Tarneeb rules — how to play
Tarneeb is the Levant’s partnership trick-taking game, played across the Gulf too: four players in two teams, a full 52-card deck and 13 tricks a round. The teams bid 7 to 13 tricks and the winner of the auction names trump. The first team to 31 points wins — or the higher score after 50 rounds.
Overview
Tarneeb is one of the best-loved card games of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, and it travelled with its players to the Gulf, where it is played in the majlis too. It belongs to the same trick-taking family as Whist and Bridge: the cards themselves carry no points — only the number of tricks counts.
The idea is simple: before play, the players bid on how many of the thirteen tricks their team will take. Whoever wins the auction names trump — the suit that beats every other suit. Then the 13 tricks are played: if the contract team takes its number or more it scores; if it falls short, it loses the value of its bid and the other team scores.
Koutchina plays Tarneeb on the Levantine (Shami) rules: bids from 7 to 13, a trump the contract holder picks from the four suits, a match to 31 points, and a fresh deal when everyone passes.
Players, deck and card ranking
Tarneeb is played by four players in two teams, partners sitting opposite each other, so the two teams take turns around the table. Partners pool their tricks: it does not matter which of you wins a trick, only how many the team takes.
The full 52-card deck is used, with no jokers, and it is dealt out completely every round: 13 cards to each player, one at a time, starting with the player after the dealer. That makes 13 tricks a round — «akla» or «laffa» at an Arabic table, and «laffa» in the app. The deal, the bidding and the play all go counter-clockwise — to the right — and the deal moves one seat on after every round.
Cards rank naturally in every suit: Ace high, then King, Queen and Jack, then 10 and 9 down to 2. The order is the same in the trump suit — unlike Baloot, neither the Jack nor the 9 jumps to the top.
Any trump beats any card of another suit — even the 2 of trumps against an Ace. Between two trumps, the higher wins. A card that is neither of the suit led nor a trump never wins, however high it is.
Bidding
After the deal, the bidding starts with the player after the dealer and goes round the table. On your turn you either pass or bid a number from 7 to 13: the number of tricks your team undertakes to win. The lowest bid is 7, more than half of the tricks.
Every bid must be higher than the standing high bid — even your partner’s — and an equal bid is not allowed. You may always pass, and passing does not shut you out: if the turn comes back to you before the auction closes, you may bid again. Once the bid reaches 13 there is nothing above it, and the others can only pass.
The auction closes when three players in a row pass after the highest bid. Its bidder is the contract holder, and the number is the contract: the tricks the team must now take. If all four players pass the first time round, there is no contract and no score: the deal does not count as a round, it moves to the next dealer and the cards are shuffled again.
Trump — the tarneeb
The contract holder names trump from the four suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs or spades. Koutchina has no no-trump contract, so a suit must always be named. In the Levantine dialect, «tarneeb» is the word for trump itself, and the game takes its name from it; in the Gulf the same suit is called «hokm», which is the word the table shows in the app’s Arabic.
Trump is chosen after the bidding, not before, so choose it from your own hand: the suit you hold the most cards in, with the highest ones, is usually the best trump. Once it is named, the contract holder leads the first trick.
Playing the tricks
The contract holder leads the first trick with any card, and each player then plays one card in turn. You must follow the suit led if you hold it. If you don’t, play any card: trump it — «tarnab», as Levantine players say — or throw away a card of another suit.
Tarneeb never forces you to trump or to overtrump: once you are out of the suit led you are free, even with trumps in hand. The highest trump wins the trick; with no trump in it, the highest card of the suit led wins. Whoever wins a trick leads the next.
All 13 tricks are played every round, even once the contract is made or lost, and the app shows the contract holder’s tricks against the contract. If a player’s turn timer runs out, the table makes a legal move for them: a pass in the bidding, their longest suit as trump, and their weakest legal card in play.
End of the round and the match
At the end of the round, the contract team counts its tricks. If it took the contract or more, it scores the contract’s value and nothing more — extra tricks add nothing — and the defenders score nothing. If it falls short by even one trick, the contract is set: its value comes off the team’s score, and the defenders score one point for every trick they took.
