belote

belote, trick-and-meld card game derived from klaberjass about 1920 and now the most popular card game in France. The original game was for two players, and there are versions for three players, but the most popular form now is the four-player partnership game, also known as belote coinchée or just coinche, that developed in the latter half of the 20th century.

Belote is played with a 32-card deck in which cards rank A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7 in nontrump suits and J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7 in the trump suit (determined by an auction). Nontrump cards captured in tricks count ace 11; 10 index value; king 4; queen 3; jack 2; and 9, 8, or 7 zero. In trumps, however, the jack counts 20 points and the 9 counts 14. The cards are shuffled only before the first deal. Before each succeeding deal, they are cut but not shuffled. Eight cards are dealt to each player in batches of three, two, and three. Traditionally, the direction of the deal, bid, and play is counterclockwise.

Play is preceded by an auction to determine which partnership will undertake to win a majority of points with which suit as trump. There is also the option of declaring a contract at no trump or all trump.

• In a suit contract, the total of trick points available is 162—that is, 62 card points in trumps, 30 points in each of the other suits, and 10 points for winning the last trick.
• At no trump, all jacks and 9s rank in their plain-suit position, jacks counting two points each and 9s zero. The total of trick points is therefore 130 (30 in each suit, plus 10 for last).
• At all trump, all jacks and 9s rank in their trump-suit position—that is, above aces and 10s—and count, respectively, 20 and 14 points each. The total of trick points is therefore 258 (62 in each suit, plus 10 for last).

Points can also be scored by either side for declaring any melds they may hold, provided that they are superior to those of the other side. The possible melds are shown in the table.

Each player in turn, starting with the eldest (the player on the dealer’s right in traditional play or on the dealer’s left in some variants), may bid, pass, double the last bid if made by an opponent, or redouble the last double if made by an opponent. Each bid must be higher than the last. Bids are announced as a number and a contract—for example, 80 hearts, 90 all trump, and so forth. The lowest bid is 80, and subsequent bids are made in multiples of 10. Jump-bidding is allowed, and passing does not of itself preclude a player from bidding again. (A nominal bid of 80 is actually a bid of at least 82, as 80 is less than half of the 162 available. In some circles the principle is extended so that 90 requires at least 92 and so on. The number quoted is that of the actual score made after rounding the minimum requisite number of points down to the nearest 10.)

A contract is established when a bid is followed by three passes or by an opponent’s double. This differs from bridge in that a double establishes the last bid as the contract. The bidding side cannot then bid its way out into another suit. The only other announcement it can make is to redouble. If all pass on the first round, the hands are thrown in, and the deal passes to the next in turn.

Eldest leads to the first trick. Players in turn, upon playing to the first trick, announce their highest melds, if not lower than any already announced. If a meld is equal, the announcer asks, “How high?” The previous announcer then details the rank of a quartet or the top card of a sequence, as the case may be. Whoever declares the highest meld notes the total value of all melds declared by the partnership. A meld declared at the first trick must be shown (on demand) at the second trick.

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Rules of trick play are somewhat complicated and vary from locality to locality. The simplest, as followed in eastern France, are these:

• 1. When trump is led, players must follow suit if possible and beat every trump so far played to the trick if possible. (But in a variation of the game, a player whose partner is winning the trick need not overtrump.)
• 2. With a nontrump lead, players must follow suit if possible but need not beat the previous cards.
• 3. If unable to follow suit and if an opponent is currently winning the trick with a trump, players must trump and overtrump if possible. (A variation allows that a player who cannot overtrump need not play a trump at all.)
• 4. A player whose partner is currently winning the trick may play anything if unable to follow suit. (But some require that a trump cannot be played unless it beats everything so far played to the trick.)

The trick is taken by the highest card of the suit led or by the highest trump if any are played, and the winner of each trick leads to the next.

A player holding the king and queen of trumps in a trump contract, or any king and queen of the same suit in an all-trump contract, scores 20 for the partnership by announcing “belote” upon playing one of them and “rebelote” upon playing the other. In a no-trump contract, belotes do not exist.

At the end of play, each side calculates its total for trick points (including 10 for the last trick) and melds. To win, the declaring side must have scored more than its opponents and at least as many as bid. If successful, both sides score (rounded down to the nearest 10) the amount they took in tricks and melds, and the bidding side adds the amount it bid. If not, the bidding side scores nothing, while the opponents score 160 for trick points, plus the value of their melds and the amount bid by the bidding side. These scores are all affected by any doubling and redoubling that may have taken place.

The skill and interest of the game have been extended by the development of conventional bids, by which partners can convey information to each other about their potential trick-taking and meld-scoring powers.