Games - Belot

	Games - Belot

Belot (usually abbreviated to Bela) is a trick-taking card game very popular in some parts of Croatia (especially Zagreb), and played worldwide by the Armenian Diaspora. The game is played by 2, 3 or 4 players. The 4-player version is considered to be the standard game, and other two are just crippled versions played only if there aren't enough players available.

Rules

The rules of Belot are very close to those of the French card game Belote, and Jewish card game Clobyosh, but with a few significant differences in each.

Each round of Belot (no matter how many players) consists of these steps: dealing, bidding, declaration, playing and scoring.

Dealing and bidding

The game is played with a 32-card (A K Q J 10 9 8 7) German suited deck which is first shuffled by dealer and pack is then offered for person sitting to the left of the dealer to cut (player offered to cut can cut or just tap on the top of the pack in which case no cutting is done). Cards are dealt anti-clockwise.

2 players

Every player receives 3 cards face down, then another 3 cards (making total of 6), then turns the next card face up. Then he deals additional 4 cards to each player and puts the rest of the cards on top of the card which was dealt face up under the right angle, so the suit and rank of the card are visible.

First 6 cards are picked up by players and bidding begins starting from the player who didn't deal. The player assesses his 6 cards and takes (chooses a trump suit of the card which was dealt face up) or passes (says "pass") in which case next player has a right to take or pass. If both players passed, player who didn't deal takes a trump suit other from the suit of the card which was dealt face up or passes. If that player passes for the second time, dealer must take a trump suit other from the suit of the card which was dealt face up.

When trump suit is chosen, players can lift remaining 4 cards, so every player has 10 cards in his hand.

3 players

Every player receives 3 cards face down, then another 3 cards (making total of 6), then 4 cards, and 2 remaining cards are dealt to first player on dealer's right (he is first to play).

The first 6 cards are picked up by players and first player on dealer's right takes (chooses a trump suit). He must take.

When the trump suit is chosen, players can lift remaining cards (player who took lifts his 6 cards and the rest of the players lifts 4 cards they received). Then the player who took chooses 2 cards from his hand and puts them aside. Now every player has 10 cards in his hand.

4 players

Every player receives 3 cards face down, then another 3 cards (making total of 6), and finally 2 cards.

First 6 cards are picked up by players and bidding begins starting from first player on dealers right (everything except cutting in Belot is done anti-clockwise). Player assesses his 6 cards and takes (chooses a trump suit) or passes (says "pass") in which case next player has a right to take or pass, and so on. If everybody before dealer passed, dealer must take (choose a trump suit), although this rule is not very firm. Some versions of Belot rules say dealer can cancel the round (and the next player starts as dealer) if he is to pass and he has 7 points or less in his hand, or even without the 7 point limit (if dealer passes, the round is cancelled).

When trump suit is chosen, players can lift remaining 2 cards, so every player has 8 cards in his hand.

Declaration

Declarations are particular sets of cards held in players' hands, which give players extra points. There are four sorts of declarations:

4 cards of the same rank, called "square"

4 jacks
: 200 points
4 nines: 150 points
4 Aces
, tens, Ks
, Qs
: 100 points

4 eights and 4 sevens are not counted.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Belot ]

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