400 (Four Hundred)

Full rules

1. Overview
2. The cards
3. Setup
4. Bidding
5. Playing the tricks
6. Scoring
7. Winning the game
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

400 (Arabic arba'meyeh, "four hundred") is a trick-taking game for four players in two teams, popular in Lebanon, Syria and neighbouring countries. It is a close cousin of Tarneeb, with two big differences: hearts are always trumps, and every player bids for their own tricks and keeps their own score. A team wins when one partner reaches 41 points while the other partner's score is above zero – so you have to look after your partner as well as yourself.

• Players: exactly 4, in two teams of two. Partners sit opposite each other.
• You need: one standard 52-card deck without jokers, and paper and pen for the score.

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. The cards have no point values – only tricks count.

A trick is one round in which each player plays one card face up; the best card wins all four. Hearts are trumps in every hand: any heart beats any card of another suit.

Setup

In 400, dealing, bidding and play all go anticlockwise (to the right).

1. Dealer: choose the first dealer at random. After each hand the deal passes to the right.
2. Deal: the dealer shuffles, the player on the dealer's left cuts, and the dealer deals out the whole pack in small batches (e.g. one card each, then six rounds of two), starting with the player on the right. Everyone has 13 cards.

Bidding

Each player bids once: the number of tricks they alone promise to win. Partners bid separately – each is bound by their own bid.

1. The player to the dealer's right bids first, then the others in turn to the right; the dealer bids last.
2. Nobody may pass. The lowest bid depends on your own score:

3. Total of the bids: the four bids together must come to at least 11.
4. If the total is too low, the cards are thrown in and the next dealer (to the right) deals again.

Example: North deals. West bids 3, South 4, East 2 and North, with nothing better, 2. The total is 11, so the hand is played.

Playing the tricks

1. The player to the dealer's right leads – plays the first card – to the first trick.
2. The others each play one card in turn to the right. You must follow suit – play a card of the suit that was led – if you can.
3. If you have no card of the suit led, you may play any card: a heart to trump, or any other card to throw it away.
4. Who wins: the highest heart in the trick; if there is no heart, the highest card of the suit led.
5. The winner of the trick keeps it face down in front of them and leads to the next trick.

Each player keeps their own tricks – they are counted for that player, not for the team. After 13 tricks the hand is over.

Scoring

Every player scores on their own:

• Bid made (at least as many tricks as bid): you score the value of your bid. Extra tricks earn nothing.
• Bid failed: you lose the value of your bid.

Higher bids are worth more than their number of tricks:

Once your score is 30 or more, a bid of 5 is worth only 5 and a bid of 6 only 6. From 7 upwards the values stay the same.

A bid of 13: if you win every trick, your team wins the game at once, whatever your partner's score. If you lose a single trick – even to your partner – your team loses the game.

Scores can go below zero.

Example: In the hand above, West wins 4 tricks, South 3, East 3 and North 3. West made 3: +3. South bid 4 but won only 3: −4. East and North each made their 2: +2 each.

Winning the game

Write down all four totals after every hand. Your team wins when one of you has 41 points or more and the other has more than 0. If your partner is at zero or below, keep playing until they climb above zero – or until the other team wins first.

If both teams meet this condition after the same hand, the team with the higher combined score wins.

Tips for beginners

• Count your sure tricks. Aces, high hearts and a long heart suit win tricks most reliably; Kings and Queens in other suits are less certain.
• Think about the total. The dealer, who bids last, sees whether the total will reach 11 – bid a little higher to keep a good hand in play, or stay low to throw in a bad one.
• Help your partner. If your partner needs tricks and you have made your bid, let their cards win and don't take tricks you don't need.
• Watch the scores near 30. Once you reach 30, a 5 bid is worth only 5 – but your lowest bid also rises.

Variants

Agree on these before you start.

• No face card: a player dealt no Ace, King, Queen or Jack may ask for a new deal.
• Five to run: one player must bid 5 (worth 10 points), the others at least 2 – this speeds up the game.
• Rising total (Jawaker rules): the bids must total at least 12 if anyone has 30–39 points, 13 at 40–49 and 14 at 50 or more (count the highest score at the table). According to pagat.com, some Lebanese players use the 12 from 30 points.
• Big bids: 10 or more is worth 40 points (Jawaker rules), or 11 or more is worth 50.
• Forty-one (Syria): each player may bid 1 or more, bids of 1–6 are worth their number and 7 or more double; there is no rule about the lowest bid rising with the score.
• Longer game: play to 44 instead of 41.