Belot: score counter

Belot is played by four players in two teams of two, with partners sitting opposite each other. It uses 32 cards: 7 through ace in each of the four suits. Dealing goes counter-clockwise: first 3 cards each, then 2. After the bidding every player receives 3 more cards and play starts with 8 cards in hand.

The player to the right of the dealer bids first. The bids in ascending strength are: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades, no trumps and all trumps. Every next bid must be stronger than the previous one. Bidding ends when three players in a row pass. If everyone passes, the cards are redealt.

The opposing team may call kontra, and the declaring team may answer with rekontra. Kontra doubles the points of the deal, rekontra quadruples them.

You must follow the suit that was led. In a trump game, if you cannot follow suit you must play a trump, unless your partner is holding the trick: then you may discard any card. When an opponent has already trumped, you must overtrump if you can. At all trumps raising in the led suit is always mandatory when possible, and at no trumps raising is not required.

The card order in trump is J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7, and outside trump: A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7. A trump beats any non-trump card.

The trick is won by the strongest card under the game's order, and its winner leads the next one. The player to the right of the dealer leads first. The next deal is dealt by the player to the right of the previous dealer.

The last trick brings an extra 10 points. At no trumps every suit counts by the non-trump values and the collected points are doubled. At all trumps every suit counts by the trump values.

Announcements are declared when you play your first card. Sequences are cards of one suit in the order 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A: a tierce (3 consecutive cards) brings 20 points, a quarte (4 cards) 50, a quinte (5 cards) 100. A square of aces, kings, queens or tens brings 100 points, a square of nines 150, a square of jacks 200. Squares of sevens and eights do not count.

Only the sequences of the team with the stronger one count: with equal length the higher card decides, and on a complete tie neither team scores sequences. The stronger square also cancels the opponent's square. Belot (the queen and king of trumps) brings 20 points and is declared when playing the first of the two cards; at all trumps it counts in every suit. A belot is valid when leading, when following the led suit or when trumping. In the counter, record only the announcements that count.

At no trumps announcements and belots do not count.

Each team's points, announcements included, are divided by 10 and rounded: at a suit and no trumps up from 6 units, at all trumps up from 5. Example: 87 to 75 at a suit is written as 9 to 7.

At all trumps, when both teams' points end in 4, the trailing team rounds up so the deal still writes 26 in total (134 to 124 becomes 13 to 13). Hanging points always round up: at 106 to 106 at a suit the defending team writes 10 and 11 hang.

If the declaring team collects more points than the opponents, each team writes its own. If it collects fewer, it is inside: the opponents write all points of the deal, the declarer's announcements included. On a tie the deal hangs: the defending team writes its points, and the declarer's points hang and go to the team that wins a later deal.

A valat (capot) is a deal in which one team takes every trick. It receives all points plus a 90 point bonus and all announcements: without announcements a valat is written 25 at a suit and 35 at no trumps or all trumps.

With kontra or rekontra the team with more points writes all points of the deal multiplied by 2 or 4. On a tie everything hangs.

The game is played to 151 points. It ends after the deal in which a team reaches 151 or more and has more points than the opponent. If both teams cross the line with an equal score, the game continues.

You cannot go out with a capot: a team cannot win the game with a deal in which it made a valat. At least one more deal is played.