Coinche — Rules

Coinche is the French bidding game of belote: before play, you bid how many points your pair will take. This version has announcements and lets you choose a suit, sans atout or tout atout as trump. Contrée is the same game without announcements and without sans/tout atout.

1. At a glance

• 4 players in 2 pairs; partners sit opposite
• 32 cards, 8 each, dealt 3-2-3
• Bid 80 to 160 points, or capot, in a suit, sans atout or tout atout
• Announcements and belote-rebelote add points
• Goal: 701 points

2. How to play

1. The player to the dealer's left bids first, then the others in turn. Bid 80 to 160 in tens with a trump suit, sans atout (no trump) or tout atout (every suit is trump). Or bid capot: all 8 tricks for your pair. Or pass. Each bid must beat the last one by number; the suit does not rank.
2. Bidding ends after three passes in a row. If all four pass, the cards are redealt.
3. Coinche: an opponent of the bidder can double the contract. The bidder's side may then surcoinche and quadruple it. After a coinche there are no more bids.
4. The player to the dealer's left leads. You must follow suit. If trump is led, play a higher trump if you can, even over your partner. If you cannot follow suit: when your partner is winning, play anything; otherwise you must trump, and overtrump if you can.
5. In sans atout you follow suit but need not beat the card. In tout atout you must always play higher if you can.
6. The highest trump wins the trick, otherwise the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads next.

3. Cards and points

• Trump order and points: J 20, 9 14, A 11, 10 10, K 4, Q 3, then 8 and 7
• Other suits: A 11, 10 10, K 4, Q 3, J 2
• Sans atout: A 19, 10 10, K 4, Q 3, J 2
• Tout atout: J 14, 9 9, A 6, 10 5, K 3, Q 1
• Dix de der: 10 points for the last trick. Cards plus dix de der always make 162.
• Belote-rebelote: K and Q of trump in one hand, 20 points, counted automatically. None in sans atout.
• Announcements: tierce (3 in a row) 20, cinquante (4) 50, cent (5 or more) 100, carré of jacks 200, of nines 150, of the others 100. Only the pair with the best announcement scores its announcements.

4. Scoring

• The bidding pair makes its contract if it takes at least 82 points in tricks and, with belote and announcements, reaches its bid. If it makes it, it scores everything it took plus the value of the bid; opponents score what they took.
• If it fails, the opponents score 162 plus the bid plus all announcements. The bidders keep only their belote.
• Coinche multiplies the winner's whole score by 2, surcoinche by 4.
• A capot bid is worth 250.
• Example: bid 100 spades; the bidders take 104 in tricks and hold a belote (20) and a cinquante (50). They score 104 + 20 + 50 + 100 = 274, the opponents 58.

5. Winning the game

The first pair to reach 701 wins. If both pairs pass 701 on the same deal, the higher score wins; on a tie, the pair that won the last deal.

Play Coinche