Multiplayer Belote Classic

Play trumps and win tricks for your team.

Instructions

Aim for 501 points and get the trophies! This is a trick-taking game played by 4 people, using 32 cards with all 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 cards removed from a deck of standard playing cards. Players sitting opposite to each other are partners so that two teams are formed. The goal of the game is to score 501 points before the other team does by winning the tricks. At the start of the game, a player is randomly selected to be the dealer, while the player at the right of the dealer will become the dealer in the next round. Each player gets 3 cards and then another 2 cards. When every player has 5 cards, an upturned card will be placed in the middle of the table by the dealer. The player to the right of the dealer can choose if he takes the suit of the card as trump and becomes the taker. He can also choose to pass, so that the next player gets the chance to accept the card as trump or to pass as well. If everyone passes during the first round, then the player to the right of the dealer can choose any suit except the suit of the card on the table as the trump, or he can pass again. If he passes, the next player gets to choose and so on. As soon as a player chooses a trump, the bidding phase will end. If all players pass in the second round, the game will be forfeited. The player to the left of the dealer will become the dealer, and cards will be redistributed. During the bidding phase, the player who has chosen the trump must take the card on the table regardless of the suit and he will be dealt 2 extra cards. The remaining players are dealt 3 extra cards each. After that, the dealer will lead the first turn by playing any card. The suit of the card he played will become the leading suit of the current trick, and the other players must play cards of the same suit if they can. If a player does not have cards of the leading suit then he must play a trump, but if he does not have any trump cards then he can play any card. If the current trick contains trump cards, the players must play a higher ranked trump if they can; but when a player's partner is the current winner of the trick, the player does not need to fulfill this requirement. After all players have played their cards, the highest ranked trump wins the trick. If no trumps are played then the highest ranked card of the leading suit wins. The ranks of non-trump cards are A-10-K-Q-J-9-8-7, while the ranks of the trump cards are J-9-A-10-K-Q-8-7. The winner of the trick starts the next trick and the round ends after 8 tricks have been played. Each team then calculates their points according to the cards in the tricks they won. The scores for non-trump cards are A-11, 10-10, K-4, Q-3, J-2, others-0; and that for the trump cards are J-20, 9-14, A-11, 10-10, K-4, Q-3, others-0. The winner of the last trick gets an additional 10 points. If a player owns the Q and K cards of the trump, it is called a belote and the player is entitled to extra 20 points. If the round is won by getting all tricks, then extra 252 points are awarded. If a player has won all tricks by himself in the round, extra 350 points will be awarded to his team. If the team which chose the trump did not score more points than the other team, all of their points will be given to the other team except the bonus points from belote. The bonus points from belote and rebelote are in every case given to the owners and are counted in the total points at the end of the game. The game ends when a team has scored more than 501 points.