Card games change from table to table, and we researched some of these games instead of playing them. If Belote goes differently where you play it, tell us. That's one of the things the closed beta is for.
The closed beta is by invitation. How to ask to join.