Belote
Belote Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
My First Belote — Rules for Beginners
Belote is played 2 against 2: teammates sit face to face, and each holds 8 cards in hand (Player 1 and Player 2 sit opposite each other, with Teammate 2 and Teammate 1 completing the square).
Each turn, every player must play one card in turn. Play goes clockwise.
The first card played sets the "suit led": this means every player must play a card of the same suit. For example, if Clubs is led, everyone must play a Club.
If you don't have that suit, you may "cut," meaning play trump. Trump replaces the suit led. If you have no trump either, you must play a card to "throw away": it cannot win the trick even if it is a very strong card.
Whoever played the strongest card takes the "trick" — that's the name for the pile of cards — and sets it aside until the end of the round. That player then leads any card they like, and a new trick begins.
At the end of the round, whichever team won the most tricks (piles of cards) scores 1 point. The first team to reach 5 points wins the game!
The Suits
There are 4 suits: Spades, Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds.
Basically, all four suits have the same values, but each round one of them becomes trump! When that happens, the values of every card in that suit change.
Trumps
Each round, a suit is chosen to become "trump" — the wildcard suit that is stronger than all the others: even a very small trump card beats a very high card of another suit. It's magic!
The Strength of the Cards
In Belote, the cards always work in pairs:
- The Ace and the 10 are the number ones!
- The King and the Queen stick together.
- The Jack and the 9 gorge themselves on magic potion so they can jump ahead of everyone when they become trump, while the 8 and the 7 bring up the rear, loyal to their post no matter what.
This gives us: Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7 when the suit is not trump, and Jack, 9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, 7 when it is trump.
In the game box you'll find a handy little card you can check during play to avoid memory lapses.
Quick Reference: Card Order and Points
| Non-trump | Points | Trump | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ace | 11 | Jack | 20 |
| 10 | 10 | 9 | 14 |
| King | 4 | Ace | 11 |
| Queen | 3 | 10 | 10 |
| Jack | 2 | King | 4 |
| 9 | 0 | Queen | 3 |
| 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
- 82 points needed to win, otherwise the opponents get 160 points.
- 250 points for a capot (the team wins every trick).
- Belote/Rebelote (King and Queen of trump in hand): +20 points.
- Ten-for-Last (10 de Der): 10 points for whoever wins the last trick.
Tip: When you hold the Jack and/or the 9 of trump, you can turn them around in your hand so you don't forget they are now stronger — but be careful the others don't see you do it, or they'll guess your hand!
Dealing and Play
Start by forming two teams of two.
Play goes clockwise. The player who deals is called the "dealer." The player to the dealer's right cuts the deck — that means splitting the pack in two and putting the top half underneath.
The player to the dealer's left plays first.
For the next round: whoever led first now deals, the new dealer's right-hand neighbor cuts, and so on.
The dealer gives out 3 cards to each player, then 2 cards, then another 3 cards, for a total of 8 cards each. Once all the cards are dealt, players pick up their hands, and whoever leads plays the card of their choice — that sets the suit led.
The other players must each play a card in turn. If they hold the suit led, they are required to follow suit; if not, they must play trump. If a player has neither the suit led nor a trump, they may play any card they choose, but it cannot win the trick (this is called "throwing away").
Whoever played the strongest card takes the pile and wins the trick, sets it aside, and leads any card from their hand — that becomes the new suit led. This continues until the players have no cards left in hand.
When a player must play trump and a trump has already been played to the trick, they are required to play a higher trump if they can. If they have no higher trump, they may play whatever trump they like. This rule also applies when playing "all trump."
When the players have no cards left in hand, the tricks are counted. The team with the most piles wins the round. Note: the last trick counts double, so there are effectively 9 tricks each round (8 real tricks plus 1 bonus)!
Tip: Don't forget you're playing as a team — help your partner to win!
Recap of play: cut the deck, deal the cards, play, and count the tricks!
The Variant for Grown-Ups
Now that you know how to play well, let's make the game a bit more challenging!
The game stays the same, except it is now played to 8 points, and trump is chosen through bidding!
Bidding Rules
- All players look at their cards; the player after the dealer speaks first.
- When a player bids, they announce a number of tricks they think they can win, plus a suit. For example: "2 Hearts" means they want Hearts to be trump and they're betting their team will win at least 2 tricks.
- You can announce "all trump" and "no trump" with a number in front, just like normal suits. For example: "3 no trump."
- A player who has nothing they want to say may always pass.
- A player who has already passed is allowed to speak again if the turn comes back around to them.
- When a player bids, they may choose whichever suit they like, even one that's already been named. However, the number must always be higher than any number already announced in the bidding.
