France's partnership game, where the trump jack is king.
France's most-played card game, and the evening game of much of the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Four players in partnerships.
32 cards — seven up to ace in each suit. Aces are high, but only in non-trump suits.
This is what makes the game. In the trump suit the order is jack, nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, seven. The jack and the nine jump above the ace. In every other suit it is the ordinary ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven.
Trump jack 20, trump nine 14, ace 11, ten 10, king 4, queen 3, jack 2 in a plain suit, and nothing else counts. 152 points including the ten for the last trick.
Five cards each, then one card turned face up. Going round, a player may take it as trump; if all pass, a second round lets someone name a different suit. Whoever takes it receives the card and the rest of the deal is completed to eight cards each.
Sequences of three, four or five cards in one suit score 20, 50 and 100, and four of a kind scores 100 to 200 depending on rank. Only the side with the best declaration scores anything.
Holding the king and queen of trump scores 20, announced as you play the second of them.
Follow suit if you can. If you cannot, you must trump — and if a trump has already been played you must beat it if you are able. Highest trump wins.
The side that chose trump must take more than the other, or they lose everything to the opponents. Game is 501 or 1000.