Players

To play Belote, you need four players with a deck of 32 cards.

The four players are split into two teams of North/South and East/West.

The value of the cards

The value of the card changes depending on whether it is the trump or not.

A trump is always stronger than a non-trump. For example an 8 of trumps (value: 0 points) is stronger than an Ace of a non-trump suit (value: 11 points).

The deal

For the first game, the dealer is chosen at random, and deals five cards to the players (3 then 2).

Once the card have been dealt, the dealer turns a card face-up and places it in the middle of the mat. The cards are never shuffled between deals apart from 4 deals without a take, the program shuffles them automatically.

The Prise ("Take")

The player to the right of the dealer is the first to speak, and they can pass or take the card in the middle of the mat.

• If they take the card, the suit of the card will become the trump and they will receive two further cards. Three cards will be dealt to the other players
• If they pass, it is to the other players to speak

If no player has Taken, another round starts in which each player decideds the colour of the trump. If nobody speaks in the second round, the cards are redealt by the player who spoke first.

Declarations

Once the trump is chosen, the first round begins in which each player can announce their declarations. During the second turn the strongest declarations will be revealed to all the players in order to be checked.

A card only counts for one declaration except for Belote and Rebelote.
The Carré
The value of a Carré depends on its strength:


Carrés of 7s and 8s are worth nothing. A Carré of 100 points is stronger than a "Cent".

• The Cent (Hundred) is worth 100 points
• The Cinquante is worth 50 points
• The Tierce is worth 20 points

The gameplay

After the bidding round, the Taker and their partner will try to complete the contract and gain more than 81 poitns. The player to the right of the dealer will play the card of their choice, the suit of this card sets the required suit.

The other players each take their turn by playing the required suit.
If a player does not have a card of the required suit, there are two possiblities:

• his partner is the leader (strongest card on the table), so they can play any card (discard) or can also cut..
• his partner is not the leader or has not yet played: he is required to play a trump, otherwise he will discard by playing any card.

Should a player play a trump, the others are required to play a trump higher than that already present on the table. If this proves to be impossilble, a weaker trump must be played. If an opponent cuts, it is not necessary to cut if you are unable to outplay the trump, in which case you must discard.

The opening card of the next trick is played by the player who won the last trick. If all the cards have been played, you proceed to calculate the points.

Calulating the points

Each teams adds up the value of the cards won.
A ten point bonus is added to the team who won the last trick.
The players who have announced the highest declarations adds the value of the cards, as does the team which has declared Belote or Rebelote.

If the team who took the card in the centre of the table has achieved:

• more than 81 points, each of the two teams marks up the points according to the sum of the value of the cards.
• 81 points, there is a stalemate (81 points all): the defense marks up it its points and the points of the Takers are kept aside to be offered to the winner of the next deal.
• less than 81 points, then they do not mark up any points apart from Belote or Rebelote. The defenders score 160 points as well as either their or their opponent's declarations.