Belot scoring: the complete guide

Card values in each contract

Belot is played with 32 cards - seven to ace in each of the four suits. The same card is worth different points depending on the contract. In a suit contract (clubs, diamonds, hearts or spades) the trump suit has its own values: the jack and the nine become the most valuable cards. The other three suits count as non-trump.

In All trumps every suit counts as trump, so jacks and nines are worth a lot in every suit. In No trumps there is no trump suit, and in Belot Arena card values are doubled, so a No trumps hand weighs roughly as much as a trump hand.

Remember that trump transforms the jack and the nine: in the trump suit they are on top, while in a non-trump suit the nine is worth nothing and the jack only 2 points.

How many points are in a hand

The last (eighth) trick gives an extra 10 points to the team that wins it. If one team wins all eight tricks it makes capot (valat) and receives a further 90-point bonus. The last-trick and capot bonuses are not doubled in No trumps.

The sum of card points is fixed for each contract type. That makes a handy check: if you know what your opponents took, you can work out your own total.

• The trump suit is worth 62 points in total (20 + 14 + 11 + 10 + 4 + 3).
• Each non-trump suit is worth 30 points (11 + 10 + 4 + 3 + 2).
• In No trumps each suit is worth 60 points because values are doubled.

How a hand is settled, step by step

Once all eight tricks have been played, Belot Arena calculates the result automatically. The process is the same one a careful scorekeeper would follow at a table:

1. Add up the card points in each team's won tricks.
2. Add 10 points for the last trick and 90 points for capot, if any.
3. Add the accepted declarations (tierce, quarte, quinte, four of a kind) of the team that won the declaration comparison.
4. Add belots - they always count for the team that announced them.
5. Compare the two teams' raw totals to decide whether the contract was made, failed or is hanging.
6. If there was a contra or recontra, multiply the points by 2 or 4 respectively.
7. Divide raw points by 10 and round to get the game points recorded toward 151.

Made, failed ("inside") and hanging contracts

The team that won the bidding must collect strictly more raw points than the opponents. The comparison includes cards, the last trick, capot, declarations and belot.

Contract made: each team records its own points. Contract failed (Bulgarian players say the team is "inside", вътре): the defenders record every point of the hand - their own and the declarers' - and the declarers get zero. A tie makes the hand "hanging" (висяща): the defenders record their own points, the declaring team records nothing, and its points are held over to the next hand.

Held-over points from a hanging hand go to whichever team wins the next hand: to the declaring team if the next contract is made, or to the defenders if it fails. If the next hand also ends level, the held points keep accumulating.

Contra and recontra

Contra is a challenge from the defenders: "We think you will not make it." Recontra is the declarers' answer: "We are sure we will." Both raise the stakes in game points only - Belot Arena has no money, tokens or betting.

The multiplier applies to both teams' raw totals, including declarations and belot. Whether the contract is made is decided before multiplying, on the raw points themselves.

A new, higher bid during the auction cancels the contra. If you double, expect the opponents to try to escape into a higher contract.

Converting to game points and the end of the game

Raw points are divided by 10 and rounded normally: 5 and above rounds up, below 5 rounds down. So 125 raw points become 13 game points and 124 become 12. Held-over hanging points are added before rounding.

The game continues until at least one team reaches 151 game points. If both teams pass 151 after the same hand, the team with more points wins. If they are exactly level, another hand is played.

• 64 raw points → 6 game points.
• 65 raw points → 7 game points.
• 162 raw points → 16 game points.

Example 1: a trump contract that is made

North and South play hearts. Their tricks contain 92 card points plus the last trick (+10), 102 in total. East and West take the remaining 60 points (102 + 60 = 162). South also holds a tierce that wins the declaration comparison: +20.

Raw totals: North/South 122, East/West 60. The contract is made because 122 > 60. Recorded: North/South 12 game points (122 ÷ 10 = 12.2), East/West 6 game points.

Example 2: a failed contract

East and West play spades but collect only 70 card points. North and South take 82 card points and the last trick - 92 (70 + 92 = 162). North also has a tierce, so North/South reach 112.

The declarers have 70, the defenders 112 - the contract fails. North/South record everything: 70 + 112 = 182 raw, i.e. 18 game points. East/West record 0.

Example 3: No trumps with doubled values

North and South play No trumps. They take three aces, two tens, a king and a queen (120 points), plus another king, another queen and all four jacks (30 points) - 150 card points in total, plus the last trick: 160. East and West have 90 (160 + 90 = 250). There are no declarations or belot in No trumps.

The contract is made: North/South record 16 game points, East/West 9. Had North/South won every trick they would have 240 + 10 + 90 = 340 raw points, i.e. 34 game points.

Example 4: a doubled contract that is made

North and South play clubs and East calls contra. North/South take 85 card points and the last trick - 95, while East/West take 67 (95 + 67 = 162). South announces belot (+20), so North/South have 115 against 67.

The contract is made. With contra everything is multiplied by 2: North/South 230 raw (23 game points), East/West 134 raw (13 game points). Had the contract failed, East/West would have recorded (115 + 67) × 2 = 364, i.e. 36 game points.

Example 5: a hanging hand

North and South play diamonds and take exactly 81 points, the same as East/West (81 + 81 = 162). There are no declarations. The hand is hanging: East/West record 8 game points, North/South record nothing, and their 81 points are held over.

In the next hand East and West play spades and make it with 100 against 62. The 81 held points go to them: 100 + 81 = 181, i.e. 18 game points. North/South record 6.