Gamehelpbarbu

Goal

Lose the fewest points.

Game play

• 4 players recommended.
• Dealer leads 1st trick.
• Must follow suit if possible.
• Trick taker leads the next trick.

Definitions

Deal/Hand (noun): play of all cards.

Trick: play of one card from each player.

Taker: player who wins the trick.

Contract: rule for scoring the deal.

Declarer: dealer who selects a contract.

Double: contract value ×2.

Redouble: doubled contract value ×2 (total ×4).

Business: two players with a double.

Maximum: redouble all doubles and double any remaining players.

Contracts

• Dealer selects the contract for the deal.
• Only the trumps contract is played with a trump suit.
• Contract scoring depends on the options selected:

Contract scoring

Default option		Negative contracts						Positive contracts
Always played		No tricks	No ​♥	No Q	No K♥	Last two		Domino				Trumps
Scoring	Deal	Salade				2nd last	last	1st	2nd	3rd	4th+
Basic	32	-1 /trick	-1 /​♥	-2 /Q	-8 K♥	-3	-5	+20	+10	0	0	+2 /trick
	36
	52	-1 /trick	-1 /​♥	-3 /Q	-12 K♥	-4	-8	+25	+15	+5	0	+3 /trick
Wikipedia		-2 /trick	-2 /​♥ -6 A♥	-6 /Q	-20 K♥	-10	-20	+45	+20	+5	-5	+5 /trick

Last two

• Last two tricks score negative points.

Domino

• Extra hand where plays must be either:
  • same rank as a played card, or
  • same suit and one rank above or below a played card.
• A ⇨ play again.
• Must play, else pass.

Taker can choose start suit in Domino

Salade

• Extra hand with multiple contracts: no tricks, no ​♥, no Q, no K♥.
• Q♥ ⇨ -2(Q) -1(​♥) ⇨ -3 points (32 cards).
• K♥ ⇨ -8(K♥) -1(​♥) ⇨ -9 points (32 cards).

Anti-Salade

• Salade with positive score.

Game mode

Regular - 1 iteration

Regular - 2 iterations

Regular - 3 iterations

Geronimo

• Each dealer deals once for every contract.

Doubling

• After the dealer selects a contract, non-dealers may optionally choose to double any player(s).
• In positive games, non-dealers can only double the dealer.
• Non-dealers must double the dealer at least twice during the game for each dealer.
• Any doubled player may redouble.
• Between each pair of players (P₁ & P₂), where P₁ has a higher score than P₂:
  • P₁ gains the difference between their scores ⇨ + (P₁ − P₂).
  • P₂ loses the difference between their scores ⇨ − (P₁ − P₂).
• Redoubled:
  • P₁ gains twice the difference between their scores ⇨ + 2×(P₁ − P₂).
  • P₂ loses twice the difference between their scores ⇨ − 2×(P₁ − P₂).

Trumps

• Dealer selects trump color.
• Must follow suit, else
• must play a trump, else
• must discard.

Must play higher trumps

• Whenever a trump is played, each player must play a higher trump than those played before if possible.

Must play trumps if cannot follow suit

• Must play a trump instead of discard if possible.

Type of deck

52-card deck

32-card deck

36-card deck

House Rules

Can lead hearts

Only when already played

• No ​♥ or No K♥: cannot lead ​♥ until a ​♥ is discarded.

Anywhen

• Anyone can lead ​♥ whenever they want.

Take them all counts positive

No

• Every trick counts negatively.

Tricks only

• No tricks and Salade: positive scoring.
• Anti-Salade: negative scoring.

Tricks and hearts

• No tricks, No ​♥ and Salade: positive scoring.
• Anti-Salade: negative scoring.

Tricks, hearts and Queens

• No tricks, No ​♥, No Q and Salade: positive scoring.
• Anti-Salade: negative scoring.

Points scoring

Basic scoring

• Will count scores with simple count (tricks score -1 each)

Wikipedia scoring

• Will count scores as described in the English Wikipedia page of Barbu (tricks score -2 each, hearts -2, ace of hearts -6...)

cards removed

players	32 cards	52 cards
👤3players	7♦ 7♣	2♦
👤5players	7♦ 7♣	2♦ 2♣