Tarneeb rules

The partnership game of the Arab world, played across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Gulf. Four players, thirteen tricks, and an auction that names both the target and the trump.

Getting ready

A 52-card deck, aces high. Thirteen cards each, the whole deck dealt.

Partners sit facing each other. Tarneeb is traditionally played anticlockwise: the deal, the bidding and the play all pass to the right.

The bidding

Starting with the player next to the dealer in the direction of play, each player bids a number of tricks from seven to thirteen, or passes. Each bid must be higher than the last. Once three players pass, the highest bidder names the trump suit — the tarneeb.

A player who has passed may not bid again.

The play

The highest bidder leads to the first trick. You must follow suit if you can; if you cannot, you may play anything including a trump. Highest trump wins, otherwise the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each trick leads to the next.

Scoring

The bidding side needs the number of tricks bid.

Make it and score the number of tricks actually taken. Fail and lose the amount bid.

The defending side scores the tricks they took, but only if the contract was defeated — some tables score their tricks regardless, which is worth agreeing before you start.

An example

Your side bids eight and takes ten: you score 10 and the other side scores nothing. Had you taken only seven, you would lose 8, and the other side would score the 6 tricks they took.

A bid of thirteen, made, wins the whole game outright. Some tables score it as a large number of points instead.

Game is 31 or 41 points.

Playing well

Because a made contract scores every trick taken, bidding low costs nothing when you make it, while bidding one too many loses the whole bid. Count on your partner for about two tricks, not more, and bid what the two hands can make together rather than what yours can.

Tarneeb 41

A common variant where the bid is in points rather than tricks and the ace, king, queen and jack carry values, played to exactly 41.

Tarneeb: an example game

One game of Tarneeb followed from the deal to the finish, move by move, with the reason for each choice.

The deal

Four players: you and Bo are partners against Ada and Cleo. Play goes to the right, so the order round the table is you, Cleo, Bo, Ada. Ada deals, and you bid first.

Your hand: spades A, K, Q, 9, 6, 3; hearts A, 5; diamonds K, 8, 4; clubs 10, 2. Two aces, two kings and six spades.

The auction

You count about six tricks of your own: the two aces, the spade length, a king or two. With two or three from Bo, eight or nine is possible. You bid seven — cautious, because a made contract scores every trick anyway.

Cleo bids eight; she is long in hearts. Bo passes and so does Ada. You are still in, so you bid nine. Cleo passes. Three have passed, and you have bought the hand at nine.

Naming the tarneeb

You name spades: six of them to the ace, king and queen. Then you lead.

You play A♠, K♠ and Q♠. The opponents follow with their spades, and after three rounds they have no trumps left. Your 9♠, 6♠ and 3♠ are now certain tricks.

The rest of the hand

You cash the A♥. Bo has the ace, king and queen of clubs and takes three club tricks. Cleo wins the K♥ and two diamonds, but your remaining spades take three more tricks.

At the end your side has ten tricks and Ada and Cleo three.

The score

You bid nine and took ten, so you score ten. Ada and Cleo did not beat the contract, so with the usual scoring they score nothing. The score is 10–0.

Next hand Cleo buys it at eight in hearts and her side takes only seven. They lose eight, and your side scores the six tricks it took. The score is 16 to −8.

What the hand shows

Your nine scored as much as a bid of ten would have — and a bid of eleven would have lost eleven. That is why good players bid low and let the extra tricks come.

The game goes to 31. A bid of thirteen made would end it at once, but nobody at this table will try that without a hand that cannot lose a trick.