Belote rules

Four players, two teams facing each other, 32 cards, eight tricks. Jacquespote offers belote without declarations, belote with declarations, contrée and coinche. This page describes what the game applies, offline and online. Some details vary from one table to another.

The four variants

The card play is the same everywhere. What changes is how trumps are chosen and how points are counted.

Card values

The Jack and the 9 only show their full strength in trumps. With the 10 points for winning the last trick, each deal puts 162 points in play.

From strongest to weakest:

• in trumps: Jack, 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, 7;
• in other suits: Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7.

Playing the cards

The player after the dealer leads to the first trick. After that, whoever wins a trick leads to the next one. The highest trump wins the trick. If no trump was played, the highest card of the suit led wins.

What you must play

• A suit is led and you hold it: you follow suit, with any card of that suit.
• Trumps are led: you play a trump, and you must beat the highest trump played so far if you can. With no trumps, you play what you like.
• You cannot follow suit and your partner is winning the trick: you play what you like.
• You cannot follow suit and an opponent is winning the trick: you must trump. If a trump has already been played, you must overtrump, or undertrump if you cannot go higher. With no trumps, you play what you like.

Belote and rebelote

The King and Queen of trumps in the same hand are worth 20 points. The player says "belote" when playing the first of the two, and "rebelote" when playing the second. These 20 points are added to the score and are never multiplied.

Belote without declarations

The deal and taking trumps

Each player receives five cards, then one card is turned up.

1. First round: in turn, each player takes the suit of the turned-up card as trumps, or passes.
2. Second round: if everyone passed, each player may choose one of the other three suits, or pass.
3. If everyone passes again, the cards are dealt anew.

The rest of the pack is then dealt. In either round, the taker picks up the turned-up card and receives two more cards, while the others receive three: everyone ends up with eight cards.

The contract

The taker's team must finish with more points than the defence, belote included.

Scoring

Belote stays with the team that holds it, even when the contract fails, and is added to these figures.

Ties

On an exact tie, the defence scores its points. The taker's points are set aside, and the next team to make a contract as taker collects them on top of its score.

Capot

A team that wins all eight tricks scores 252 points, and the other team none. Belote stays with the team that holds it, even if that team won no tricks.

Belote with declarations

Everything works as in belote without declarations, with the combinations players hold in hand on top.

For sequences, the order is 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. Four 8s or four 7s are worth nothing.

• When: each player declares when playing their first card, and shows the combination at the start of the second trick.
• Which ones: all those in the hand, without using the same card twice. Four Kings and a tierce make 120 points. Six or more consecutive cards count as a single Hundred.
• Who scores: only the team holding the best declaration scores, for both its players. The other team's declarations are worth nothing.
• The best one: four of a kind beats any sequence. Between two fours of a kind, the order is Jacks, 9s, Aces, 10s, Kings, Queens. Between two sequences, compare the points, then the highest card, then trumps, and finally the order of play. Each player competes with their strongest declaration.
• Failed contract or capot: these points go to the team that wins the deal, whichever team declared them.

The contract is then judged with declarations included.

Contrée

Each player receives all eight cards at once, and a bid sets both trumps and the contract. No declarations count, except belote.

Bidding

In turn, each player may:

• bid a contract: a number of points, from 80 to 360 in tens, and a suit, always above the current bid;
• bid Capot or Générale: Capot, worth 250, commits the team to winning every trick. Générale, worth 500, commits the taker to winning them alone, with no trick going to their partner. An ordinary contract of 250 points commits to nothing of the kind;
• double an opponent's bid: the points are multiplied by 2, and no one can bid any further;
• redouble, for the doubled team: the points are multiplied by 4, and the bidding stops at once;
• pass.

Bidding ends after three passes in a row. If all four players pass straight away, the cards are dealt anew.

The contract

The taker's team must reach the number bid, with its tricks and its belote. It does not need to score more than the defence. Winning all eight tricks fulfils any contract, except a Générale if the taker's partner won a trick.

Scoring

In this table, C is the value of the contract.

If the contract is doubled or redoubled, the winning side scores everything, multiplied by 2 or 4, and the other side nothing:

• contract made or failed: (160 + C) × 2 or × 4;
• capot made, or Capot and Générale bid, made or missed: (250 + C) × 2 or × 4.

Belote in contrée

It is always worth 20 points, never multiplied, and normally stays with the team that holds it, even on a capot. There are two exceptions:

• on a doubled contract, it goes to the winning side;
• on a Capot or Générale bid and missed, the taker loses theirs.

Rounding

Each team's total is rounded to the nearest ten: 85 becomes 90, and 84 becomes 80.

Coinche

The bidding is the same as in contrée, except that players say "coinche" and "surcoinche" instead of "double" and "redouble". Declarations count, with the same rules as in belote with declarations.

The contract

There are two conditions, counting tricks, belote and the declarations of the team holding the best one:

1. reach the number bid (winning all eight tricks does so automatically, except for a Générale, which the taker must win alone);
2. score more points than the defence.

Scoring

In this table, C is the value of the contract, and D the declarations of the team holding the best one.

• Coinched or surcoinched: the base goes from 160 to 250 for a capot made or a Générale made, and for a Capot or Générale bid and missed.
• Declarations, without a coinche: D is added to the score of the team holding the best declaration. On a failed contract or a capot, D goes to the team that wins the deal.
• Belote: 20 points, never multiplied, for the team that holds it, even on a capot or a coinched contract. On a Capot or Générale bid and missed, the taker loses theirs.
• Rounding: the same as in contrée.

End of the game

The game stops at the end of the deal in which a team reaches the target score, and the higher total wins. On an exact tie, one more deal is played.