The goal
In Belote you and the seat across from you are partners. The first side to five hundred and one points wins. Every hand is worth a hundred and sixty-two card points, and any declarations count on top. The side that chose trump must total more than the other side.
The deal
A thirty-two card deck, seven up to ace. Each player gets five cards to start. One card is turned face up to offer its suit as trump. A cut decides the first dealer. After that the deal moves one seat left after every scored hand.
From the dealer's left, each seat may take the turned card's suit as trump, or pass. If all pass, each seat may name a different suit. Usually the dealer cannot pass twice; if the table lifts that rule and all pass again, the same dealer redeals. Whoever takes gets the turned card and two more; everyone else gets three, so every hand has eight.
The play
Trump runs jack, nine, ace, ten, king, queen, eight, seven. In trump the jack is worth twenty, the nine fourteen, the ace eleven, the ten ten, the king four and the queen three; the eight and seven are worthless. Every other suit runs ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven. An ace is eleven, a ten is ten, a king is four, a queen is three and a jack is two; the nine, eight and seven are worthless.
The seat left of the dealer leads. Follow the suit led if you can; the highest card of it wins unless a trump is played. If trump is led, you must also beat the best trump already played when you are able to.
If you cannot follow and your partner is currently winning the trick, you may play anything. Otherwise you must trump in, and overtrump if you can. If you cannot, you still must play a trump, even a losing one. With no trump at all, play any card.
Scoring
A hand is worth a hundred and sixty-two points, ten of them for the last trick. King and queen of trump together are belote: a flat twenty you keep whatever happens. A run of three is twenty, of four fifty, of five or more a hundred, counted seven up to ace in one suit. Four of a kind is a hundred: jacks two hundred, nines a hundred fifty, eights and sevens nothing. Only the side with the single best declaration scores, both partners' together. On equal value, four of a kind beats a run, then the higher set wins, then a run in trump. An exact tie scores nobody.
Outscore the other side after choosing trump and each side keeps its own total. Fall short and they take all hundred and sixty-two plus every declaration. Belote stays put. An exact tie pays the defenders their own points at once. The takers' total is held over for whoever defends the next hand, whatever happens in it; if the match ends first, it is never paid.
Take all eight tricks and it is a capot: your card points become 250 and theirs nothing. Declarations and belote still count, and the hand is judged as usual. If the defenders take all eight, it is a capot and a dedans at once: they take the 250 and every declaration.
Winning
Play hands until a side reaches five hundred and one, or the target the table set (301 to 1001). A tie at or past it plays on. The side ahead wins the game. A table also has a hand limit, forty unless changed: reach it and the leader wins, or nobody if the scores are level.
