Play Belote Online — Take Trump, Count Your Points

Belote is France's most-played card game, a four-player partnership game on a 32-card deck. You and the player across the table team up against the other two. One side names trump and then has to outscore the other to keep its points. First team to 501 wins. Free in your browser, no sign-up.

How Do You Play Belote?

Goal: take trump when your hand is strong, win valuable tricks, and reach 501 points first.

Setup

• Deck: 32 cards — only the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of each suit.
• Teams: you (South) partner with North; West and East oppose you.
• Deal: 8 cards each. One card is turned face up as the trump candidate.

Taking Trump

• In the first round, any player may take the turned suit as trump. Pass, and it comes to the next seat.
• If all four pass, a second round lets anyone name a different suit. Pass twice all around and the hand is redealt.
• The player who sets trump leads their team's contract: their side must score more than the other by the end of the hand, or they go dedans and lose it all.

Card Values Change With Trump

The same card is worth more in trump than out of it. The Jack and 9 of trump jump to the top; a plain Jack is nearly worthless.

The 8 and 7 score nothing. The last trick is worth 10 more (dix de der), so the 162 points in a hand always add up the same way.

Strategy

• Count your trump before you take. The Jack and 9 are the game — two small trumps with no bower is a pass.
• Declare from a strong hand. Three cards in sequence (a tierce) or four of a kind score before a card is played. Only the best declaration on the table counts.
• Cash the Jack and 9 early as taker. Pull trump from the defenders so your Aces survive to the end.
• Play belote-rebelote at the right time. Holding the trump King and Queen is a free 20 points — announce it as you play them.
• Save the last trick. The 10-point dix de der often decides a close hand, so keep a sure winner back.

About This Version

Three AI difficulty levels (easy, medium, hard) from the menu. The hard AI counts the cards it has seen, tracks which suits each opponent has run out of, and leads trump only while trumps are still out. Declarations, belote-rebelote, and the capot bonus for all eight tricks are all scored. Install it as an app from your browser menu to play offline.

A Short History

Belote took its modern shape in France in the 1920s, adapted from the Dutch game Klaverjas and older Jack-high games from the same family. The name is often traced to a player called Belot. It is now the standard card game of French cafés and homes, with regional cousins played across the Mediterranean.

Other Card Games to Try

• Euchre — a faster partnership game with bowers and trump
• Spades — partnership bidding with a fixed trump suit
• Hearts — trick-taking where you dodge points
• Klondike Solitaire — the classic single-player game