How to play Belote

Four players in opposite partnerships, a score sheet, and a 32-card pack with 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, and A in each suit.

Take enough card points to fulfill the contract when your side chose trumps. The first partnership to reach 1,000 cumulative points wins under the rules described here.

1. 1Seat partners opposite. This version deals and plays counterclockwise; agree on direction before starting because clockwise play is also common.
2. 2Deal each player three cards and then two, and turn the next card face up. Its suit is the first proposed trump suit.
3. 3Each player in turn may take that suit or pass. If all pass, take a second round in which a player may choose a different trump suit. If all pass again, the next dealer takes over.
4. 4The taker receives the face-up card and two more cards; every other player receives three more. Everyone now has eight cards.

1. 1The player after the dealer leads. Follow the led suit whenever possible. If you cannot follow and an opponent is winning, you must trump if you can; if your partner is winning, you may discard.
2. 2When playing trump, overtrump the highest trump already in the trick if able. This also matters on a trump lead: follow trump and beat the current highest trump if you can.
3. 3The highest trump wins a trick; otherwise the highest card in the led suit wins. The winner leads the next trick. The final trick carries a ten-point bonus.
4. 4Trump ranks J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7. Other suits rank A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7. Trump J is worth 20 card points and trump 9 is worth 14.

• The eight tricks contain 152 card points plus 10 for the last trick, for 162 before declarations.
• If the takers have at least as many points as the opponents, each side records its own points and eligible declarations. If the takers fall short, the opponents receive the hand’s points under the agreed declaration rules.
• Taking all eight tricks is a capot: the winning side scores 252 points before declarations. Continue dealing until a partnership reaches 1,000.

• Belote-Rebelote: holding the king and queen of trumps scores 20 when both are played, with the calls made as each card is played.
• Some groups omit most declarations; others award points for four of a kind or same-suit sequences. Settle which declarations count before the first hand.
• Belote Découverte is a two-player exposed-card version with a substantially different deal; it is not the eight-card partnership game played with one empty seat.

• Learn the unusual trump order first: the jack and nine beat the trump ace.
• When you are void in the led suit, check whether your partner is already winning before discarding or spending a trump.
• Keep trick points and declaration points separate on the score sheet so the contract result is easy to audit.