- You're allowed to raise your own partner's bid. For example: if your partner says "2 Hearts" and you have a lot of good cards, you can say "3 Hearts" or "4 Hearts." But if you prefer a different suit, you're free to name whatever you like. Careful: the number must always be higher than any number already announced!
- If three players in a row pass, bidding is over and play begins. You cannot raise your own bid.
- If no player bids anything, the cards are gathered, cut, and redealt.
- The player who leads first is always the one after the dealer, even if they didn't bid!
- The highest bid decides trump. For example: "8 Clubs" means trump is Clubs.
- If a team makes its bid, it scores 1 point.
- If a team fails its bid, the opponents score 1 point.
Bonuses
- If you hold the King and Queen of trump in hand, you must say "Belote" when you play the first of the two and "Rebelote" when you play the other, to win a bonus of 1 trick. Note: Belote/Rebelote does not apply when playing "all trump" or "no trump."
- If a team manages to win every trick, that's called a "capot," and it earns 1 bonus point — so the team scores 2 points total.
- An announced capot (if a team bid capot in their suit) is worth 1 more bonus point than an unannounced capot! That makes 3 points total if it succeeds — but if it fails, the other team scores 2 points.
- When an opponent announces a bid, you may say "I coinche" while knocking on the table. This immediately ends the bidding and play begins. Note: a coinched round earns 1 extra point on top of the other bonuses! A successful coinched capot is worth 4 points at once — the biggest score possible!
Point-Scoring Variant
The rules are almost the same as before, except you no longer count tricks — you count points instead! You can use the token cards to keep score.
If you add up the point values of every card (1 trump suit + 3 non-trump suits), you get a total of 152 points.
The last trick is worth 10 points: that's the famous "Ten-for-Last" (10 de der). This means each round has 162 points in total (152 points from the cards plus the 10 for last).
Belote/Rebelote is worth 20 points.
Classic Belote — No-Bidding Version
Before play, decide whether you're playing to 500, 1000, 1500 points, or more.
Each player receives 5 cards, then the top card of the remaining deck is turned face up.
Going around in turn order, players get the chance to "take" or pass:
- If a player takes, they pick up the turned-up card and its suit becomes trump. The rest of the deck is then dealt out: 2 more cards for the player who took, 3 cards for each of the other players.
- If no player takes, there's a second round where each player may propose a suit or pass.
As soon as a player proposes a suit, they pick up the turned-up card, and the rest of the deck is dealt: 2 cards for them, 3 for each other player. The proposed suit becomes trump.
If no one takes on the second round either, players return their cards, the deck is cut, and it's redealt.
The team of the player who took becomes the attacking team; the other team is on defense.
Play proceeds on the same basis as the earlier variants: the first card played sets the suit led; if a player doesn't have that suit, they must play trump if they can, otherwise they must "throw away" a card.
When trump is played and a trump has already been played to the trick, a player is required to play a higher trump if possible (even if they'd rather not); if that's not possible, they may play whichever trump they like.
If a player doesn't have the suit led, but their partner currently holds the trick (has played the strongest card so far), the player may choose not to cut and may throw away a card instead.
At the end of each trick, the player who played the strongest card wins the trick and leads the first card of the next one.
At the end of the round, the card points won by each team are counted:
- If the attacking team totals more than half the points (82 or more), each team scores the number of points it actually won.
- If the attacking team scores fewer than 82 points, it scores 0 and the opposing team scores 162 points.
- If a player has Belote/Rebelote (King and Queen of trump in hand), it earns their team a bonus of 20 points.
- If a team makes a capot (every trick of the round, without exception), it scores 250 points.
The first team to reach the agreed target (500, 1000, 1500 points, etc.) wins the game. If both teams reach the target at the same time, the attacking team wins the game.
Coinche — Bidding Version
Before play, decide whether you're scoring by points announced, points made, or points made plus points announced. Then set a target score to reach: 500, 1000, 1500 points, or more.
In every case, the dealer deals out all the cards (a round of 3 cards, a round of 2 cards, then a round of 3 cards).
The first player to speak is the one after the dealer. They may pass, or announce a number and a suit. This means they're committing their team to making at least that many points if that suit is trump. For example: "90 Spades" means "I want Spades to be trump, and I'm committing to making at least 90 points."
The next player may choose to pass, or overbid with a higher number of points and a suit of their choice, and so on.
Players are allowed to bid in a suit chosen by someone else. For example: if a player bids "80 Clubs" and their partner holds the Jack of Clubs, that partner may announce "100 Clubs" on their turn.
The minimum bid is 80, going up to 180 (160 + belote), and then capot (winning every trick, even ones worth no points). Bids must always be multiples of 10: 80, 90, 100, etc.
A player who has already passed may still bid if the turn comes back to them. Bidding continues until 3 players in a row have passed. Players may coinche their opponents at any time during the bidding.
