Bulgarian belot rules

Bulgarian belot is played by four people in two teams with a 32-card deck. Partners sit opposite each other, and the deal and the play both go anticlockwise. The first team to reach 151 points wins.

Cards, rank and points

The deck has eight cards in each suit: clubs ♣, diamonds ♦, hearts ♥ and spades ♠. How strong a card is and what it is worth both depend on whether it is a trump. In a suit contract only the named suit is trumps. In All Trumps every suit plays as trumps, and in No Trumps none does.

The last trick is worth 10 more. So a suit contract has 162 card points in play, All Trumps 258 and No Trumps 130.

Dealing

Each player gets five cards, and the bidding is done on those. Once the bidding is over, everyone gets three more and plays with eight. The deal moves to the next player every hand.

Bidding

The player after the dealer bids first. Each player either passes or names a contract higher than the last one. From lowest to highest:

1. Clubs
2. Diamonds
3. Hearts
4. Spades
5. No Trumps
6. All Trumps

The bidding ends when three players in a row pass after the last bid. If all four pass before anyone bids, the cards are dealt again.

Double and redouble

The opponents of the bidder can double (kontra), which doubles the points for the hand. The bidding team can answer with a redouble (rekontra), which makes it four times. A new, higher bid cancels both. Under a double or redouble the team that wins the hand takes every point in it.

Playing the tricks

The player after the dealer leads to the first trick. The highest card of the suit led wins the trick, unless a trump is played to it, in which case the highest trump wins. Whoever wins a trick leads to the next. You must:

• Follow suit. If you hold a card of the suit led, you must play one.
• Go higher in trumps. When trumps are led and you hold a trump higher than any on the table, you must play it, even if your partner is winning the trick. In All Trumps this applies to every suit.
• Trump when an opponent is winning. In a suit contract, if you cannot follow suit and an opponent is winning the trick, you must play a trump. If an opponent has already trumped, you must overtrump if you can. If you cannot, you do not have to play a lower trump.
• Discard freely when your partner is winning. If you cannot follow suit, any card will do.
• No Trumps. The only obligation is to follow suit.

Declarations

Declarations are called with a player's first card. Sequences run in the natural order seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king, ace within one suit. There are no declarations in No Trumps.

Four sevens or four eights score nothing. Only the team holding the strongest single declaration scores its sequences and fours, and then it scores all of them. The declaration worth more is stronger. When the points are equal, four of a kind beats a quinte, and after that the higher top card decides. A complete tie means neither team scores.

Belot

A belot is the king and queen of trumps in one hand, worth 20. In All Trumps you can have one in every suit. You call it when you play the first of the two cards, and it counts if that card is played in its own suit, as a lead or when following suit. Unlike the other declarations a belot is never compared: it always scores for the team that holds it.

Scoring

At the end of the hand each team adds up the card points in its tricks, 10 for the last trick and its declarations. In No Trumps the card points are doubled. The total is divided by 10 and rounded. A suit contract is worth about 16 points in all, No Trumps and All Trumps about 26, plus declarations.

The bidding team makes its contract if it scores more than the opponents. Then each team keeps its own points.

Failed contracts and hanging points

If the bidding team scores less than the opponents, the contract fails (the team is "inside") and the opponents score every point in the hand, the bidders' declarations included.

On a tie the opponents keep their points and the bidders' points are left hanging. The team that wins the next hand collects them. Under a double or redouble a tie leaves every point in the hand hanging.

Valat

A team that takes all eight tricks makes a valat (kapo). It scores every point in the hand plus 9 more, and the declarations of the team without a trick do not count.

End of the game

The game ends when a team reaches 151 points. You cannot go out on a valat: if 151 is reached with one, another hand is played.