Barbu

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup and the declarer
4. Trick-taking rules
5. The seven contracts
6. Doubling
7. Scoring
8. Winning the game
9. Tips for beginners
10. Variants

Overview

Barbu is a compendium game: a session is made up of seven different games, called contracts, and every player chooses each contract once. Five contracts are negative – you try to avoid tricks, Queens, hearts, the King of Hearts or the last two tricks. Two are positive – you try to win tricks with trumps, or to get rid of your cards first in a game of Dominoes. On top of that, players can double each other: a side bet on who will score better in this deal. Everyone plays for themselves.

A trick is one card from each player; the best card wins all four. A session has 28 deals (4 players × 7 contracts). Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

• Players: exactly 4, no partnerships.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, a score sheet and pencil.

The cards

In every suit the cards rank from high to low: A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2.

Setup and the declarer

1. Choose the first declarer at random. This player is declarer for the next seven deals and chooses one contract per deal – each of the seven exactly once.
2. Dealing: the player on the declarer's right shuffles and deals, the player opposite the declarer cuts. All 52 cards are dealt one at a time, clockwise, so everyone has 13 cards.
3. After looking at their cards, the declarer announces the contract (with the trump suit for Trumps and the starting rank for Dominoes). Then comes the doubling (see below), and then the play.
4. When the declarer has played all seven contracts, the player on their left becomes declarer for the next seven deals, and so on until all four have been declarer.

Trick-taking rules

In all contracts except Dominoes:

• The declarer leads (plays the first card to) the first trick.
• The others play one card each, clockwise. You must follow suit – play a card of the suit led – if you can. If you can't, you may play any card (discard).
• The highest card of the suit led wins the trick – unless it is the Trumps contract and a trump was played (see there).
• The winner of a trick leads to the next.

The seven contracts

Negative contracts (no trumps)

• No Queens: keep captured Queens face up in front of you. When the fourth Queen has been taken, the deal ends.
• No Hearts and Barbu: you may not lead a heart unless you have nothing but hearts. In No Hearts, keep captured hearts face up. In Barbu, play can stop as soon as someone has taken the K♥ – the "bearded" King that gives the game its name.

Trumps (positive)

The declarer names a trump suit and leads. Each trick won scores +5 (total +65).

• If the trick contains a trump, the highest trump wins; otherwise the highest card of the suit led.
• You must follow suit if you can. You must also head the trick with a trump if you can: if trumps are led, play a higher trump than any in the trick if you have one. If another suit is led and you have none of it, you must trump – and overtrump if a trump is already in the trick. Only if you can't beat the trick may you play any card.

Dominoes (positive)

This contract has no tricks. The declarer names a starting rank, e.g. "dominoes from the nine". Aim: be first to get rid of all your cards.

1. Starting with the declarer and going clockwise, each player plays one card face up to the table if they can – you must play when you are able to. A card is playable if it is - of the starting rank, or - next in rank and in the same suit to a card already on the table.
2. The four cards of the starting rank form a column in the middle; each suit is built up towards the Ace on one side and down towards the 2 on the other. A suit can only be started with its card of the starting rank.
3. If you can't play, say "pass" (or knock on the table). The declarer may pass on the first turn if they have no card of the starting rank.

Example: Dominoes from the nine. Anna plays the 9♥, Ben the 9♠, Carla the 10♠. Dan may now play the 8♥, 10♥, 8♠, J♠, 9♦ or 9♣ – if he has none of these, he passes.

Continue until all cards have been played. 1st out +45, 2nd +20, 3rd +5, 4th −5 (total +65).

Over all seven contracts the totals add up to 0, which makes checking the score easy.

Doubling

After the contract has been announced, each player has one chance to double, starting with the player on the declarer's left and ending with the declarer.

• A double is a side bet between two players about which of them will score better in this deal.
• You may double any, all or none of the other players. Saying "maximum" means doubling everyone you may.
• Doubling a player who has already doubled you is called a redouble.
• The declarer may only redouble players who have doubled them.
• In the positive contracts (Trumps, Dominoes) you may only double the declarer, not each other.
• Compulsory doubles: during each declarer's seven deals, every other player must double the declarer at least twice. Mark these doubles on the score sheet.

Scoring

First write down everyone's points from the play. Then settle the doubles between each pair of players (six pairs):

• Nobody doubled the other: nothing happens.
• One doubled the other: the difference between their two scores is added to the better player and subtracted from the worse.
• Both doubled each other (double and redouble): the difference is doubled before settling.

Example: Anna is declarer and chooses No Queens. Ben says "maximum" (doubles Anna, Carla and Dan). Carla doubles only Anna. Dan passes. Anna redoubles Carla. In the play Dan takes two Queens, Anna and Carla one each: Anna −6, Ben 0, Carla −6, Dan −12. Settling: Anna pays Ben 6 (one double). Anna and Carla doubled each other but scored the same, so nothing. Carla pays Ben 6, Dan pays Ben 12. Dan and Anna, and Dan and Carla, have no doubles. Totals: Anna −12, Ben +24, Carla −12, Dan −24 – together −24, the value of No Queens.

Winning the game

After all 28 deals the player with the highest total wins. The four totals always add up to 0.

Tips for beginners

• Choose No Hearts or Barbu when you have many hearts: nobody can lead them, and being short in other suits lets you discard.
• Trumps is a good contract to keep for last: you choose the trump suit, and every hand has a suit of at least four cards.
• In Dominoes, Aces and 2s are dangerous – they are played last. A sequence like 7-6-5 in a suit where you don't hold the 4, 3 or 2 blocks the others.
• Don't leave your compulsory doubles until the last deal of a declarer's seven, especially if that could be a positive contract.

Variants

• Dealer declares: at some tables the dealer chooses the contract; the player on the dealer's left then leads to the first trick (in Dominoes the dealer starts).
• Only double the declarer: some allow doubles only against the declarer.
• Free trumping: in Trumps, some do not force players to trump or overtrump.
• Dominoes with low Aces: each suit then runs from Ace to King.
• Ravage City: an eighth contract without trumps – whoever takes the most cards of any one suit scores −36 (split on a tie); the session then has 32 deals.
• Other scores: a common alternative is −15 for the K♥ and +40/+20/+10/−10 in Dominoes.