To coinche, a player must knock on the table while saying "I coinche." Coinching ends the bidding immediately.
If the contract is coinched, play is for double the announced bid.
If the contract is set (the team fails to reach its announced number), the opponents score 160 points (or double the bid if the contract was coinched).
If the contract succeeds, scoring depends on which method was chosen before play:
Announced Points
The winning team scores only the number of points it announced, even if it actually made far more. So it's important to announce as precisely as possible in order to bank the maximum points.
Belote/Rebelote grants a margin of error of up to 20 points. For example: if the announcement was 100 points and the team wins 80 points plus the belote, the contract is considered fulfilled. However, the belote never scores points beyond the contract.
If the contract is fulfilled, the opposing team never scores any points — Belote/Rebelote does not apply to them. An announced capot is worth 250 points; an unannounced capot doesn't count for anything extra.
Points Made
If the contract is fulfilled, each team scores the number of points it actually made — that is, the total value of the cards it won during play.
Belote can apply for either team and adds 20 points to that team's total. An unannounced capot is worth 250 points, and an announced capot is worth 350 points.
If both teams reach the target score (1000, 1500 points, etc.) at the same time, the team that took the last contract wins the game.
Points Made and Points Announced
If the contract is fulfilled, the winning team scores the points of its contract plus the total of the points it actually made. The opposing team scores only the points it actually made.
Belote may be used by either team. An unannounced capot is worth 250 points (on top of the announcement), and an announced capot is worth 350 points.
Careful: point totals climb very fast with this method! It's recommended to play to 1500 or 2000 points. If both teams reach the target (1500, 2000 points, etc.) at the same time, the team that took the last contract wins the game.
Tip: Use a sheet of paper to note down the bids, or you risk forgetting them!
When You're Not Four Players
The Staircase (L'Escalier)
Players: 3 to 6 players.
The goal of the Staircase is not to win the most tricks, but to guess correctly. Each round, you must guess how many tricks you're going to win — but watch out, you can't always announce whatever you want! Someone has to be wrong: the total of all the announcements must never match the actual number of tricks to be played.
All players start at 0 points. Each round, what each player announced is compared with what they actually achieved.
Players lose 1 point for every trick of difference between their announcement and reality. For example: if a player announced 3 and actually won 1 or 5 tricks, they lose 2 points; if they won 2 or 4, they lose 1 point, and so on.
If a player's announcement is exactly right, they lose no points.
Whoever has lost the fewest points at the end of the game wins.
How it's played: On the first round, the dealer gives just 1 card to each player and turns over the top card of the deck — that sets the trump suit. Players do not look at their own card; instead they hold it against their forehead, showing it to everyone else.
In turn, each player tries to guess whether they'll win the trick, judging only by the cards they can see on the other players' foreheads.
Once everyone has spoken, the first player plays their card, setting the suit led. The other players play their cards, and whoever played the strongest card wins the trick.
Then the player who led first becomes the new dealer and deals 2 cards to each player, then turns over the top card of the deck as the new trump.
Each player looks at their own cards (without showing them to anyone else) and tries to guess whether they will win 0, 1, or 2 tricks. Remember: someone has to be wrong — the total of the announcements must never match the number of tricks to be played.
Once all players have given their estimate, the first player leads a suit. Players each play a card in turn; whoever played the strongest card leads the next trick, and so on, until the players have no cards left in hand.
A player who doesn't have the suit led must cut with trump; if they can't, they throw away a card.
Players are required to overtrump when possible (playing a higher trump than any already on the table).
Each round, one more card is dealt to each player, up to a maximum hand size: 3 players = 10 cards max, 4 players = 7 cards max, 5 players = 6 cards max, 6 players = 5 cards max.
Once the maximum is reached, play continues by dealing one fewer card each round, back down to 1 card held against the forehead again. That is the final round.
When the final round ends, scores are compared; whoever has lost the fewest points wins.
Tip: Use a sheet of paper to note down the estimates and scores, or you'll forget them!
Counter Belote (La Belote Comptoir)
Players: 2 players.
Counter Belote can be played by tricks or by points, whichever you prefer, and trump can be chosen by bidding if you like — it's up to you to decide before starting the game!
The rules are exactly the same as Belote or Coinche, except that the two missing players are replaced by piles of cards.
Dealing: The dealer deals the cards one at a time. First, they give one card to Player 1, one card to Player 2, one face-down card in front of Player 1, one face-down card in front of Player 2, and so on, until each player has 4 face-down cards in front of them.
The dealer then continues dealing on the same principle, but now covering each face-down card already placed in front of the players with a face-up card.
During play, each player plays one card per turn. Players may choose to play a card from their hand, or one of the face-up cards laid out in front of them. When a player plays one of the face-up cards, they turn face-up the face-down card that was hidden underneath it.