Belote is one of the most popular card games in France, although it has been known there only for about 70 years. It is a close relative of Clobyosh (also known as Bela), which is played in Jewish communities in many parts of the world, and of the Dutch game Klaverjassen.
Belote is a point-trick taking game for 2, 3, or 4 players. Its most interesting form is the 4 player version, which is described first.
A 32 card deck is needed ( A K Q J 10 9 8 7).
Cards in the trump suit both rank and score differently from those in other suits. Notice the promotion of the trump 9 and J.
| Trump suit | Other suits | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| J | 20 | A | 11 |
| 9 | 14 | 10 | 10 |
| A | 11 | K | 4 |
| 10 | 10 | Q | 3 |
| K | 4 | J | 2 |
| Q | 3 | 9 | 0 |
| 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
Players form two teams of two partners. Partners sit at opposite seats. The direction of deal, bidding and play is anti-clockwise.
The pack is never shuffled at Belote. The player before the dealer in rotation (i.e. the player to dealer's left) cuts the pack. The dealer gives a set of three cards to each player, then another set of two cards, and turns the next card face up.
The player after the dealer in rotation (the player to dealer's right) can now "take", i.e. choose the turn-up card suit as a trump, or pass. If this player passes, the next player can take or pass, and so on around the table. If all 4 players pass, each in turn has a second chance to take, choosing a trump suit other than that of the face up card. If all players pass a second time, the cards are collected together and the next player in rotation deals.
As soon as a player takes (in the first or second round of bidding), the bidding ends. The taker is given the turn-up card (whether it is a trump or not) and the deal resumes. Each player except the taker is dealt a further packet of three cards, and the taker is dealt only two cards. These cards are dealt in rotation, beginning to dealer's right and ending with the dealer.
Declarations are particular sets of cards held in players' hands, which give players extra points. There are three sorts of declarations:
4 cards of the same rank, called "carré" in French, or "square"
4 eights and 4 sevens are not counted.
Sequences from 3 to 5 cards of the same suit. There is yet another ranking of cards for sequences, by descending order: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7
Sequences longer than 5 cards are declared and counted as any of the 5-card sequences which they include.
Belote and Rebelote are the trump King and Queen held together in one player's hand, and are counted 20 points.
Belote-Rebelote always scores 20 points, irrespective of other declarations.
Apart from Belote-Rebelote, only the team holding the highest declaration is entitled to count its declarations. The other team scores nothing even if it holds several inferior declarations giving a point total higher than the highest declaration.
A square is higher than a 5 card sequence. Between equally long sequences, the one containing the higher ranked cards wins. If there are two sequences of equal rank, and one is trumps, the trump sequence wins. If none is trump, the one held by the player who is earliest in rotation wins (playing anticlockwise, the player to dealer's right is first in rotation and the dealer is last). A particular card may not be involved in two declarations (except in Belote-Rebelote).
The traditional method, now increasingly ignored (see variations below) is the following:
If the highest sequence announced by each side is equal, the first announcer in rotation specifies the highest card of the sequence, and the next announcer either specifies his highest card if it beats the opponent's, or says "good!" if it does not. If the heights are the same, the player who holds a trump sequence specifies it.
A player who holds the king and queen of trumps declares "Belote" when playing the first of these card and "Rebelote" when playing the second.
The next player in rotation after the dealer (the player to dealer's right) leads a card. The subsequent players must follow suit if they can. If the card led is trump, subsequent players must not only follow suit, but also play a trump card that beats all previous cards if they can, whoever holds the trick at this stage.
Trumping: If a player is unable to follow to a non-trump suit, and an opponent is currently winning the trick, he must trump if he can, otherwise he may discard any card. If his partner is currently winning the trick he is free to either trump, or discard any card.
Overtrumping and undertrumping: If a player is the third or the fourth to play, and is unable to follow a non-trump suit, and the opponent just before him has trumped, he must overtrump if he can. If he has trumps but is unable to overtrump, he must still play a trump, although he does not benefit from doing so. This is termed "undertrumping", or "pisser" in French Belote jargon.
If the fourth player is unable to follow suit to a plain suit lead which his partner has already trumped, and his partner is winning the trick (because the third player either discarded or undertrumped), the fourth player may either discard (even if he holds trump) or overtrump. If he is unable to overtrump, having no sufficiently high trumps, he may either discard or undertrump.
To summarize these rules, you must always follow suit, if unable to follow you must trump unless your partner is winning the trick (in French: le partenaire est maître), and whenever playing a trump you must beat the highest trump in the trick if possible.
As in most trick-taking games, the player who won the trick has the lead to the next one.
The last trick counts 10 points for the team who wins it. This is called "Dix de Der" in French; "Der" is a shortening of Dernier, the last. The point total including these 10 is 162 points.
The tricks taken by each team are added to the team's scoring declarations. (Remember that, apart from Belote-Rebelote, only one team can score for declarations).
If the team who "took" wins at least as many points as the other team, the taking team has made its contract, and both teams add their scores into their column. If the taker's team's points are less than those of the opponents, the takers are "dedans" (inside), and the opponents score 162 points plus the losing team's declarations, if any, plus their own declarations.
If the team who took wins all the tricks, that team scores 100 points instead of the Dix de Der, giving a total of 252 points plus declarations. This situation is called "Capot" in French ( "être capot" for the victims, "mettre capot" for the winners). The team which took no tricks forfeit their own declarations other than Belote-Rebelote, if any. In some exceptional cases it turns out that the team who took wins no tricks at all. Despite the likely derision in this case the other team wins only the regular 252 points, plus all the declarations of both teams.
The winning team is the first to reach a total of 1000 points. If both sides reach 1000 points on the same hand, the game is drawn.
Most regular Belote players are reluctant to play it with a number of players other than four, but here is an interesting variation for 2 players: "Belote with exposed cards" (Belote Découverte).
A 32-card deck is used.
The dealer mentally draws a border-line at the middle of the table between himself and his opponent, and deals:
He then repeats exactly the same scheme covering each face-down card with a face-up card.
The last card that was dealt in the dealer's camp indicates the trump suit at the first round of bidding. If necessary there is second round of bidding, exactly as in Belote. The taker does not, however, take the card indicating the trump suit. It continues to belong to the dealer.
The non-dealer chooses one of his face-up cards, puts it on the side of the table to initiate the first trick. The dealer chooses one of his face-up cards, according to regular Belote rules regarding following suit, trumping, beating a trump card, and discarding. The trick is taken by either player according to Belote rules. Then both players turn the face-down cards which were underneath the played cards face-up. In the following tricks, players may play either a face-up card that still covers a face-down card, or an isolated face-up card from the previous tricks. At the end of each trick, any face-down card which is no longer covered by a face-up card is turned face-up. As in Belote, the winner of each trick has the lead to the next one. The play continues until the 16 tricks have been played.
Card point values are the same as in Belote, but declarations and Belote-Rebelote do not count. The cards taken by each player are scored as in Belote. (You are reminded that the point total including the 10 for the last trick is 162, so you need count only the smaller heap.) As in Belote, the taker loses if he gets 81 points or fewer.
Some play that the player who leads to a trick turns his corresponding face-down card up immediately. This often affects the other player's choice.
It must be agreed whether to count the Belote-Rebelote, and the other declarations.
Some Belote variations like No-Trumps, All-Trumps, or even La Coinche can be adapted. Games similar to Belote lend themselves to this variation.