Because only one team gains in any round, a set contract hurts twice: your score drops and your opponents’ climbs. Scores can go below zero, with no floor.
The first team to reach or pass 31 points wins the match, and both teams can never get there in the same round. If 50 scored rounds go by without either reaching it, the match ends on the scoreboard: the higher score wins and equal scores are a draw. Deals in which everyone passed do not count toward the fifty.
How to play
- Deal — Deal the whole deck, 13 cards each, starting with the player after the dealer. Partners sit opposite each other.
- Bid — Bid a number from 7 to 13, higher than the standing bid, or pass. The auction closes when three passes in a row follow the highest bid.
- Name trump — The contract holder names one of the four suits as trump, then leads the first trick.
- Play the tricks — Follow the suit led if you can; otherwise play any card. The highest trump wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led, and the winner leads next.
- Score — If the contract team took its number or more, it scores the contract. If it fell short, it loses that amount and the defenders score a point per trick they took.
- Win the match — The first team to 31 points wins. If 50 scored rounds pass without a winner, the higher score wins and a tie is a draw.
Scoring & winning
- Contract made (the contract team’s tricks ≥ the bid): +the bid for that team, nothing for the defenders. Overtricks don’t count: bid 8 and take 11, and you score 8.
- Contract set: −the bid for the contract team, and +1 to the defenders for every trick they took. Bid 9 and take 7: −9 for the bidders, +6 for the defenders and their six tricks.
- Missing by one costs the bidders as much as missing by many: a 7 contract with 6 tricks is −7 for the bidders and +7 for the defenders. The biggest swing is a 7 contract with no tricks at all: −7 and +13.
- A 13 contract — every trick — scores 13 when made and costs 13 when set; there is no extra bonus for taking all the tricks.
- If all four pass: no contract, no points and no round counted — the next dealer deals again. After 8 all-pass deals in a row, the table is closed with no result.
- Winning: the first team to reach 31 points wins the match; scores can dip below zero on the way.
- Round cap: if 50 scored rounds pass with neither team at 31, the higher score wins and a tie is a draw. In a tournament bracket, a tie sends through the team that won the last round.
Strategy
Bid on your hand and your partner’s together, not on yours alone: every Ace is a near-certain trick, and so is a guarded King, while each trump beyond three can cut a short suit for you. Don’t outbid your partner just to own the contract — you are only raising your own team’s target. On defence, every trick you take pushes the contract closer to falling, and scores you a point if it does.
FAQ
Thirteen per round, as each player holds 13 cards from the full 52-card deck. Bids run from 7 to 13 tricks: 7 — just over half — is the minimum, and 13, every trick, is the maximum.
Because both words name the same thing: the suit that beats every other suit. «Tarneeb» is the Levantine word, and the game is named after it. «Hokm» is the Gulf word — the suit that rules the trick — and the same word Baloot uses for its trump contract, Hokum. In the app’s Arabic, winning the auction brings up «choose the hokm».
If all four players pass, there is no contract and no score, and the deal does not count toward the 50-round cap: the deal moves to the next dealer and the cards are shuffled again. If that happens 8 times in a row — which usually only happens when the players have left the table — the table is closed with no result.
The first team to 31 points wins. Because only one team gains in any round, both teams can never get there together. If 50 scored rounds pass without either reaching it, the higher score wins and a tie is a draw.
It scores the contract and nothing more: bid 8, take 11, score 8 — not 11. Overtricks never count in Tarneeb; what matters is not falling short, even by a single trick.
Tarneeb 41 — and its close cousin «400» — is a different ruleset that is not in Koutchina: hearts are always trump, with no auction for it, each player bids their own tricks rather than the team’s, and the target is 41 points. Also not in Koutchina are the Egyptian rules, which allow a no-trump bid, and the Iraqi game played with two decks. Koutchina plays Levantine Tarneeb: a team bid of 7 to 13, a trump chosen by the contract holder, and a match to 31.
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