Belote is played by
four players
, divided into
two teams of two
. Partners sit opposite each other at the table. The game uses a
32-card deck
. Each player is dealt 8 cards.
A card is
turned face-up
. Its suit is the
proposed trump suit
.
Starting with the first player,
each player may choose
:
Take
: accept the face-up suit as trump
Pass
: decline
If a player takes, the face-up card goes to the player, and
that suit becomes trump
.
If
all players pass
in the first round, a second round begins.
In this round, each player may choose a contract or pass. The available contracts are a
trump suit, all trumps, or no trumps
. If a player chooses a trump suit, that suit becomes trump for the hand. In all trumps, every suit uses trump ranking. In no trumps, there is no trump suit, so the highest card of the suit led wins.
If
all players pass
in both rounds, the hand is cancelled, the cards are reshuffled and dealt again
Each player
plays one card
.
Players must:
Follow the suit
led, if possible.
If they cannot follow suit,
play trump
if required.
If trump has already been played,
play a higher trump
if possible.
The
highest trump
wins the trick.
If no trump is played, the
highest card of the suit led wins
.
The
winner of the trick
starts the next trick.
In
all trumps
, every suit uses trump ranking. In
no trumps
, no suit is trump.
At the end of the hand, each team counts its points.
The team that wins the bid must score more points than the other team.
If the bidding team succeeds, both teams score the points they earned; if the bidding team fails, they score 0 and the other team scores 162.
Each card rank has a specific scoring value. For Jacks and Nines the value depends on whether the suit is trump or not. The winner of the last trick gets 10 points.
Plain suit rank | Ace | 10 | King | Queen | Jack | 9 | 8 | 7 | ||
Value | 20 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Trump suit rank | Jack | 9 | Ace | 10 | King | Queen | 8 | 7 |
Points are added after each hand.
The first team to reach the target score (700) wins.