Baloot rules

The national card game of Saudi Arabia, and a close relative of Belote. Four players in partnerships, and hands are long and heavily scored. Eight cards each, and in every deal a choice between hokom, with a trump suit, and sun, with none and doubled values. Declared sequences and sets score for the side holding the best, and the declaring side must take more points than the other or lose everything. Game is 152.

The deck

32 cards — seven up to ace. Five cards each to start.

The two modes

Everything depends on which is declared.

Hokom — a trump suit. In it the ranking is jack, nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, seven, and the jack is worth 20 and the nine 14. Other suits rank ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven. Sun — no trump at all. Every suit ranks ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven, and card values are doubled compared with hokom.

Card values in hokom

Trump jack 20, trump nine 14, ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, plain jack 2.

The bidding

One card is turned face up. Going round, a player may take it as hokom, or declare sun. Whoever declares takes the turned card, and three more cards are dealt to everyone, making eight each.

The projects

Declared combinations, scored to whichever side holds the best one:

Sira — three in sequence: 20

Fifty — four in sequence: 50 Hundred — five in sequence, or four of a kind of ten or above: 100 Four hundred — four aces: 400 Baloot — king and queen of trump: 20, and it always scores regardless of the others.

The play

Follow suit if you can. In hokom, if you cannot follow you must trump, and must overtrump if able. In sun there is no such obligation.

The declaring side must score more than the opponents or lose everything to them. Game is 152 points.