Coinche rules

1.Players and cards

Coinche is played by four in two teams of two, partners sitting opposite each other, with a 32-card deck, seven to ace in each suit. Every player gets eight cards and no card is turned up.

2.Card values

The last trick, the dix de der, adds 10, so the cards of a deal are worth 162 points.

3.Bidding

Starting left of the dealer, each player passes or bids a number of points and a trump suit. The lowest bid is 80, each bid must be higher than the last, in steps of ten, up to 160; the highest bid of all is capot, a promise to take every trick.

Bidding ends when the other three pass in turn after a bid. If all four pass at the start, the cards are dealt again.

4.Coinche and surcoinche

An opponent who doubts that a bid can be made may coinche it, which ends the bidding and doubles the value of the bid. The bidding side may answer with a surcoinche, which doubles it again.

5.Announcements and the belote

With the first card, players announce their sequences in one suit and their four of a kind. Only the side with the best announcement scores its announcements, and it scores all of them.

Holding the king and queen of trumps, a player says “belote” when playing the first and “rebelote” when playing the second, for 20 points that stay with that side whatever happens to the contract.

6.Making the contract

The bidding side makes its contract when its points, with its announcements and belote, reach the bid; a capot is made only by taking all eight tricks. It then scores its points plus the bid, and the opponents score their own points. The tricks of a capot count 250 instead of 162.

When the contract fails, the opponents score 160 plus the bid, and the bidding side keeps only its belote. A coinche doubles the bid and a surcoinche quadruples it, while the points of the cards stay as they are. All scores are rounded to the nearest ten, fives up.

Clubs vary these details: some count only the bid, some multiply the whole score, some require the bidding side to also beat its opponents. The app follows the scoring described here.

7.Winning

The game is usually played to 2000 points, sometimes to 1000, 1500 or 3000. The first side to reach the target wins; when both reach it in the same deal, the higher score wins.

8.Keeping the score in the app

After each deal tap “New round”, pick the side that won the bidding, set its bid with − and +, mark a coinche or surcoinche, count the announcements and type the points of one side; the app works out the rest, adds the bid, spots a failed contract and keeps track of who deals.

Tap any deal in the history to correct or delete it, and ↶ to undo the last one.