The rules of Contrée

Players

Contrée or Belote Contrée is a variant of the game of Belote.
If is played by four players with a deck of 32 cards.
teams
The four players are split into two teams of North/South and East/West.

Value of the cards

The value of the cards depends on whether it is the trump or not.
values
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 player is chosen at random, and deals eight cards to each player in three turns.
deal
The cards are never shuffled unless after 4 deals without a Take, when the computer shuffles automatically.

The bidding

The players bid on their turn starting with the player to the right of the dealer. Each player can:
  • pass on their turn, being able to bid on the next turn if a bid is made in the meantime.
  • make a bid by announcing the number of points they hope to be able to gain in the trump suit of their choice. The bid must be at least 80 points or higher than the previous bid in multiples of 10.
  • counter the opponent's preceeding bid if they think that they will not be able to complete the contract: the points will then be doubled. The opponent therefore has the opportunity to recounter, which has the effect of quadrupling the points.
deal
Capot: you can ask for a Capot by announcing a suit. You are then required to make all the tricks. The amount of the contract is 250 points but no player can outbid a Capot.

End of the bidding: each player must speak at least once, and the bidding finishes after three consecutive passes. A player is therefore unable to outbid themselves if all the other players have passed.

Gameplay

After the bidding round, the team with the highest bid must then attempt to complete the contract. The player to the right of the dealer plays the card of their choice, the suit of this card determines the required suit.

The other players each take their turn playing cards of the required suit.
If the player has no card in the require suit, two possibilites exist:
  • his partner is the leader (highest card on the table), so he can play any card (discard) or can also cut.
  • his partner is not the leader or has not yet played: he must cut with a trump if possible, otherwise he discards by playing any card.

When a player plays a trump, the other must play a trump card of higher value than the one already on the table. If this proves to be impossible, he must choose a weaker trump. If an opponent cuts, it's not necessary to cut if you are unable to outplay their trump, you may then discard.

The opening card of the next trick is played by the player who won the last trick. When all the cards have been played, you continue to count up the points.

Calculation of points

Each team adds up the value of the cards won.
A bonus of ten points is awarded to the team who won the final trick.
If a player holds the King or Queen of trumps, they mark up 20 additional points, known as Belote or Rebelote.

If the team who completes their bid has:
  • more than the number of points expected, then each of the two teams adds up the points of the sum of the value of the cards plus the bid of the taking team.
  • less that the number of expected points, they gain no points apart from those of any Belote or Rebelote. The defenders mark up 150 points plus the bid of the opposing team.