Belote is a French partnership card game for four players in two teams of two with a 32-card pack. Every hand is eight tricks, and before the first lead one suit becomes trump. That choice rewrites the trump suit completely, as its jack, a minor card in the other suits, becomes the highest card in the pack and is worth 20 points, and its nine climbs to second place. You play with Rory, a computer partner across the table, against Alex and Sam, and the Rules menu in the side panel switches between two complete rule sets. In Classic, trump comes from a turned-up card and the game goes to 1,000, while in Coinche, players bid point contracts that can be doubled and redoubled, and the game goes to 2,000. Switching starts a fresh game in the chosen rules, and the table remembers your choice for next time.
The pack keeps the 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K and A of each suit. Partners sit opposite each other and the dealer changes every hand. The opening lead belongs to the player sitting left of the dealer, and every later trick is led by whoever won the one before. The side that chose trump is the declaring side and the other side defends.
At the end of the hand each side adds up the card points in the tricks it took. The declarers succeed only by finishing above the defenders, and in Coinche they must also reach the number they bid.
The two rule sets use the same cards, card points and duties in play. What changes is how trump is chosen and how a hand is scored:
| Classic | Coinche | |
|---|---|---|
| Deal | Five cards each and one turned up, then topped up to eight | All eight cards at once, nothing turned up |
| Choosing trump | Two rounds of take or pass | An auction from 80 to 160, or 250 for Capot |
| What the declarers need | More points than the defenders | At least the bid, and more than the defenders |
| Doubling | None | Coinche ×2, Surcoinche ×4 |
| Opponent trumping and you can't overtrump | Still play a lower trump | Play any card |
| Equal totals | Litige, points carried to the next hand | The contract fails |
| Game | 1,000 | 2,000 |
The columns below follow the trump order. Read across to see how the same card ranks and scores in the trump suit and in the other three suits:
| Card | Jack | Nine | Ace | Ten | King | Queen | Eight | Seven |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank in trump | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th |
| Points in trump | 20 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Rank in a plain suit | 5th | 6th | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 7th | 8th |
| Points in a plain suit | 2 | 0 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
The trump suit alone holds 62 points and each plain suit 30, so the pack is worth 152 card points. The last trick adds 10 for the side that wins it, making 162 in a normal hand. A side that takes all eight tricks, a Capot, gets 100 instead of that 10, for 252. In every suit the 10 outranks the king. Once trump is chosen, a Card order note in the side panel lists both orders for that hand.
The pick-up in step 5 happens even when the trump named in round two is a different suit from the turned card. A turned ace or 10 is therefore worth points to whoever ends up taking, whatever trump they name. Classic has no bid amount at all, since the declarers only need more points than the defenders.
In Coinche all eight cards are dealt at once and nothing is turned up. A bid names a number and a trump suit, from 80 to 160 in steps of 10, or 250 for Capot, a promise to take all eight tricks. Each bid must be higher than the one before. Once someone has bid, three passes in a row end the auction, and if all four pass at the start, the cards are redealt.
On your turn, while an opponent holds the current contract, you can also Coinche it, which doubles the hand and ends the bidding on the spot. The first player on the declaring side after the doubler then answers with Surcoinche to redouble to ×4, or "Play ×2" to accept. That answer can come from the declarer's partner rather than the declarer. Here is an auction with Sam dealing, written the way the side panel's Auction grid writes it:
| You | Alex | Rory | Sam |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90♥ | 100♠ | 110♥ | P |
| P | ×2 | ×4 or Play |
Rory's 110 in hearts is the contract. Alex could still have bid 120 or more instead of doubling, and once he doubles, the only question left is whether Rory accepts ×2 or raises the stakes to ×4.
Belote has strict duties to trump and to overtrump, and one case differs between the two modes:
| What is on the table | Classic | Coinche |
|---|---|---|
| A plain suit was led and you have it | Follow with any card of that suit | The same |
| Trump was led and you have trump | Play higher than the best trump in the trick if you can, even over your partner; otherwise any trump | The same |
| You are out of the led suit and your partner is winning | Play any card | The same |
| You are out of the led suit and an opponent is winning with a plain card | Trump if you have any | The same |
| You are out of the led suit and an opponent is winning with a trump | Overtrump if you can; if you can't, you still play a lower trump | Overtrump if you can; if you can't, play any card |
| You have neither the led suit nor trump | Play any card | The same |
The second row surprises newcomers. With hearts as trump, if Rory has played the A♥ on a trump lead and you hold the 9♥ and 7♥, you must play the 9♥, because it ranks above the ace.
