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:
| 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...)
| players | 32 cards | 52 cards |
|---|---|---|
| 3players | 7♦ 7♣ | 2♦ |
| 5players | 7♦ 7♣ | 2♦ 2♣ |
