Belote

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Taking the trump
5. Playing the tricks
6. Declarations
7. Belote and rebelote
8. Scoring
9. Winning the game
10. Tips for beginners
11. Variants

Overview

Belote is the most popular card game in France: a trick-taking game for four players in two teams. In each hand one player takes – accepts a trump suit – and their team promises to score at least as many points as the other team. Points come from the cards won in tricks, from declarations (sets of cards in your hand) and from the King and Queen of trumps, the belote. If the takers fall short, the other team scores everything. The first team to reach 1000 wins.

• Players: exactly 4, in two teams of two. Partners sit opposite each other.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, and paper and pen for scoring.

The cards

Take out all 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 6s and the jokers. You play with 32 cards: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7 in each suit.

The trump suit is the strongest suit in a hand: any trump beats any card of another suit. In the trump suit the Jack and the 9 jump to the top and are worth the most.

Both columns run from the highest card to the lowest. The cards add up to 152 points; with 10 for the last trick there are 162 points in every hand.

Setup

In France, dealing and play go anticlockwise (to the right).

1. Dealer: pick the first dealer at random. After each hand the turn to deal passes to the right.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, and the player to the dealer's left cuts. The dealer gives each player 3 cards, then 2 more, face down – everyone has 5.
3. Turn-up: the dealer turns the next card face up on the table. Its suit is the proposed trump. The rest of the pack stays face down for now.

Taking the trump

The player to the dealer's right speaks first, then the others in turn to the right.

1. First round: each player either takes ("I take" – the turn-up suit becomes trumps) or passes.
2. Second round: if all four passed, each player in turn may name another suit as trumps, or pass again.
3. If all pass twice, the cards are thrown in and the next player deals.

As soon as someone takes, the bidding stops. That player is the taker; the taker and partner are the takers, the other team are the defenders. The taker picks up the turn-up card – even if another suit was named. The dealer then deals the rest: 3 cards to each other player and 2 to the taker. Everyone now has 8 cards.

Playing the tricks

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card, face up; the best card wins all four. The player to the dealer's right leads (plays the first card) to the first trick; the winner of each trick leads to the next.

1. Follow suit: you must play a card of the suit that was led if you can.
2. Trump led: if trumps are led, you must play a higher trump than any already in the trick if you can; otherwise any trump.
3. Can't follow: if you have no card of the suit led, you must trump – unless your partner is winning the trick; then you may play any card.
4. Overtrump: whenever you play a trump, it must beat the highest trump in the trick if you can. If you can't, you must still play a trump (unless your partner is winning).
5. Only if you have neither the suit led nor a trump may you play any card.

Who wins: the highest trump, or if no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led. The team winning the last trick gets 10 points (dix de der).

Declarations

A declaration is a set of cards in your hand that scores extra points:

A sequence is a run of one suit in the order A K Q J 10 9 8 7 (this natural order applies in trumps too). One card can't be used in two declarations.

How to declare: each player announces declarations ("a tierce", "four Kings") while playing their card to the first trick. After the trick, compare: only the team with the best declaration scores – but it scores all its declarations. The other team scores none, even if theirs add up to more.

• The higher-scoring declaration wins; a four beats a sequence of 5.
• Between sequences of the same length, the one with the higher top card wins.
• If still equal, a sequence in trumps wins; if neither is trumps, the player nearest the dealer's right wins.

An opponent may ask to see the scoring cards.

Belote and rebelote

Holding the King and Queen of trumps scores 20 points, whoever has the best declaration. Say "belote" when you play the first of them and "rebelote" when you play the second.

Scoring

After all 8 tricks, each team adds up its card points, the last trick, its declarations (if it had the best) and belote.

• Takers have at least as many as the defenders: both teams score their own totals.
• Takers have fewer: they are dedans ("inside") and score only their belote, if they had it. The defenders score 162, plus all declarations of both teams (except the takers' belote).
• Capot: a team that wins all 8 tricks scores 100 instead of 10 for the last trick – 252 plus declarations. A team without a trick loses its declarations (but not belote).

Example: Hearts are trumps; Anna took. Her team has a tierce (20) and belote (20); the defenders declared nothing. Anna's team wins 97 card points plus the last trick, 107 in all → 147. The defenders have 55. Anna's team made it: they write 147, the defenders 55. Had the defenders won 90 and the takers 72 (+40 = 112), the takers would still be ahead. With only 40 (+40 = 80) against 122, they would be dedans: the defenders write 162 + 20 = 182, the takers 20 for the belote.

Winning the game

Write both teams' totals after every hand. The first team to reach 1000 points wins. If both teams reach 1000 in the same hand, the game is a draw.

Tips for beginners

• Take on the Jack or 9 of trumps. They are worth 34 points together and win the first trump tricks. A lone trump Ace is rarely enough.
• Remember: you'll get 3 more cards. The taker only knows 6 of their 8 cards, including the turn-up.
• Lead trumps early as taker to clear out the defenders' trumps before your Aces are ruffed.
• Give points to a winning partner. If your partner will take the trick, play your 10 or Ace on it.
• Count trumps. There are 8; know how many are still out.

Variants

• Tie (litige): French Wikipedia gives this as the normal rule: on an equal score only the defenders score; the takers' points are held back and go to whoever wins the next hand.
• Clockwise: some regions deal and play clockwise.
• Rounding: some round each score to the nearest 10 to speed up adding.
• Coinche (Belote contrée): a popular modern form with an auction instead of the turn-up: players bid how many points they will make and may double ("coinche") the opponents' bid.