Belote Rules

Form two teams of two players and play a great contract game called Belote. The rules for Belote are given below, so may the best team win!

Material

To play Belote, you will need :
-4 players divided into two teams of two players
-a deck of 32 cards (7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king and ace)

Set up

• Shuffle the cards
• Players set up on the table so that each team is facing each other
• Choose a dealer at random
• The player to the left of the dealer cuts the cards
• The dealer deals 2 and then 3 cards (or vice versa) to each player, starting with the player on the right, so that each player has 5 cards in hand
• The direction of play is counter-clockwise

Purpose of the game

Since belote is a contract game, the object of the game is to score more points than your opponents by winning as many tricks as possible in each round. The ultimate goal is to reach 1000 points first to win the game.

The value of the cards

The particularity of belote is the notion of trump. Indeed, in each game, one of the 4 suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades) will be designated as trump. The trump (the designated suit) gives a value and an order of strength different from the non-atout cards.
◊ For the trump suit, here is the list of cards from highest to lowest: Jack, 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8 and 7
◊ For the other non-Trump cards, here is the list of cards from highest to lowest: Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8 and 7
Note: Be aware that the cards of the trump suit are always stronger than the non-trump cards, whatever their value.

Flow of the game through a round

• Once players have 5 cards in their hand, the remaining cards will be placed in the middle of the table
• Turn over the first card of the middle deck (called the “Turnover”)
• The “Return” determines the trump of the game
• The player to the right of the dealer is the first to speak
• He must decide whether to take the Return or pass
• If he takes the Return, the trump color for the current round will be the color of the Return

  

• If he does not take the Return, he decides to pass and then it is the turn of the player on the right to speak

Be careful!
→ When you take the Return, your team will have to make a contract of at least 82 points with the requested trump (the color of the Return) at the end of the round, knowing that a round is played on 162 points
→ The role of the opposite team is to prevent the contract from being fulfilled

NOTE:

• When a player decides to take the Return, he places it in his deck. At this point, the dealer deals the remaining middle cards, giving 3 cards per player, except for the player who took the Return (he will receive 2 cards because he already took the Return)
• The deal always starts with the player on the right of the dealer
• When all players have decided to pass during a round (no player has taken the Return), the player who speaks first during the second round (always the one to the right of the dealer) may choose to announce another suit as the trump suit. At this point, he announces the suit of his choice (except the suit of the Return), takes the Return and the dealer deals the remaining cards.
• When all players have decided to pass during the 2 rounds, you must start from the beginning, i.e. when the player to the left of the dealer cuts the cards.
• When all players have 8 cards in their hand, the round can start
• The player to the right of the dealer is the first to play the card of his choice

Rules to follow during the game

• You must play a card of the suit requested by the first player to play
  Example: if the first player plays a Jack of Hearts, all the other players must also play a card of the suit of hearts (if they have a card of the suit of hearts in their deck)
• If you don’t have a card of the requested suit, you can cut with a card of the trump suit (at this moment, you win the trick because the cards of the trump suit are always the strongest)
• If 2 or 3 players don’t have a card of the requested suit, and they decide to cut with a card of the trump suit, the player who played the card of the strongest trump suit wins the trick
  Example: The trump suit for the current round is spades. The first player plays an Ace of hearts, the second plays a Jack of hearts, the third has no hearts and decides to cut with a 10 of spades, the last player also has no hearts and decides to cut with a 9 of spades. The player who played the 9 of spades wins the trick because the 9 is stronger than the 10 if it is the trump that is in play.
• It is not mandatory to go up when it is the non- all color
  Example: The trump suit is spades. The first player plays a 9 of diamonds, the second player is not obliged to show (play a higher card than the one played last) and can therefore play an 8 or a 7 of diamonds.
• It is obligatory to go up when it is the trump suit
  Example: The trump suit is spades. The first player plays a jack of hearts, the second plays a king of hearts, the third has no hearts and decides to cut with a 10 of spades. The fourth player also has no hearts and must also cut with a card of the trump suit, but he must play a card of the spade suit that is even stronger than the 10 of spades (if he has one stronger in his deck) such as the Ace, 9 or Jack of spades.
• A player is not obliged to cut if his partner is “master”, i.e. if his partner has played the highest card of the other suit.
  Example:
  -The trump suit is spades. The first player plays a Queen of Hearts, the second plays an Ace of Hearts, the third plays a 9 of Hearts. The fourth player (the second player’s partner) does not have a heart, but may decide not to cut because his partner is “master” by playing the Ace of hearts, which is the strongest card in the heart suit.
  -The trump suit is spades. The first player plays an Ace of hearts, the second player plays a Queen of hearts, the third (the partner of the first player) has no hearts and decides not to cut because his partner is “master” thanks to the Ace of hearts which is the strongest card of the heart suit. The third player can decide not to cut, even if the fourth has not yet played (the cards played on the table are all that count).
• When a player has the queen and king of the trump suit in his deck, he must call belote (when playing the queen) and rebelote (when playing the king) to win points at the end of the round (only if he calls them)
• The player who played the highest card and got the trick always starts the next round
• The team that gets the last trick in a round will get 10 points, which is also called “the 10 of der”.
  

End of a round

A round ends when all 8 cards of each player have been played, or when all players have completed 8 rounds of play. At this point, each team collects all the tricks they have made during the round and counts down the points.

Counting the points

• Each team counts their points by adding the points of the cards one by one
  

The example of the trump suit in this image is spades, and the example of the non-Trump suit is hearts. Below each card, you will see the point assigned to that card, whether it is a trump or a non-trump suit.

• When the taking team (the team that took the Return) has succeeded in fulfilling its contract, i.e. obtaining at least 82 points, it gets the total points it has achieved. The opposing team also gets the total points it has achieved.
• When the winning team has not managed to fulfill its contract, i.e. obtain less than 82 points, it gets 0 points and the opposing team gets 162 points.
• When a team manages to get all the tricks during a round, it is a “cap”. If a team succeeds in making a “capot”, it will score 252 points and the opposing team will get 0 points.
• When there is a tie (i.e. 81 points for each team), the defending team will get its total points (81 points), while the winning team will get its points (81 points) as a bonus for the next round.
  Note:
• Regardless of the situation at the end of an inning, you should know that the points for calling “Belote” and “Rebelote” are always unassailable. This means that the team that successfully calls Belote and Rebelote during an inning will always get 20 points (even if the contract is dropped or capped).
• Don’t forget to add 10 points for the team that managed to get the last trick in the last round during a round.

End of the game

After several rounds, the team that manages to score at least 1000 points wins the game.