Play Belote Card Game Online

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Belote is well-known and equally well-loved game. The aim of the game is to score a certain number of points by winning tricks. Belote is played with a total of 32 cards. The cards used for Belote are 7, 8, 9, 10, J, K, Q, and Ace. The game is played by two teams, with two players each (four players in total).

How to Deal the Cards

To begin the game, the cards are dealt clockwise. Dealing must start with the player who is to the left of the dealer. The dealer begins by giving each player 3 cards, followed by another 2 cards (five cards in total). The remaining (undealt) cards are put face down on the table, and the card at the top of the deck is put face up.

How to Bid

Once cards have been dealt, the bidding can begin. As in Euchre, the bidding is important to identify trump cards and trump suits which will ultimately allow for exciting gameplay and dynamic scoring.
Bids are usually done in two rounds (unless none of the players chooses a trump card within those two rounds). In the first round, players are given the chance to pass or accept the face-up card. Accepting the face-up card means that the cards of the same suit as the face up card will become trump cards.

If a player accepts the face-up card, the dealer will proceed to give 2 cards to the player who accepted the face-up card and 3 cards to the rest of the players.

If every player passes the face-up card in the first round, another round begins. In the second round, the players are given the opportunity to propose a different suit as trump. If a player does so, they must also take the face up card that was initially rejected in the first round. If there is no trump selected in the second round, the cards are shuffled, and an additional round of bidding will begin.
In the third round, the forehand player will change: the player after the original forehand becomes the new forehand. (The forehand is the player who leads the first trick or leads any bidding).

How to Play the Game

After the trump is selected, the forehand begins the game. The next player must follow the same suit played by the forehand. If a trump is played, the players must not only follow suit, but also play a card of higher value than the previous player. If a player cannot follow suit, they can also play a trump and win the trick altogether.

If an opponent plays a trump card, a player has two options:

  • Play a card of higher value from the trump suit. This is called overtrumping.
  • Play a card of lower value from the trump suit. This is called undertrumping.

However, if the highest trump card has been played by a player’s partner, they are free to play a random card instead.

The player who submits the highest trump card will win the trick. If none of the players use a trump card, then the highest card of the suit played will win the trick. The player who wins the trick, begins the next round.

The cards of the trump suit are ranked as follows in (descending order): Jack,9, Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, 7.

The cards for non-trump suits are ranked as follows (in descending order): Ace, 10, King, Queen, Jack, 9, 8, 7.

How to score

There is a total of 162 points in the game (bonus points won may increase total points overall). For each trick won, the total number of points within the trick is awarded. The points from the tricks are added up for each team and an extra 10 points are awarded to the team that plays the last trick.

The team of the player who accepted the face up card must score more than the other team. This means a team needs to score at least 82 points.

The following applies for the trump suit:

Card Value
Jack 20 Points
9 14 Points
Ace 11 Points
10 10 Points
King 4 Points
Queen 3 Points

 

The following applies for the other suits:

Card Value
Ace 11 Points
10 10 Points
King 4 Points
Queen 3 Points
Jack 2 Points
9 0 Points

NOTE: The cards of 8 and 7 do not score any points.
If all the tricks are won by the same team, it is called Capot and 90 additional points are awarded to that team (a total score of 252 or 272 with belote).
If the team which selected the trump suit wins, the total points won by both teams are added up to give a grand total. If the other team wins, the team receives all the trick points. In this case, the losing team wins no points.
For a bid to be successful the team must win more points than the opponent.
The team that reaches 501 points first, wins.
If both teams reach 501 points (or cross the line of 501 points with equal score) in the same round, another deal is made to determine the winner.

Bonus Points: Calling Belote
You may be wondering where the name of the game comes in. Wonder no more! If a player has a trump Queen and King, they can call ‘Belote’ as they lay one of these cards down. When the second trump King or Queen is played, they must call ‘Rebelote’. Twenty bonus points are earned by the team in such circumstances.

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