Coinche

Belote with an auction. Promise 80 points or more in your trump suit, coinche the other side’s bid, and make your contract. 4 players, in partnerships.

Also known as Belote Coinchée, Belote Contrée, and Contrée.

Play to

points

Who To Play With

or

How to play Coinche

  1. 1Four players in two partnerships, using the 7s through aces (32 cards). Everyone gets eight cards.
  2. 2Starting left of the dealer, each player bids or passes. A bid is a number of points from 80 to 160, in tens, with the suit you'd like as trump. Each bid must be higher than the one before. Above 160 you can bid capot: your side will win every trick.
  3. 3Instead of bidding, an opponent of the last bidder may coinche, betting they'll fall short. That doubles the stakes and ends the auction, but the bidder may answer with a surcoinche, doubling them again.
  4. 4Otherwise the auction ends when three players pass in a row after a bid; the last bid is the contract. If all four pass at the start, the hand is thrown in and the next player deals.
  5. 5Trumps rank J, 9, A, 10, K, Q, 8, 7. Other suits rank A, 10, K, Q, J, 9, 8, 7.
  6. 6The player left of the dealer leads. Follow suit if you can. If you can't, you must trump, unless your partner is already winning the trick. Whenever you play a trump, go higher than the best trump in the trick if you can.
  7. 7Cards are worth points: jack of trump 20, nine of trump 14, aces 11, tens 10, kings 4, queens 3, other jacks 2. The last trick is worth 10 more, so each hand holds 162. Taking every trick counts as 250. Holding the king and queen of trump is worth 20 extra.
  8. 8The bidders make their contract if they score at least their bid and more than the other side (a capot bid needs every trick). Then they score the bid plus their points, and the other side keeps its points. If they fall short, the other side scores 160 plus the bid.
  9. 9When coinched, the side that wins the contract scores 160 plus twice the bid (four times if surcoinched), and the other side scores nothing. The king and queen of trump always count for whoever held them.
  10. 10The first side to 1000 points wins. The host can choose 1000 or 2000.

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