Game rules Belote

Belote

Fast game introduction:

• Belote is played with a 32 cards deck.

• Belote is played with 4 participants (2 teams of 2 players). At GameVelvet, a simbol appears in front of the player's avatar. For the attacking team is a sword and the defending is a shield.

• Belote is a dunning game: the one who plays the highest card following the choosen suit, or that used the highest trump card scores.

• Belote is a contract game: one of the players chooses the active suit; his side must, to follow the contract, score more points than the adversaries.

• Belote is played anti-clockwise.

Game Start

The system deals everyone three cards, then two. The leftover cards are placed on the table, fliping the first card face-up.

At the first round, each player can, at their own turn, choose the colour of the trump that is defined by the face-up card (knowing that, if necessary, this card can return), or pass. The first to call is the one to the right of the dealer, the last is (if no one won already), the dealer.

After this first round, if no one changed the face-up card colour, the second round starts. This time, everyone get the opportunity to choose the colour they want.

If no one got the cards this two rounds, they are collected and redistributed.

If a player won the round, the dealer must return the card to the winner first, then deal each one, in order, three cards (two for the one that recieved the returned card).

Cards value order

It differs, depending if it's the trump colour or another. The normal order is the following:

• Ace (11 points),

• 10 (10 points),

• King (4 points),

• Queen (3 points),

• Jack (2 points),

• 9,

• 8,

• 7

When active (trump colour), Jacks and 9's recieve a specific value.

• Jack (20 points),

• 9 (14 points),

• Ace (11 points),

• 10 (10 points),

• King (4 points),

• Queen (3 points),

• 8,

• 7

Card Game

The player from the right side of the dealer plays a card. Each player, at their own turn, plays a card of the following color, if possible. If a player can't, he must "cut" with a card from the Trump colour. A player that can't play a card isn't obliged to "cut" if his/her partner is already a master of double. In this case (and, of course, in case he doesn't have a trump, he discards, playing any card he chooses.

If a double was already "cut" by an opponent, the player that doesn't has a card from the required colour must "cut" with the strongest active (if he/she can, of course).

The player that played the strongest card, or cut with the strongest active, wins the round and keeps the cards.

Belote

The player that has the King and the Queen in his/her game, scores 20 points if he/she says "Belote" when playing one of those cards for the first time. And "Rebelote" when playing the second (the order doesn't matter). This options appear at the GameVelvet screen. If the player doesn't call for "Belote" or "Rebelote", he doesn't score the 20 points.

Hand of ten

The team that wins the last round scores 10 extra points.

Cards Value

A duo must score more points than the other side to complete the contract. In the most frequent cases, the total number of points is 162 and the objective is to score more than 81. But when an extra score is credited, the total is 182 and the victory happens with 91 points or more.

Three scenarios can happen::

• If the next player to the reciever scores more that half of the points, each side will score the number of points obtained.

• If the next player to the reciever scores less that half of the points, the oppositing side will score all points (162 or 182).

• If the next player to the reciever scores less that half of the points, the adversaries will score their points (81 or 91), and all other points will be kept for the next round (they will be scored by the next round winner).

Special Case: the hood

If a side win all the raises, it scores all the points but not the Hand of Ten, but gets 100 extra points. So this side will socre 252.

Winning the Match

The first side to reach a pre-established score (500 points) wins the game.

Gamevelvet's Belote is an call free belote. The calls complicate the game, at the same time raises the luck aspect at the expense of the strategy.