The French partnership card game, in full
Belote is the most popular card game in France, played by four people in two partnerships with a 32-card deck. One player takes a trump suit, and from that moment their side has a target: win at least as many of the 162 points on the table as the other side. Miss it and you are dedans — the defenders take everything, including the points you declared. It is a game of counting and of trusting your partner, and it has one rule that surprises every newcomer: you are forbidden to trump a trick your own partner is already winning.
A match is played to 1000 points. Each deal is worth 162 — 152 in the cards themselves plus 10 for the last trick, which the French call the dix de der. The side that took the trump has to win at least half of that, or hand the whole lot to their opponents.
Belote uses 32 cards — Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8 and 7 in each suit. The catch, and the thing to learn first, is that the trump suit does not rank or score like the others.
| Card | In trump | In any other suit |
|---|---|---|
| Jack | 20 | 2 |
| 9 | 14 | 0 |
| Ace | 11 | 11 |
| 10 | 10 | 10 |
| King | 4 | 4 |
| Queen | 3 | 3 |
| 8 and 7 | 0 | 0 |
The trump Jack and 9 are promoted above the Ace, and together they are worth 34 points. That single fact drives the whole bidding phase: 34 of the 82 you need comes from two cards, which is why experienced players will not take a trump suit without at least one of them.
Belote has a genuinely unusual habit: the pack is never shuffled. The tricks are gathered up in the order they were won, the player to the dealer's left cuts, and that is the deal. It makes hands lumpier and more interesting than a random shuffle would, and long suits are far more common than beginners expect.
The dealer gives everyone three cards, then two, and turns the next card face up. Play runs anti-clockwise.
Starting to the dealer's right, each player may take the face-up card's suit as trump, or pass. If all four pass, they go round again and may name any other suit. If everyone passes twice, the cards are gathered up and somebody else deals.
Whoever takes is given the face-up card, then everyone is dealt up to eight cards. The taker's side now has the contract, and the other two are the defence.
You must follow suit if you can. Beyond that, Belote is stricter than most trick-taking games:
Certain combinations in your hand are worth extra points, announced as you play to the first trick.
Here is the sting: only the side holding the single highest declaration scores any declarations at all. Your opponents can hold three sequences between them and score nothing, because you held one carré. Belote-rebelote is the exception and always scores, whatever else happens.
Add up the card points each side captured, plus the 10 for the last trick, plus any declarations that side is entitled to.
If the takers have at least as many points as the defence, the contract is made and both sides simply score what they took. If they fall short they are dedans, and the defence scores 162 plus every declaration on the table, from both sides. Only belote-rebelote stays with whoever held it.
Taking all eight tricks is a capot: 100 instead of the 10 for the last trick, so 252 points for the deal.
Everything follows from the 82 you need.
Four, in two partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other. There are two- and three-player variants, but the four-player partnership game is the real one and is what almost everyone means by Belote.
Thirty-two — Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8 and 7 in each of the four suits.
There are 162 points in each deal, so the side that took the trump needs at least 82 to be sure of making its contract. Under the standard rule they need at least as many as their opponents. Falling short is called being dedans, and it hands the defence all 162 plus every declaration on the table.
Holding both the King and the Queen of the trump suit. It is worth 20 points, you announce "belote" as you play the first of them and "rebelote" as you play the second, and unlike every other declaration it always scores no matter what else happens.
Only in the trump suit. Belote promotes the trump Jack and 9 above the Ace — 20 and 14 points respectively — which is what makes choosing trump such a large decision. In every other suit the Jack is worth just 2.
You may, but you are never obliged to. If you cannot follow suit and your own partner is already winning, you are free to discard instead. If an opponent is winning you must trump, and must overtrump if you are able to.
Yes. The browser version at deckades is free, with no download and no signup, and you can play against the AI or online with friends.