A player holding both the king and queen of trump has Belote–Rebelote, worth 20 points to their side. Nothing needs to be announced. When the first of the two cards is played, a "Belote" label appears on the table, and the second brings up "Belote–Rebelote +20". The 20 points count toward a side's total in both modes, and a side keeps them even when its contract fails.
No. Neither mode scores declarations, so a run of three, four or five cards or a carré of four of a kind earns nothing here. Belote–Rebelote, worth 20, is the only bonus for holding particular cards.
Each side's total is its trick points plus its Belote. The declarers need a strictly higher total than the defenders.
| How the hand went | Declarers score | Defenders score |
|---|---|---|
| Declarers 91, defenders 71 | 91 | 71 |
| Declarers 80, defenders 82: set | 0 | 162 |
| Declarers 70, defenders 92 plus their own Belote, 112: set | 0 | 162 + 20 = 182 |
| Declarers 71 plus their Belote, 91; defenders 91: a tie | 20, their Belote | 91, with the declarers' 71 held back |
| Declarers take all eight tricks (Capot) | 252 plus their Belote | Only their own Belote |
A tie is called litige. The points held back are shown under the score as "Litige carried over: 71" and go to whichever side wins the next hand, so if the defenders of that hand declare next and make it 95 to 67, they score 95 + 71 = 166 and the other side 67. The first side to reach 1,000 wins, though if both reach it in the same hand, the higher score wins, and an exact tie means another hand.
The declarers make their contract when their total reaches the bid and beats the defenders' total, and a 250 bid also needs all eight tricks. A tie is a failure in Coinche, so nothing is carried over. Every hand's score is rounded to the nearest 10.
| Contract and result | Declarers score | Defenders score |
|---|---|---|
| 90, made 101 to 61 | 101 + 90 = 191, rounded to 190 | 61, rounded to 60 |
| 120, made with 105 in tricks plus Belote, 125 to 57 | 125 + 120 = 245, rounded to 250 | 57, rounded to 60 |
| 90, set at 88 to 74 | 0 | 160 + 90 = 250 |
| 80, a tie at 81 to 81 | 0 | 160 + 80 = 240 |
| 110 doubled (Coinche), set at 96 to 66 | 0 | (160 + 110) × 2 = 540 |
| 80 redoubled (Surcoinche), made 97 to 65 | (160 + 80) × 4 = 960 | 0 |
| 250, all eight tricks taken | 252 + 250 = 502, rounded to 500 | 0 |
| 250, only seven tricks taken | 0 | 160 + 250 = 410 |
When a contract fails, the declarers keep only their Belote, and any Belote the defenders hold is added to their score. A doubled or redoubled hand ignores the actual trick points. The winning side scores 160 plus the contract plus its own Belote, times the multiplier, and the losing side keeps only its Belote, while 250 replaces the 160 when the winners took all eight tricks.
The first side to 2,000 wins, with one exception, as a side that was set or lost every trick in a hand cannot win the game in that hand just because its 20 Belote points carried it past 2,000. Play continues instead.
Look at what the turned card brings before you look at your own trumps. Suppose the turned card is the 7♠ and you hold J♠, 10♠, K♠, A♥ and 10♥. Taking gives you the top trump, two more spades worth 10 and 4 points, the worthless 7♠ and two unknown cards, but the 9♠ and A♠, the second and third trumps, are somewhere else. With an ace and a 10 in hearts as well, it is a reasonable take. A turned J or 9 changes the picture for everyone, because whoever takes that suit in round one holds one of its two top trumps from the start.
Measure a bid against the 162 points in a hand. A bid of 100 with no Belote means your side has to take 100 of those 162 points, whereas holding the trump king and queen as well means the tricks only need to bring 80, because the 20 counts toward the contract. Doubling is the same bet in both directions. On a doubled 110, whichever side is right scores 540 and the other scores nothing beyond its Belote, against 270 for the defenders if the same contract had failed undoubled.
In a plain suit the 10 is the second-highest card and worth 10 points, so leading it while that suit's ace is still out often hands 21 points to the opponents in one trick. Cash the ace first, and the 10 becomes the top card of its suit. If you declared and hold the J and 9 of trump, drawing trumps early keeps the defenders from trumping your aces and tens later. And the final trick is worth 10 points on top of its cards, so a sure winner kept until then still pays its way.
Choose trump in two Classic rounds or bid a Coinche contract, then coordinate with your partner through mandatory following, ruffing, overtrumping, Belote–Rebelote, and exact contract scoring.
Play Belote Card Game free against adjustable AI in your browser. No download or account.
Preparing