Glossary

A Baloot contract played with a trump suit chosen by the buying team, changing the ranking and point values.

A no-trump Baloot contract where points are doubled and cards follow their natural ranking.

A declared card combination (a run or four-of-a-kind) that adds points: Sira, Fifty, Hundred.

A single trick — one card from each player, taken by the highest card.

The King and Queen of trump held and played by the same player in one deal — worth 20 points, counted automatically and never lost, even on a failed contract.

The 10 points awarded for the last trick of a deal, bringing its total to 162.

A failed contract — the takers' total is lower than the defence's: they score 0 plus their own belote, and the defence takes 162.

A dead-level deal: the defence scores its points, and the takers' points are held for the winner of the next scored deal.

Taking all eight tricks in a deal, which is worth 252 points.

A kingdom: the run of contracts one player owns and puts in order. A game of Trix is four kingdoms, one per player.

The King of Hearts — and the Trix contract named after it: whoever takes the K♥ scores −75, or −150 if it was doubled.

Queens — the Trix contract where every queen taken scores −25, or −50 if it was doubled.

Diamonds — the Trix contract where every diamond taken scores −10.

The tricks contract in Trix: every trick taken scores −15, and all 13 are played.

The game — and its layout contract, where jacks open four rows: the first player out scores +200, then +150, +100 and +50.

The King of Hearts, Queens, Diamonds and Tricks played together in one 13-trick deal, so a kingdom is just Complex and Trix.

Doubling the K♥ or a queen before the first lead. Whoever takes a doubled card pays double; the doubler collects +75 or +25 — or the trick’s leader does, if the doubler takes it.

Partnership play: two teams of two, partners opposite. A team scores the sum of both partners, and the team in the plus wins.

In the Trix contract, the turn of a player with no playable card — passed automatically and shown to everyone. Nobody may pass while holding one.

A four-player trick game, every player for themselves, on the full 52-card deck: estimate your tricks, then take exactly that many. Played as Micro (5 rounds, the default), Mini (10) or Full (18).

The bid of a call round: 4 to 13 tricks plus a trump, ranked NT > ♠ > ♥ > ♦ > ♣. The highest call sets the round’s trump.

The owner of the highest call — or of the highest estimate in a fixed round. Their estimate is the call’s number; they lead the first trick and score an extra +10 when they make it, −10 when they miss.

A promise of zero tricks made before the auction of a call round: +25 in an Over round or +33 in an Under round when made, −25 or −33 when missed.

An estimate of 0 made in the estimating turn. It scores like any estimate — 10 when made. At most two players per round can be on zero, Dashes and Dash Calls together.

An estimate equal to the Caller’s number. It scores like the Caller: an extra +10 when made, −10 when missed.

What the last estimator carries, by how far the total lands from 13: 2–3 Risk, 4–5 Double Risk, 6 or more Triple Risk — ±10 per level.

The state of the round once the last estimate is in: Over when the estimates add up to more than 13, Under when less — never exactly 13.

No trump (NT): the highest of the five trump choices, where only the suit led wins tricks. The first fixed round starts in NT.

In a fixed round, an estimate of 8 or more that also names a new trump. A higher Super Call overrides it, an equal one does not, and earlier estimates stand.

The mark the table puts on a player who could not follow a suit — a reminder that they are out of it, not a rule.

A round in which all four players miss: nobody scores, and the next round counts ×2 — or ×4 if it happens again.

A trick in Estimation — one card from each player, won by the highest trump, or else the highest card of the suit led. Every round has 13.

The game — and its big score: clearing the floor with a number card, a queen or a king. It is worth 10 in Classic, even with the round’s last card, and twice the capturing card in the Jordanian rules.

The floor: the face-up cards in the middle — 4 at the start of a round, then every card that took nothing. Every capture is made from it, and clearing it with a number card, a queen or a king is a Basra.

The Jack: it takes the whole floor, but its sweep is no Basra — except a Jack on a lone Jack in the Egyptian and Yemeni (20) and Lebanese (10) rules. On an empty floor it stays.

The 7♦: it takes the whole floor like a Jack, and its sweep is a Basra when the floor is all numbers adding up to 10 or less. The Yemeni rules give that Basra three cases; the Lebanese make the 7♦ a plain 7.

Jack Basra: a Jack played on a floor holding only a Jack — 20 points in the Egyptian and Yemeni rules, 10 in the Lebanese, and no Basra in Classic or Jordanian.

Most cards: 30 points for the side that took more cards (27 or more of 52); on a 26–26 tie the 30 carries to the next round. The Lebanese rules make it 3, and a tie scores nothing.

The stock: the cards not yet dealt. Whenever every hand is empty, 4 more each come from it (6 in the Lebanese rules) — none to the floor — until it runs out.

The 40-card Spanish deck used in Hez2, Quinza and Ronda.

The gold (coins) suit in the baraja — the key to points in Quinza.

The cups suit in the Spanish baraja.

The swords suit in the Spanish baraja.

The clubs (batons) suit in the Spanish baraja.

A pair of matching cards held in hand, announced for a point.

Three matching cards held in hand, announced for five points.

Capturing the card your opponent just played by matching its rank, for a point.

Clearing all table cards at once, for a point.

A live voice room that brings players together to talk and play — the heart of Koutchina's social experience.

An animated coffee-pot gift sent in the majlis as a gesture of hospitality.