Setup
Belot is played by four people in two partnerships with a 32-card deck, and below are the exact rules our tables use. The game came from France, where belote appeared around 1900, as Wikipedia's Belote article records. In Bulgaria it goes by bridge-belot, a cross between bridge and the French game, and that Bulgarian version, with its All Trump and No Trump contracts, is the one dealt here.
- Players: 4 players, 2 teams (partners sit opposite).
- Deck: 32 cards (7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A in each suit).
- Deal: 3 cards, then 2 cards, then 3 cards (8 cards per player).
Bidding
The auction settles two things at once: what kind of game the hand will be, and which team has to make it. Players bid in turn, and the highest bid becomes the contract for the hand.
- Pass: Skip your turn in bidding.
- Suit (Spades/Clubs/Hearts/Diamonds): That suit is trump.
- No Trump: No trump suit (and announcements are disabled in our build).
- All Trump: Every suit is treated as trump.
- Contre / Recontre: Double / redouble the hand score.
Trick-Taking
- Follow suit: If you have the led suit, you must play it. When following trump (including All Trump), beat the highest played card of that suit if possible.
- Trump when void: In a suit contract, when void and an opponent is winning, you must trump or overtrump if possible. You may discard if your partner is winning, or you cannot beat an opponent’s trump.
- Otherwise: If you can’t follow suit (and have no required trump), you may discard any card.
- Winner: Highest card of the led suit wins, unless a trump is played (then highest trump wins).
Card Points
The same card can be worth 20 points or 2, depending on the contract. Use the trump values for the trump suit, or for every suit in All Trump, and the plain values everywhere else. The jack makes the biggest leap: 2 points as a plain card, 20 as a trump.
| Contract | Trump values | Non-trump values |
|---|---|---|
| ALL TRUMP | All suits: J=20, 9=14, A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, 8=0, 7=0 | No non-trump suits (all are trump) |
| NO TRUMP | No trump suit | All suits: A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2, 9=0, 8=0, 7=0 (totals x2) |
| CONTRE | Same as base contract | Same as base contract (hand score x2) |
| RECONTRE | Same as base contract | Same as base contract (hand score x4) |
| SPADES | Spades: J=20, 9=14, A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, 8=0, 7=0 | Clubs/Hearts/Diamonds: A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2, 9=0, 8=0, 7=0 |
| CLUBS | Clubs: J=20, 9=14, A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, 8=0, 7=0 | Spades/Hearts/Diamonds: A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2, 9=0, 8=0, 7=0 |
| HEARTS | Hearts: J=20, 9=14, A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, 8=0, 7=0 | Spades/Clubs/Diamonds: A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2, 9=0, 8=0, 7=0 |
| DIAMONDS | Diamonds: J=20, 9=14, A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, 8=0, 7=0 | Spades/Clubs/Hearts: A=11, 10=10, K=4, Q=3, J=2, 9=0, 8=0, 7=0 |
- Last trick: The team that wins the last trick gets +10.
- Capot: If a team wins every trick, they get a +90 bonus.
- No Trump: Card points and the last trick bonus are doubled; the capot bonus is not. There are no announcements in No Trump.
- Rounding: Scores are recorded in tens. Suit contracts round up from 6; if both teams end in 6, the smaller total rounds down. All Trump rounds the smaller total up when both end in 4.
Announcements
Announcements are bonus points for combinations in your hand. Our tables allow them in suit and All Trump contracts, but not in No Trump.
- Sequences: 3 cards = 20, 4 cards = 50, 5+ cards = 100.
- Four of a kind: J=200, 9=150, A/10/K/Q=100.
- Belote: Q+K of a trump suit = 20 points (called when you play one of the pair).
Play Now
Tip: If you are new, start with Play vs AI first, then move to online rooms.